The production cycle of lime‐based plasters in the Late Roman settlement of Scauri, on the island of Pantelleria, Italy

Abstract

This paper deals with the archaeometric study of lime-based plasters found in the archaeological settlement of Scauri, located in the homonymous bay in the southwestern part of Pantelleria Island. Since 1999, archaeological surveys have led to the recovery of the huge remains of a Late Roman settlement dating back to the fourthfifth century AD. It is well known that the island of Pantelleria is entirely composed of volcanic rocks. Accordingly, the production of quicklime required calcareous rocks to be imported. Also, the selection criteria of the sandy aggregate are relevant and of interest to this study, to evaluate the achieved technological level. Within this context, a mineralogical and petrographic characterisation of the plasters was carried out using thin-section petrography, for the classification of the sand aggregate.Moreover, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were performed to investigate the composition of the binder. The analytical results allowed the identification of different recipes for the manufacture of the studied plasters, obtained by the use of different types of aggregate (volcanic rock fragments, pumice, basaltic scoriae, and ceramic fragments) and highlighted the degree of pozzolanic reaction of the binder. Finally, the provenance of the calcareous raw material was inferred using a petrographic approach. K E Y W O R D S archaeometry, island of Pantelleria, Late Roman age, lime-based plasters, Mediterranean Sea

Calcareous nannofossils in medieval mortar and mortar‐based materials: A powerful tool for provenance analysis

“…(2011) and Montana et al . (2019) describe the presence of microfossils in mortar and mortar‐based materials. Calcareous nannofossil were further observed in mortar samples in SEM images (Cuezva et al .…”

“…2011; Montana et al . 2019). Mineralogical studies of the mortar of Paderborn Cathedral show that it has mostly calcite as a binder and quartz as an aggregate, implying that these mortars are lime based (Hormes et al .…”

Geoarchaelogical Study of the Roman Pietra Dell’Oglio Bridge at the Service of the Old Appian Way, Campania, Southern Italy

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Mortars in context: An integrated study of mortars and plasters from the so‐called Ginnasio in Solunto (Sicily, Italy)

“…Recent years have seen the emergence of mortar and plaster studies dealing with dating and related methodological issues (Daugbjerg et al, 2021;Dietzel & Boch, 2019;Schön et al, 2019;Toffolo, 2020). However, studies that interpret the results of scientific analysis on these materials within their environmental and archaeological context are still quite limited (e.g., Barone et al, 2004;Miriello et al, 2010;Montana et al, 2016Montana et al, , 2018Montana et al, , 2019Schmölder-Veit et al, 2016;Schön et al, 2019). This study investigates human-environment interactions as well as building techniques through the analysis of the mortars and plasters from various building phases of the so-called Ginnasio, a luxurious private house, in the Hellenistic-Roman city of Solunto (fourth century BCE-third century CE).…”