Search

This research is concerned with the investigation of Egyptian and Egyptianizing artifacts dating back to the period comprised between the 10th century BC and the first half of 6th century BC, which were found in some archaeological sites of eastern-central Sicily. The examined Aegyptiaca include thirt-four items consisting of scarabs, funerary statuettes, figurines and unguentaria, which are mostly preserved at the regional archeology museum "Paolo Orsi" in Syracuse and, only in part, at the regional Aeolian museum "Luigi Bernabò Brea" in the Lipari island. Some of the investigated objects are made of faience (a glazed non-clay ceramic material, coated with an alkali-based glaze), while some others are in steatite or other stones. Through the chemical investigation of the selected artifacts, the study aims to extend the compositional dataset available on Aegyptiaca, as well as to identify the colorants used for the preparation of the investigated glazes. For such a scope, non-destructive bulk chemical analyses through portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometry (pXRF) were carried out on both the bodies and the overlying coloured glazes. A rather variable chemical composition was found in terms of both bodies and glazes, thus pointing to the use of different recipes and/or workshops for the investigated artifacts. The results obtained demonstrate the validity of this analytical technique in revealing the elemental composition of artifacts belonging to museum collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a provenance and technological investigation on cooking-ware potteries from the ancient Greek-Roman town of Akrai (Palazzolo Acreide, Syracuse, Sicily) has proposed. A multi-methodological approach have been used to study the manufacture quality of analysed materials; in detail, petrographic, mineralogical, spectroscopic, chemical, porosimetric and micro-morphological analyses have been applied. The study provides fundamental contribute in archeological issues related to circulation in Sicily of cookingware productions during Late Roman Age; in fact, the obtained results allow to recognize in the site the presence of different well-known cooking-ware Roman productions, highlighting interesting questions about the technological and manufacture properties of this class of materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-FTIR and FTIR spectroscopy is useful for the study of degradation forms of cultural heritage. In particular it permits to identify the degradation phases and to establish the structural relationship between them and the substratum. In this paper, we report the results obtained on marble from a Roman sarcophagus, located in the medieval cloister of St. Cosimato Convent (Rome), and on oolitic limestone from the facade of St. Giuseppe Church in Syracuse (Sicily). The main components found in the samples of both monuments are: gypsum, calcium oxalate, and organic matter due to probably conservation treatments. In particular, the qualitative distributionmaps of degradation products, obtained by means of micro-FTIR operating in ATR mode, revealed that the degradation process is present deep inside the stones also if it is not visible macroscopically. This process represents the main cause of crumbling of the substrate. The results of this research highlight the benefits of the μ-FTIR analysis providing useful insights on the polishing and consolidation processes of stone materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]