This work was aimed to evaluate the features of mortar samples taken from the underwater
archaeological area of Baia (Naples, Italy), an important site, where the remains of the
ancient Roman city of Baiae and Portus Iulius are submerged after bradyseism events, started
from 4th century AD. Several architectural structures are still preserved into the submerged
environment, such as: luxurious maritime villas, imperial buildings, private houses, thermae,
tabernae and warehouses. In particular, some samples were collected from the masonry walls
belonging to a building of the underwater area called Villa a Protiro. A first archaeometric
approach has been applied to analyse twelve archaeological mortars samples in order to define:
textural features, chemical composition and raw materials used for their production. For
this purpose different analytical methods were used, such as, polarizing optical microscope
(POM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS).This work was financially supported by
national national research project “COMAS”
(Planned COnservation, “in situ”, of underwater
archaeological artifacts), funded by the Italian
Ministry of Education, Universities and
Research (MIUR).Peer reviewe
