Non-invasive characterization of the pigment’s palette used on the painted tomb slabs at Paestum archaeological site

Abstract

A scientific interdisciplinary team promoted an integrated archaeometric study of selected frescoed tombs within a project funded by Archaeological Museum of Paestum (Capaccio, Salerno, southern Italy). By using a multi-disciplinary approach, a comparative study of the pigments used on the representative painted slab tombs was carried out with the aim of identifying specific markers and unveiling the new features of the executive techniques. The investigated tombs, displayed at the museum or stored in the deposits, come from Hellenistic and Lucan necropolis. The preliminary investigation here discussed involved several nondestructive analytical techniques (IRR, UV fluorescence, VIL, FORS, ER-FTIR, Raman and XRF). This multi-analytical research was applied on the pictorial surface of the following frescoed tombs: the well-known Tomb of the Diver from Tempa del Prete necropolis; the Tomb of the Palmettes from Arcioni necropolis; the tombs T314 and T210 from Gaudo necropolis; the tombs T6, T23, T21, T76, T20, T11, T12 from Andriuolo necropolis and the tombs T109 and T110 from Santa Venera necropolis, were investigated. The archaeometric results shed light on some markers of a local artisanal tradition developed in the Greek colony of Paestum around 500-475 BC.

Roman Wall Paintings: Characterisation of Plaster Coats Made of Clay Mud

“…The painting layer also contains magnetite (black earth), as highlighted by both the XRD and EDX results. The mixture of Egyptian blue with black, such as carbon or iron pigments, has already been identified in Roman painted surface samples [37] for example, at Paestum [38]. FTIR-ER analyses revealed organic compounds on the external surface, probably originally used as a surface treatment [14], and gypsum, likely due to decay phenomena [29].…”

Pigments of the Campania region (Italy): a first overview for ancient wall paintings

“…The oldest one is the well-known funerary context of Tomb of the Diver (5th century BCE,) a chest tomb that takes its name from the note pictorial representation placed on the covering slab and located 2 km south of Paestum (Figure 1a). Along with the Tomb of the Diver, other tombs recovered at Paestum and belonging to different chronological phases (dated between 6th century BCE and 4th century BCE) were analysed [7], [11].…”

Pigments through the ages: examples from archaeological contexts of Campania region (southern Italy)

“…1a). Along with this, other tombs recovered in the Paestum site and belonging to different chronological phases were analysed [1,2]. Another investigated funerary context is the Tomba del Banchetto per l'Eternità in the ancient city of Cumae (fist decades of the 1 st century BCE), an extraordinary hypogeum chamber tomb entirely decorated with a figurative representation on the upper part of the walls, which makes it exceptional in the contemporary Campania panorama (Fig.…”