0000000000288014
AUTHOR
Veronica Ciaramitaro
Investigation of archaeological amphorae from the Egadi battles
Abstract Archaeological ceramics are considered one of the most important sources of both technological and chronological information. Here, the investigation of some archaeological underwater amphorae from the Egadi’s Battle, that decided the end of the First Punic War (241 B.C.), is reported. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), petrography, and Thermoluminescence (TL) were used to determine the composition of the amphorae and to evaluate the compatibly of their age with the above Battle. Considering the historical importance of the act and the well-defined historical collocation these amphorae represent an interesting archaeometric case study.
Chemometric Tools to Point Out Benchmarks and Chromophores in Pigments through Spectroscopic Data Analyses
Spectral preprocessing data and chemometric tools are analytical methods widely applied in several scientific contexts i.e., in archaeometric applications. A systematic classification of natural powdered pigments of organic and inorganic nature through Principal Component Analysis with a multi-instruments spectroscopic study is presented here. The methodology allows the access to elementary and molecular unique benchmarks to guide and speed up the identification of an unknown pigment and its recipe. This study is conducted on a set of 48 powdered pigments and tested on a real-case sample from the wall painting in S. Maria Delle Palate di Tusa (Messina, Italy). Four spectroscopic techniques …
Effectiveness of some protective and self-cleaning treatments: a challenge for the conservation of temple G stone in Selinunte
Abstract The Temple G of the Archaeological Park of Selinunte (Italy), the largest in Europe, is one of the most impressive temples in the Magna Grecia. Today, it is completely destroyed due to a strong earthquake occurred in the Middle Ages. The used stone is a calcarenite coming from the ancient and renowned quarries of Cusa near the acropolis. This work comes from the today’s proposal of Temple G anastylosis. The goal of the work is to provide the results relating the protective effectiveness of three polymer formulations, appropriately selected, on stone samples taken from the “Capitello” quarry, part of “Cusa quarries”. The formulations functionality was deployed by adding TiO2 nanopar…
Sicilian Byzantine Icons through the Use of Non-Invasive Imaging Techniques and Optical Spectroscopy: The Case of the Madonna dell’Elemosina
The iconographic heritage is one of the treasures of Byzantine art that have enriched the south of Italy, and Sicily in particular, since the early 16th century. In this work, the investigations of a Sicilian Icon of Greek-Byzantine origin, the Madonna dell’Elemosina, is reported for the first time. The study was carried out using mainly non-invasive imaging techniques (photography in reflectance and grazing visible light, UV fluorescence, infrared reflectography, radiography, and computed tomography) and spectroscopic techniques (X-ray fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy). The identification of the constituent materials provides a decisive contribution to the correct historical and arti…
The colours of Segesta. Searching for the traces of the lost pigments
Many monuments and objects of the ancient civilizations were painted, but unfortunately the pigments are not still present and sometimes only small traces are evident. The analysis of the traces requires a multianalytical approach through the use of non-invasive techniques and only if necessary of a microsampling. Here, the study of the traces of colours found in some architectural elements and findings belonging to the Archeological Park of Segesta (Trapani, Italy) is reported. The traces are identified and characterised via several techniques such as Optical Microscopy, UV-Fluorescence Imaging, Fiber Optical Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) and FT-IR Spectroscopy.…
A New Methodological Approach to Correlate Protective and Microscopic Properties by Soft X-ray Microscopy and Solid State NMR Spectroscopy: The Case of Cusa’s Stone
Hydrophobic treatment is one of the most important interventions usually carried out for the conservation of stone artefacts and monuments. The study here reported aims to answer a general question about how two polymers confer different protective performance. Two fluorinated-based polymer formulates applied on samples of Cusa’s stone confer a different level of water repellence and water vapour permeability. The observed protection action is here explained on the basis of chemico-physical interactions. The distribution of the polymer in the pore network was investigated using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microscopy. The interactions between the stone substrate and the protective…