Different methods for soluble salt removal tested on late-Roman cooking ware from a submarine excavation at the island of Pantelleria (Sicily, Italy)

Abstract This paper deals with the comparative evaluation of different procedures of salt extraction designed for archaeological ceramics from submarine burial environments. The experimental work was carried out on a particular type of late-Roman cooking ware finds (Pantellerian ware) found in a shipwreck near the shoreline of the Island of Pantelleria (Sicily). The studied ceramic test-pieces were first recognised in terms of bulk characteristics (mineralogy, petrography and chemistry). SEM-EDS observation allowed verification of the presence of various secondary minerals at the surface and in the pore spaces formed after the prolonged permanence in seawater under oxidising or reducing con…