Compositional inhomogeneity of an unusual Selinunte coin

EDXRF and XPS characterizations of a recently found Selinunte ancient coin are presented. Such a coin was found as essentially made up by a Sn-Pb alloy and its types have a very strong similarity with those shown by a silver set issued in the same historical period. It has been also studied by means of a SEMEDXRF coupled apparatus in order to have information about the compositional inhomogeneity of the alloy. XPS measurements have been used to provide a more surface sensitive analysis. The different probing depths of the adopted techniques have been found useful in evidencing volume inhomogeneities of the sample, at least in the first few microns above its surface. From an archaeological point of view, the coin may be ascribed to a coinage for funerary use or, more probably, to a coin production carried out during the difficult economic period of the history of Selinunte, immediately preceding the year 409 b.C., when the city was destroyed by Carthaginian armies

A COMBINED STUDY OF ART WORKS PRESERVED IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL MUSEUMS: 3D SURVEY, SPECTROSCOPIC APPROACH AND AUGMENTED REALITY

The renewed interest, in the context of international museological studies, for historical installations such as museographic devices (able to give shape to a space duly dialoguing with the user), is due today to their communicative immediacy. In recent years the availability of libraries and tools for the use of augmented reality (AR) content has undergone an important increase. AR innovation represents a new method for enhancing the presence visitors into the museum industry despite its use leads to an increase in costs and instrumental investments. In this regard, in a wider work of valorisation and dissemination of archaeological heritage, we are working on the development of an app for tourism purposes. The aim of this paper is the application of some techniques (3D modelling, spectroscopy, virtual reality) to study, record and make available information about archaeological artefacts preserved in the Regional Museum of Lipari (clay masks) and in the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria (the statue Kouros and the Amphoras). The three-dimensional models produced are well suited to applications of augmented reality for the promotion and dissemination of information on the archaeological /architectural/cultural heritage.Moreover, the integration of the information about characterization of materials are essential in order to identify both geographic area of provenience and manufacturing historic period. Some pigments or medium, and in general all materials, can be indeed connected to a determinate historic time or to a specific artist; to this particular purpose spectroscopic methods are valid approach for their non-destructive nature.</p

Investigation of Archaeological Evidence for a Possible 6th-7th Century AD Earthquake in Capo d'Orlando (NE Sicily)

The archaeological site of Capo d’Orlando, located in NE Sicily was intensively inhabited during the Roman and Byzantine periods (3rd to the 7th century AD) during which a bath complex probably associated to a large villa extending seawards was built. Archaeoseismological research shows that during the Byzantine period (6th -7th century AD) this complex suffered damage: (1) collapse of the bath, (2) tilting of parallel dry masonry walls in the same direction, and (3) cracking of the floor in the bath. This damage might have been produced by a seismic event, where the level of destruction indicates a strong shaking. The historic record of earthquakes prior to the year 1000 AD is probably not complete. Actually, only four earthquakes are vaguely reported in the seismic literature for this time span. This lack of historical reports on seismic events does not necessarily mean that any earthquakes happened. Archaeoseismic data show that the island was not quiescent but on the contrary suffered several earthquakes. The analysis presented here, based on detailed site surveys, deals principally with seismic causes but it also takes into account other possible causes with regard to the observed damage.Published55-693.10. Sismologia storica e archeosismologiaN/A or not JCRreserve

Investigation of Archaeological Evidence for a Possible 6th-7th Century AD Earthquake in Capo d'Orlando (NE Sicily)

The archaeological site of Capo d’Orlando, located in NE Sicily was intensively inhabited during the Roman and Byzantine periods (3rd to the 7th century AD) during which a bath complex probably associated to a large villa extending seawards was built. Archaeoseismological research shows that during the Byzantine period (6th -7th century AD) this complex suffered damage: (1) collapse of the bath, (2) tilting of parallel dry masonry walls in the same direction, and (3) cracking of the floor in the bath. This damage might have been produced by a seismic event, where the level of destruction indicates a strong shaking. The historic record of earthquakes prior to the year 1000 AD is probably not complete. Actually, only four earthquakes are vaguely reported in the seismic literature for this time span. This lack of historical reports on seismic events does not necessarily mean that any earthquakes happened. Archaeoseismic data show that the island was not quiescent but on the contrary suffered several earthquakes. The analysis presented here, based on detailed site surveys, deals principally with seismic causes but it also takes into account other possible causes with regard to the observed damage

ARCHAEOMETRICAL ANALYSES OF GLASS CAKES AND VITREOUS MOSAIC TESSERAE FROM MESSINA (SICILY, ITALY)

We report the results of a study performed on several glass samples recovered after the destructioncaused in Messina by the earthquake of 1908, and stored in the ‘Fiore’ deposit of the Regional Museumof Messina (Italy). The samples, still lacking a reliable classification, are glass cakes, some spare mosaictesserae, and fragments of a well-dated mosaic (Mosaico dell’Angelo, XIII–XIV century A.D.). EPMA,SEM-EDS, XRPD and XAS were employed to provide a detailed chemical, mineralogical and spectroscopiccharacterization of the samples. The chemical analyses of major elements show high levels of K2O andMgO, as a result of the prevalent use of plant ashes as flux. The cakes are characterized by a large dispersionof Si, Al and Ca contents, suggesting the use of different starting raw materials. The most commoncrystalline phases used as opacifiers and colorants are quartz and wollastonite. Crystalline aggregates ofSnO2 are present in the gray cakes, whereas PbSnO3 crystals are found in two green mosaic tesserae. Allthe red samples contain small clusters of metallic copper. On the basis of the chemical composition, it ispossible to confirm that most of the samples were produced in the XIII–XIV century, while no specificconclusions were reached on the possible use of the glass cakes as raw glass materials for the productionof the investigated mosaic tesserae