RICERCA ITALIANA     

ATELIER, WORKSHOP, YARD. TECHNIQUES AND CULTURE OF THE PRODUCTION IN THE ROMAN WORLD

Università degli Studi di Bologna

Abstract

The ancient craftsman modus operandi – as builder, decorator, manufacturer- entails technical, economical, social and cultural aspects of great importance in the Roman world: spaces where manufacturing activities were performed, materials used, techniques, as well as training of craftsmen, handing over of skills and patterns and interacting with patrons, were all peculiar of the Roman society. Literary sources only occasionally hint at such aspects, and treatises like those written by Vitruvius and Pliny the Elder (though essential bases) have been largely outrun by the variety of real cases and, of course, by later developments.
The project aims to thoroughly investigate, within the huge vastness of this theme, some specific aspect.

- Domestic activities (professional, manufacturing and trading)
which represent an essential part of the economy of the ancient city as well as a considerable social phenomenon which testifies, under the archaeological viewpoint, to the growth of middle and low-middle classes in the Roman imperial society. Archaeological evidence refers to the period between the first and the second cent. AD and entails comparisons between some Italian and Middle-European sample contexts.
Beginning with Pompei, which represents a primary reference for the wealth of documentation it yielded, research will then consider Northern Italy contexts. Investigating urban manufacturing in the transalpine provinces (Gallia Belgica and Raetia above all) will allow to better understand the diffusion of the phenomenon of workshop-houses in the cisalpine. A specific field project, moreover, is designed to research on papyri which provide information on economical and manufacturing domestic activities confirming the evidence from literary sources.

- Decorators workshop or atelier (painters, plasterers, mosaicists) helped to develop artistic techniques and methods, conveying the artistic culture.
A systematic investigation will shed light on how artists and decorators were trained, and on the workshop’s structure and contacts with other professional activities (architects, stage designers); research will help to explain how iconographies were conveyed and theory was applied in the use of materials and in sketching, as well as in paintings and compositions, focusing on perspective.
Even in this case Vesuvian area cities will represent the primary field of research, within the four Pompeian styles from the early first century BC until 79 D; in this particular context we hope to be able to identify atelier and painters on the grounds of objective data, at last. The vesuvian based investigation will provide parameters to make specific comparison with the cisalpine area, extending the chronological span until the third cent.AD.

- The yard, core of the building industry, where not only long-held knowledge and techniques were applied, but also new techniques devised to meet further demands like adding storeys to buildings, during the first century AD, or restoring houses after unforeseen events such as the 62 ad earthquake in Herculaneum, on which the research will focus.
Through innovative methods of survey and structural investigation features of the house industry in Herculaneum will be examined in three stages: beginning from the urban scale (insula III) to identify interactions between buildings, then taking into consideration also single houses and important structural details.

- In all phases of the research and with regard to each issue, it has to emphasized the role of archaeometric investigations which will be carried by the Lecce RU together with members of the Parma RU. They will be charged of chemical- physical investigations to be performed in close association with archaeologists and with a transversal role between the units of research; the most appropriate and innovative methodologies will be applied to identify pigments, plasters, mosaic tesserae, mortars and all the composition of analyzed materials, in order to gain information on the use of them.

Two features shared by the above mentioned investigations have to be stressed:

- Units have already acquired a thorough experience within the mentioned geographical contexts and in the proposed fields of research (architecture and decoration), though according to different targets and contents, so they will make a good use of their knowledge and skills in the present research.

- The Soprintendenze of involved areas have already given their permission to carry out the research, contributing also to the choice of cases-study, since they acknowledge to what extent conservation and enhancement issues will profit from the data which will be acquired on structures, material, state of preservation and effects of previous restorations. <<<

Principal Investigator

Daniela Scagliarini Università degli Studi di BOLOGNA

Research Objectives

The proposed theme is important for the knowledge of Roman society and culture, and it is proportionally wide and complex. Therefore the project aims to provide a systematic and complete documentation on specific and limited aspects, but also very representative; finally, on this largely contextualized documentation an historical interpretation will be developed.
The research on the craftsman modus operandi in the yard, the workshop, and in the atelier, will initially be carried out in the Vesuvian area, which can provide a comprehensive documentation both for archaeologists and archaeometrists, and then it will be also comparatively extended to Cisalpina and other provincial areas to verify both continuity and gaps, in space and in time, in the use of techniques.
The targets of the research’s analytical section are the following:

1. Workshop-houses:
1.1 - definition of the main features of these particular kind of dwellings in Pompeii, even on the grounds of earlier research carried out by members of the team, establishing also comparison parameters;
1.2 - a representative selection of archaeological remains testifying to domestic productive activities in the Cisalpina area, and their recording as well;
1.3 - archaeometrical analysis (materials characterization)
1.4 - comparison with sample-cases from Gallia Belgica and Raetia
1.5 - comparative study of archaeological materials with the documentation provided by papiri describing professions and jobs performed within the house.

