The knowledge and dissemination of the Iberian culture (6th to 1st century BC) have made great progress within the last three decades, so much so that it is now one of the main fields in the study of the Protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula. Even so, certain topics remain which need further research in Iberian Archaeology, such as the processes of manufacturing and decoration of various kinds of materials, and the choice of raw materials, including pigments. This piece of research presents micro-Raman spectroscopy analysis of a set of materials dated between the sixth and the third century BC. The typology of these materials includes ceramics and coverings with and without decoration. All of them are located in various archaeological sites of the Spanish provinces of Jaén, Granada, Málaga and Ciudad Real. The use of micro-Raman spectroscopy together with energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction helped identify gypsum as the main raw material used for the inside coverings of houses and tombs, as well as for storage structures. Less frequent raw materials are calcite, dolomite and quartz. As to decoration in ceramics, the origin and elaboration of black decoration are here identified for the first time in the history of Iberian culture. Black decoration can be classified as two periods: the older period used manganese oxide and the later period used magnetite. Cinnabar has also been identified in the red decoration of ceramics retrieved as grave goods.

An in situ archaeometrical campaign was organized in 2018 for the physicochemical analysis of the exceptional Mosaico de los Amores of the Cástulo archaeological site (Linares, Spain). Several mobile instruments were brought on the field to investigate the colourful tesserae of the mosaic. The main aim of the current research paper is the comparison of different mobile instruments and their applicability on measuring in open air environments. In this study, the comparison of four mobile Raman instruments, using different excitation lasers and technologies, is discussed. Three portable, the EZRaman‐I dual Raman analyser from TSI Inc. (USA), the i‐Raman® EX from BWTEK (USA), and the BWS445‐785S InnoRam™ Raman spectrometer from BWTEK (USA), and one handheld system, the Bravo Raman spectrometer from Bruker (Europe), are compared in terms of their characteristics, applicability, and performance when conducting non‐invasive and non‐destructive analysis.

Micro Raman spectroscopy (MRS) and energy dispersive x-ray microfluorescence (mEDXRF) analysis of pigments in the Iberian cemetery of Tutugi (from the fourth to the third century BC, Recent archaeological research on the Iberian cemetery of Tutugi (from fourth to third century BC), in the administrative term of Galera (Granada, Spain), has granted access to a range of materials revealing major features of Iberian culture. The only information available on pigments in the Iberian culture refers to domestic ceramic and the inside covering of burials. This paper expands on the previous discussion by incorporating pigment studies of the decoration of highly symbolic ceramic vessels, a funerary urn and a glass paste vessel of three burials of the cemetery of Tutugi.Regarding the method, the pigment study relied on the mineralogical and elemental analysis using non-destructive spectroscopic techniques such as micro Raman spectroscopy (MRS) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Microfluorescence (mEDXRF). These studies are used more and more frequently for research on archaeological items for their advantages over other techniques.The results obtained indicate the use of hematite, cinnabar and gypsum in the decoration of ceramic vessels. The pigments used for the urn were made with hematite, gypsum and amorphous carbon. Naples yellow and Egyptian blue were used as pigments in the fragment of glass paste vessel.Overall, joint use of MRS and mEDXRF provides highly valuable data on the processes used for pigment-making, on the use of certain minerals that are highly symbolic among Iberians, such as cinnabar, and provides new evidence for the preservation of archaeological items retrieved from the burial site.Sample 11023 belongs to a well-known Iberian pattern: a bowl with red decoration both on the inside and the outside. The MRS and mEDXRF analysis of pigments

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Wall paintings have become one of the most relevant, complex and challenging research subjects in Archaeometry. Minimally-or non-invasive, accurate and multidisciplinary methods are needed to successfully address the problems posed by their physical and chemical properties and by their analysis techniques. Specifically, the analytical method implemented for the study of this type of samples must enable a precise separation of the chemical information from backgrounds and scenes, allowing the identification of pigment's components in overlapping layers, the detection of minority components and the elucidation of pigment mixtures. thus, this paper puts forward a multidisciplinary approach towards these goals by means of the combined use of micro energy Dispersive X-ray fluorescence (µeDXRf) surface mapping and single-spot micro-Raman spectroscopy and µeDXRf analysis. the samples under research come from the site of cástulo (Linares, Spain), one of the most important Roman cities in the iberian peninsula. it must be emphasized the uniqueness of the walls of Cástulo, their optimal conservation state and the richness and variety of the colour's palette used in their decoration, which make them an excellent and representative example of Roman wall paintings. The Roman immovable and movable heritage of Europe is outstanding not only in terms of quantity but also of quality. As a research subject, it pursues both historical reconstruction and the design of preservation and restoration strategies and diagnostic procedures. It is, thus, a major area of development for archaeometric analysis, especially as regards spectroscopy. Wall paintings are particularly remarkable in this regard. A major component in the decoration of public and private buildings, it is one of the most attractive heritage goods of museums and sites. Research on wall paintings and on their preservation is a source of archaeometric projects intended to retrieve as much information as possible with the least possible alteration or damage to such rich and invaluable decoration. Wall paintings have typically been researched based on simple decorative patterns or on single-spot analysis of samples, sometimes amounting to just a few. In most cases, the aim was the identification of the pigments and the binders used 1-4 , a better knowledge of how the paintings were made 5-7 , and proper understanding of the processes that may damage the painted surfaces 8-11. The results obtained are often under the influence of the specific properties of the paint layers, of the raw materials used and of the limitations of the analytical techniques used. This paper therefore sets out to put forward and test a chemical analysis procedure for general use in research on wall paintings. The paper relies on research on a wide gamut of colours, on a significant number of samples, and on the experience gained from addressing a range of difficulties found for the use of certain techniques and posed by the properties of the pigments under research. Methodological improvements are ma...

This paper discusses results obtained from in situ analysis of the tesserae of the Roman mosaic of Los Amores (Cástulo site, Linares, Spain) dating back to the turn of the 1st to the 2nd century AD. Specifically, it focuses on the scene The Judgment of Paris. In view of the exceptional state of preservation of the mosaic, from which very few tesserae had fallen off, non-invasive methods with portable Micro Raman Spectroscopy (MRS) and hand-held X-ray fluorescence (hXRF) and data assessment by use of principal component analysis and binary representations were selected. The results obtained allow to evaluate both the analytical method and the portable equipment used, as well as to classify the raw materials, the colouring agents and the opacifiers used. MRS analysis proved crucial for the identification of stone tesserae (ironstones, carbonate and siliciclastic rocks) and for the identification of the type of glasses used (soda-lime-silicate and lead type glasses) based on the analysis of two detached tesserae. hXRF analysis of the glass tesserae identified both colouring agents (Co, Cu, Pb, Zn) and opacifiers (calcium antimonate). The data obtained lend themselves to an assessment of the degradation process that threaten the integrity of the mosaic. The identification of tessera made of specific stone materials (especially ironstone) and of lead glass tesserae suggest the existence of a mosaic workshop in the Upper Guadalquivir (Eastern Andalusia, Spain).

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