A preliminary provenance study of marble artifacts from Aiani, ancient upper Macedonia, Greece

Preliminary results on the provenance study of ancient marbles from Aiani, ancient Upper Macedonia, Northern Greece are presented in this work. Several samples (both archaeological and modern) were collected and analysed using thermoluminesence (TL) and Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive System (ESEM/EDS). Chemical, morphological and mineralogical features revealed by ESEM/EDS, combined with TL spectra of natural and irradiated samples, allowed us to make some preliminary suggestions on the origin of ancient marble artefacts. According to ESEM/EDX results, Tranovalto marbles situated just Southwards of Aiani, where some modern white marble quarries occur, could be the most probable origin. TL spectra do not reveal any clear differences, except that of higher intensity of the fresh marbles comparing to the intensity of the ancient ones. Thus, a more detailed analytical work, employing more samples and analytical techniques is proposed in order to achieve satisfactory results.Peer Reviewe

New data on the cathodoluminescence of white marbles: Interpretation of peaks and relationships to weathering

This work focus on the Thermoluminescence (TL), the Spatially Resolved Spectral Cathodoluminescence (CL) and Raman spectroscopy (Raman) of white marble specimens collected from the archaeological park of Aiani (Greece) and from patterns of Iceland calcite and Macael marble for comparison purposes. The spectra CL were measured with a high sensitivity cathodoluminescence spectrometer MonoCL3 of Gatan (UK) attached to an FEI-ESEM microscope (CL-ESEM). The experimental set of spectra CL curves of Aiani white marbles suggest that the blue band is more resistant to weathering in comparison with the red band which drops down easily under weathering. The comparison among CL spectra of CaCO3 patterns give a slight difference between the small 330 nm peak, detected in marble and not observed in the monocrystal pattern of Iceland calcite. The Backscattering Electron Dispersed (BSED) images of the white marble are similar to the CL monochromatic plots at 330 nm which highlight the surfaces with remarkable clarity, suggesting a CL emission-defect associated to the marble crystal interfaces, such as protons or hydroxyls. Conversely, the 395 nm monochromatic mapping depicts a CL image emitting from bulk and not from interfaces attributable to point defects or cationic activators in Ca2+ positions. The blue band of the spectra luminescence of marble is composed by several peaks associated to very different types of luminescent defects. This statement is not inconsequential since in archaeological TL dating of marbles the regenerated luminescence in the blue region of the spectrum is a serious difficulty and further research on this topic is necessary