2 - Decorators atelier:
2.1 - photogrammetric survey of the decorative system (wall paintings and mosaics) of the whole Insula III in Herculaneum;
2.2 - graphic survey of walls and floors to identify: methods used to arrange mural decorations; preparatory techniques and image rendering; perspective organization.
2.3 - recording of a painting subject rendered in multiple versions with variationes: the "flying figures" in Pompeii and Herculaneum
2.4 - comparison of acquired data about materials, techniques and methods with the decorative context from ongoing excavation in Cremona (Piazza Marconi).

3 - Yard
Structural investigation on the insula III of Herculaneum (exemplifying subject and methods of research) involving survey of building structures and evaluation of the static situation even with regard to modern restorations; for the first time tools for qualitative and quantitative analysis will be employed on archaeological structures. Beginning from the static interaction between neighbouring buildings, research will then focus on masonry techniques which testify to measures taken to add storeys and jutting rooms to buildings, as well as in restorations carried out after the 62 AD earthquake.

The analytical phase will provide repertories of integrated data (archaeological analysis, archaeometric analysis, comparison with literary sources) which will be highly useful for:
- comparisons with other contexts;
- restoration and exploitation projects (sites will be selected in cooperation with the Soprintendenze, to whom all the data will be made available).

The research will result in a final synthesis allowing the historical contextualizing of all the data collected, that cannot be anticipated, of course

Results will be published both in articles by single specialists, and in a single volume collecting all the contributions which will emphasize convergence and synergy of the various research, and that we hope will be the basis for future studies in a still unexplored research field. <<<

First Results

The research fields within which this research project will be developed, such as house-building, wall and floor decoration, architecture and masonry techniques, had been already dealt with in a number of earlier research that resulted in long-held knowledge; such research, however, have always neglected the specific subject of this project, that is the modus operandi of craftsmen and builders, decorators, manufacturers of various good: a solid base of canonical skills to which an heritage of specific workshop skills, often "local" as linked to the territorial context, was added.
To investigate in a systematic way on such an heritage of techniques and methods means to shed light on an important aspect of the ancient society, an interface among economy, technologies and artistic culture, to which the literary sources only occasionally hint at, while treatises like those written by Vitruvius and Pliny the Elder (essential bases, besides) have been largely outrun by the variety of real cases and, of course, by later developments.

Expected results, their interest for the advancement of the research and possible application potentialities


According to the sectors into which the research is divided, the expected results can be schematized as follows:

Workshop-house:
The circumstantial and documented definition, through an ample selection of cases, of the productive role of the house, basing on the Vesuvian area and then extending the study to Northern Italy, where this important research field has not been fully explored. This research will result in a new contribution allowing to draw the social-economical outline of the ancient city.
In fact the expected results:
- will allow to interprete in a more precise and truthful way the functional articulation of the remains of Roman houses;
this will have an important effect in communicating the results to the public in case of musealization of archaeological evidence;
-will allow to identify the most appropriate restoration strategies for scanty evidence of such activities.

The close cooperation with the archaeometric UR of the project, and with the ”Interdipartimental Centre of Infrared Reflectrography and Diagnostic of the Cultural Heritage" of the Milano University with the related INOA-CNR unit will provide the necessary archaeometric aid for the needed characterization of materials in order to identify productive activities.
The comparative and interdisciplinary study of archaeological records which pertains to ancient professions on the basis of written evidence, exemplified by technical scientific literature and papyrological documentation Papyri will provide, moreover, direct and original information on ancient professions with regard to specialized skills (lexica, or books in question and answers format used to teach the medicine practice), or daily life activities (private letters, accounts, work contracts, professional reports), with particular reference to the object nomenclatures that can explain the practical use of artifacts representing different genres of professional activities.
The comparative study of the literary and documentary testimonies, moreover, will focus on terminology used to mention terracotta artifacts pertaining to the doctor and pharmacist professional practice.

