Characterizing the Alabastro listato or fiorito of Hierapolis in Phrygia: A Simple Method to Identify its Provenance using Carbon Stable Isotopes

Abstract

Alabastro listato or fiorito of Hierapolis in Phrygia was a prestigious coloured marble widely used in Roman architecture and decoration. This stone is generally identified in artefacts on autoptic examination, but it may sometimes be confused with alabasters of different provenances. This study describes a simple, but effective, scientific method to contribute to the determination of Hierapolis alabaster. Due to its unique genetic context, it is characterized by a distinctive carbon isotope signature. A comparison between the stable carbon isotope data from this paper and from the literature confirms the uniqueness of the isotopic character of Hierapolis alabaster. Carbon isotopes can ensure a reliably provenance attribution of the alabaster artefacts along with visual recognition by an expert eye. sanctuary for the gods of the Underworld, was built on a hot bubbling spring. The temperature of the water is close to 35°C, and its emergence to the surface, after a long, deep subterranean circulation, is favoured by crustal tectonic discontinuities that act as preferential ascent routes (Dilsiz 2006;Kele et al. 2011).Hot waters also characterized many springs in the Denizli Basin in the past, most of which bordered the north-eastern flank of the valley. This evidence is provided by the late Quaternary travertine deposits that formed at different times over the last 400 kyr and scattered along the borders of the Denizli Basin, punctuating tectonic lineaments (De Filippis et al. 2012).The travertine outcrops in the Denizli Basin can be classed into five morphological types according to Altunel and Hancock (1993a,b): terraced-mound travertine, range-front travertine, fissure-ridge travertine, eroded-sheet travertine and self-built channel travertine. The area's most characteristic landform is the fissure ridge, a term that dates back to 1883, when Hayden used it to describe an elongated mound with a central fissure along its long axis, characterizing the travertine deposition from hydrothermal hot waters rising along fractures in the bedrock. They are characterized by two main structure types that show different dispositions. The first structure is 'bedded', which has the typical aspect of porous, encrusted travertine and is located on the flanks of the ridge. The second structure, called 'banded', is deposited in the fissures and veins, with a massive aspect, coloured to form brown, yellow and white patchy patterns, sometimes translucent and similar to the cave speleothems. Both types were quarried in ancient and modern times, but the latter was greatly appreciated for its colours and aspect in classical times. Its popularity led it to be exported to Rome and used as prestigious coloured marble in Roman architecture and decoration. It was classified by the Roman stonemasons as alabaster and was later dubbed Alabastro fiorito or listato, probably due to 19th-century literature (Corsi 1845).Bruno (2002) reported the possibility that Strabo recorded the arrival of this stone in Rome, along with different coloured stones...

Calcite alabaster artifacts from Hierapolis in Phrygia, Turkey: Provenance determination using carbon and oxygen stable isotopes

“…Diagrams of the carbon and oxygen isotope distribution of the calcite alabaster artifacts from Hierapolis in comparison with the data of the quarries represented by probabilistic ellipses (contours represents 1 SD ). The ellipses represent the fields that contain isotope data grouped according to (a) the quarry sites sampled in the Denizli Basin, (b) the districts as defined in Brilli et al () according to geographical proximity, and (c) the areas of Hierapolis and Gölemezli. (b and c) Ellipses of Gölemezli were drawn without including outlier GL‐5 sample (see the text).…”

“…Figure c shows that the available carbon and oxygen isotopic data are able to sufficiently discriminate the Gölemezli area from the Hierapolis area. About the last one, the possibility to identify the provenance of unknown alabasters distinguishing among the three different extraction districts identified by Brilli et al () is quite low (Figure b), while it is nearly impossible determining the provenance from the single quarry site (Figure a).…”

“…The possibility of identifying the provenance of the alabaster used for the archaeological artifacts discovered in Hierapolis using carbon and oxygen stable isotopes is due to their capacity of distinguishing the reference extraction sites. Figure presents the isotopic fields which represent the various quarry sites (Figure a), their grouping in extraction districts as described in Brilli et al (; Figure b), and their grouping in two extraction areas pertaining to Hierapolis and Gölemezli (Figure c).…”

“…The alabaster quarries around Hierapolis (Scardozzi, ) are essentially concentrated in three main districts (corresponding respectively to the Çukurbağ, Akköy, and Yokuşyol districts of Brilli et al, ): (a) the Çukurbağ and Öküzini extraction sites; (b) the Karakaya, Yarıkkaya, and Hanife extraction sites; (c) the Yokuşyol and Çallı extraction sites (Figure and Table ). The former site is located on a terrace immediately to the west of the city.…”

“…Diagram of the carbon and oxygen isotope distribution of the calcite alabasters quarried in antiquity in western Turkey (Hierapolis, Gölemezli, and Thyatira), Egypt (Wadi Sannur, Hatnub, and Wadi Barschawi), Algeria (Bou Hanifia), and Italy (Circeo; modified from Brilli et al, ). Isotopes are expressed versus the V‐PDB international standard [Color figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”