Case studySpectroscopic analyses of Hellenistic painted plasters from 2nd century B.C., Sicily (South Italy)
Section snippets
Research aims
In a broadly vague and poorly defined scenario as is that of the origin and development of Hellenistic art in Sicily, whose findings are still unknown, and especially difficult to fit chronologically, an important contribution in defining the historic-social and economic production contexts and use of findings, can be represented by the integrated approach between Archaeology and Archaeometry of materials. In this scenario, the physico-chemical analysis applied on samples of painted plaster,
Sampling
We analysed samples of plasters (labelled as LIC#), coming from excavations at Licata (Sicily, Southern Italy). The findings, dated back to 2nd cent. B.C., belong to ancient buildings located in Via S. Maria and on Monte Sant’Angelo. The selected specimens are representative of the variety and differences of colour present in each site. The size of the fragments ranged from 4 to 20 cm2. Some examples are shown in Fig. 1.
XRF measurements
XRF measurements were carried out through an handheld XRF analyzer (Innov-X
Results and discussion
Firstly, we carried out an extensive preliminary surface investigation through XRF measurements. In principle, XRF results act as a valuable guideline for subsequent targeted sampling actions, thus minimizing the sampling damage. After that, we used SEM-EDS technique to obtain quantitative analysis on the chemical composition of pigments and preparation layers, including also the oxides of light elements (such as Na, Mg, Al, Si), not revealed by the used XRF apparatus. Finally, the analysis of
Conclusions
The combined employment of XRF, SEM-EDS and FT-IR techniques on plasters withdrawn from ancient buildings located in Sicily (Southern Italy) dated back to 2nd century B.C., enabled us to identify the pigments and determine the analytical composition of the preparation layers used by the craftsmen. In particular, we showed from the elemental investigation that the blue-coloured decorations contain copper as main element while red and yellow colours are rich in iron. From the whole set of
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Cited by (6)
Methodology for characterising microlayers in historical plasterwork
2015, Construction and Building MaterialsCitation Excerpt :As a consequence, the plasterwork has been altered, repositioned, and repaired, with the resulting problems of identifying changes and ascribing a time period. Some plasterwork studies have taken microphotographs of sections and determined the composition of microlayers to identify pigments in order to confirm their authenticity before restoration work, [6–11]. However, most research has examined the plasterwork as a support to determine its composition [10], looked at historical lime or gypsum mortars [1,13–18], or studied the pathologies and interventions for gypsum finishing coats [19–23].
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