It has to be stressed that the comparative and integrated use of papyrological sources together with archaeological documentation pertaining to dwellings is innovative and very promising.

Decorators atelier:
Even in this case, as it has been explained in the “state of the art", a specific research approaching the handicraft know-how of the workshop of decorators has never been carried out before in such a systematic way and it represents thus an innovative piece of investigation.
In the proposed geographical and chronological context (HERCULANEUM and the Vesuvian area centers in general, with comparisons with the Cisalpine area, particularly with finds from ongoing excavation of piazza Marconi in Cremona, dating from the first century AD to the third century AD) we believe to be able to achieve the followings results:
- classification of the range of pigments and binders employed and of the methods of application, in close cooperation with the UR of Lecce;
- in situ recognition of the methods adopted to render subjects in paintings (drawings, sinopiae, outlines of flexible or rigid material etc) investigating in an exhaustive way on a decorative typology which displays original features, such as that of the "flying figures"
- in situ verification of mathematical and empirical knowledge applied in perspective representations, examining a number of wall-paintings ranging from the II Style to the IV style
- recognition of criterions and the metric bases adopted
to divide decorations to be applied onto wall and floor surfaces.
- range of materials and processes employed for paintings, plasters, mosaics.

- reconstruction of the process through which local painters became familiar with iconographies based on famous paintings which we believe were transmitted not through “mysterious” cartoons, but through pattern-books made on a scale.

This could be achieved only proving that the image rendering on wall-paintings was separated from the process concerning the transmission of iconographies, which implied also a different cultural background even though the two processes are often erroneously confused.

We believe that such an acquisition will be of remarkable importance because it will shed light on the way of transmission of the artistic culture (the "pattern-books") familiar both to the workshop and the patron; a learned imaginary that had its literary côté in the "literature of the ekphràseises".

Yard
The results expected in this field of investigation, that will be developed especially in the insula III of Hercolaneum, encompasses two large scientific sectors such as surveying engineering and structural engineering, and it will result in two kinds of practical use:
- for the study of the ancient masonry techniques, with particular attention to the specific solutions that have allowed the upraising of buildings in the first cent. AD and to the restorations carried out after the 62 earthquake
- and providing a very precise documentation for the restoration and safety.
Beginning with large scale survey operations such as digital photogrammetric techniques aimed at a 3-dimensional archive and an image archive of the chosen area, a solid base for the study can be obtained. In fact, vectorial and raster images from the application of modern geomatic techniques allow providing a number of informations about the distribution of buildings’ height, the out-of-plane of walls, etc.
Such information, when provided from the large scale to the detail, that is from a cluster of buildings down to the single cultural heritage object, make up a consistent contribution to the structural analysis.
The above mentioned knowledge path will be developed in three levels. In the first and more general, the insula (the block) will be surveyed according to the building types in order to study the interaction between the neighbouring buildings.
In the second, attention will be drawn on the building: the manifestations of damage and decay are surveyed and monitored, and the vulnerabilities are highlighted.
The third and last level will focus on detail on single structural elements. Its objectives are the information about the masonry techniques present and the identification of past strengthening interventions, both ancient and modern.
The procedure focuses on applying a multi-level knowledge path employing interdisciplinary and coordinated qualitative and quantitative analytical tools operating at various levels of detail.
The present research proposal, for the first time, wants to apply such procedure to masonry structures belonging to archaeological sites and to verify its reliability in the specific environment.
The high level of information mentioned above can be achieved only by applying on site non destructive testing experimental techniques joined to dedicated visual inspections carried out by trained personnel.


Archaeometric investigations
The investigations to which the UR of Lecce has been entrusted will provide the necessary archaeometric support to the other unities, analyzing the building and decorative materials: pigments, plasters, mortars and the relative application procedures.
As to the techniques, two different classes of methods will be used: on one hand well established techniques like ICP-MS, FT-IR, Raman will be used, on the other side innovative and less invasive procedures and techniques (like LA-ICP-MS), will be optimized, aiming at a more respectful treatment of the ancient manufacts and able to guarantee better results in terms of cleanliness and speed of analysis, precision and accuracy.
In particular, the capability of ICP-MS with sampling based on laser ablation (LA) for the characterization of archaeological material will be investigated. In the last decade the applications of mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and laser ablation (LA) as sample introduction system have been constantly increasing . LA provides interesting advantages, and the technique can be considered as essentially micro-destructive. However there are some drawbacks as to calibration difficulties, low accuracy and elemental fractionation .
Some example of investigation on the inorganic materials of mortar, plaster, stuccoes is already published . There is also a growing interest in the identification of organic archaeological materials. Traditional western wall paintings are mainly made of inorganic materials: lime-based plasters and mineral pigments; however, organic matter in small quantities has often been used to achieve different artistic and technological ends. In addition, the ‘contamination’ by restoration intervention carried out with organic matter, such as the application of egg or milk-based fixatives, provides for more complexity in the identification of the original organic components. Organic materials are typically added in smaller quantities than the inorganic (pigments and mortar) materials, are less stable and deteriorate faster than the inorganic components, and because of this, often only traces remain in old murals, making these organic components difficult to identify. As a result, both FTIR and modern and sensitive techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) and Curie point pyrolisis GCMS will be used.

The expected results concern therefore both a deep knowledge of the materials proposed by archaeological UR and the definition of innovative techniques in order to adjust them the delicate context in which we operate.

In conclusion we would like to point out that at least two kind of results are expected:

- the acquisition of a remarkable quantity of new objective data, systematically collected and characterized under the archaemoetrical viewpoint, on constructive and decorative techniques, that can be also very useful for other research;

-the spin-off on restoration and enhancement projects.

- The Soprintendenze of involved areas have already given their permission to carry out the research, contributing also to the choice of cases-study, since they acknowledge to what extent conservation and enhancement issues will profit from the data which will be acquired on structures, material, state of preservation and effects of previous restorations.

Results will be published both in articles by single specialists, and in a single volume collecting all the contributions which will emphasize convergence and synergy of the various research, and that we hope will be the basis for future studies in a still unexplored research field. <<<

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

Techniques, organisation and production culture in the roman world: this theme in the last decades has been object of several searches, that however focused on other purposes.
In the international scientific landscape the peculiarity of this project is the integrated approach, archaeological and archaeometric, on a selection of significant cases of study, representative of different productive backgrounds:
1 - Productive activities (commerce, craftsmanship, professional life) in the city house, as a relevant component of the socio-economic life of the ancient city, because it constitutes a major archaeological reflex of the growing middle and lower middle class population in Roman Imperial Society.
2 - The decorators atelier (painters, plasterers, mosaicists) as the place where competences, experiences and artistic culture are formed and transmitted.
3 - The yard as the place of application of traditional constructive techniques, but also as the place of experimentation of new solutions

1- PRODUCTIVE ACTIVITIES (COMMERCE, CRAFTSMANSHIP, PROFESSIONAL LIFE) IN THE CITY HOUSE

The multifunctionality of the Roman House has been explored with regard to the Vesuvian cities in the scholarly work of Wallace-Hadrill 1994, Laurence and Wallace Hadrill 1997 and Zanker 1995, more devoted to social life, communicative and representative functions than to productive activities. On this basis further studies considered the typological and construction aspects (not functional) in the hellenistic period (Nappo 1993-94; Pesando 1997), with a few exception dealing with housing habits (Dickmann 1999) and reconstrucion of daily life (Cantarella, Jacobelli 2003). The artisan work (but not the relationship with the planning of urban spaces) is the topic of a general work about Pompeii by La Torre 1988; other contributions on single Pompeian and Herculanean craftshops (Angelone 1986, Kastenmeier 2007, Proto 2007, Monteix and Peris Buleghin 2006 about Ercolano Insula VI); reconstruction of techniques exhibited in some Pompeian atelier (leathercraft, parfumes) by Brun 2004.

The productive function of domestic spaces of Northern Italy sites has been neglected in most studies of urban form which focus on the Domestic Scene of the Ancient City. Nevertheless, this function emerges in part through the publication of particular archeological contexts (see Ortalli, 2001). A preliminar investigation of the Cisalpina context points to a new trend in the function of domestic spaces such as the economic utilisation of rooms previously destined to external relationship. This phenomenon has been appreciated in the Vesuvian Cities and explained as a sign of movement of people and social changes due to the earthquake.
The main objective of the proposed Research is to explain the nature of the overall phenomenon observed for the Vesuvian Cities. It can be suggested that these features should be used to indicate patterns of productive, professional and commercial activities into an urban society becoming more and more complex.With reference to Northern Italy sites Scagliarini Corlaita (1983) understood the remains of bathtubs and canalisations existing in Roman houses of hight level as the tools that were part of a production process which included transport and commerce. Further recent studies on the ancient craftwork (Santoro 2004) and the results compared with data emerging from the Roman Provinces Raetia and Gallia Belgica (Gogräfe, Kell 2002; Polfer 2005; Petit 2007) attest to the economic development and urbanisation in the Roman Imperial Period. This growth implies a parallel dissemination of productive, professional activities in other parts of the Roman Empire. It can be argued that these activities took place in domestic spaces designed to serve these purposes.

A better understanding of types and gendres of domestic activities involved in the productive process will be assisted by a concentrated investigation of the archeological records supported by archeometric analysis. The written documentation offered in turn by (papyri) is expected to advance our knowledge of ancient techniques employed by artisans, and their professional background: on this topic see I. Andorlini with reference to dyeing and painting materials (ANDORLINI 1998, ANDORLINI, LUCARELLI, MANDO'2001).

2 - THE DECORATORS ATELIER (PAINTERS, PLASTERERS, MOSAICISTS)

A well-established line of research that have been pursued for at least a century and it is linked to the traditional studies on the "dependence" of the Roman art from the Greek models, is directed to the identification of the "famous pictures" that inspired the paintings in the vesuvian area, often with poor results (P.Moreno, Pittura greca, Milano 1987).
In the last years, this line of research has been renewed, looking at the social and cultural Roman context for the reasons both of the choice of models and of its variations or substitutions with other iconographic schemes (BALDASSARRE 1981; PARISE BADONI 1990; GHEDINI 1997).
In these research the issue about the way with which the studios adopted the models has been proposed in a marginal, even if stimulating, way ("cartoni?" or, more likely, repertoires of drawings and sketches: Ph. Bruneau, Les mosaïstes antiques avaient-ils des cahiers de modèles? (suite, probablement sans fin), in Ktema 25, 2000, pp. 91-197)), seeking how they managed to adapt them for the reproduction on the surfaces to be decorated and to the new context. It is well known that on these albums of images the papyrus of Artemidoro (Settis 2006)

Another line of research has developed around the theme of the organization of the workshop of painters and on the relationships and hierarchies existing among painters with different specializations, from the pictor coronarius to the pictor imaginarius. On such issue an important scientific debate developed in the conference organized in Rome by the Dutch insti. in 1995 (Mani di pittori 1995).
In last years from the same scientific field was established a methodology for the attribution of the wall paintings to a workshop or to a painter, trough the recognition of recurrent details, according to the well known "Giovanni's Morelli method used by Beazley to isolate individual decorators of Greek pots. Of the most recent investigations in this sense (de Vos, Peters, Moormann 1993, Esposito 1999). For the stuccoes, is significant the extensive doctoral thesis by Nicole Blanc, “Le stuc dans l’art romain, Paris 2007 still unpublished but consultable

The studies on the perspective organization of the wall decoration largely developed in the fifties and seventhies, after the di E.Panofsky (1957); Little 1971; Richter 1970; D. Gioseffi, Perspectiva artificialis. Often the works took a dangerous abstract form, developing a sort of metaphysics of the perspective, lacking the necessary and continuous test on the archaeological evidence. An exception is represented by the excellent essay by J. Engemann (1967), that we consider as the basis for the research here proposed.

A lively field of research, now regularly added to archaeological excavations, consist in the archaeometric study of paintings and mosaics, as in Santoro 2007.
The research moves towards a new direction, because we intend to reconstruct the "modus operandi" of ancient decorators in its instrumental, technical and cognitive characteristics, interpreting it as non secondary component of the artistic culture performed by those who through the means of art met the self representation demand .


3 – THE YARD: ARCHAEOMETRY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE ARCHITECTURE

Nowadays a considerable improving in metrical survey techniques has been observed in the framework of Cultural Heritage, thanks to the development of computer science technologies and instruments.
Applications of scientific research on survey go from architectural and archaeological survey to visualization and exploration techniques in virtual reality. Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Digital Photogrammetry are at present the best methodologies for surface surveys (walls, mosaics, etc.), because they are able to produce thick grids of three dimensional measured points in short time .
3D Models coming from these techniques of survey furnish a fundamental geometric documentation of the object surveyed; furthermore constitutes the starting point for finite elements models needed for structural engineering investigations basic for the evaluation of the safety of structures and for the design of interventions aimed at their protection and restoration .
In the frame of survey applied to Cultural Heritage, the proposing group has an intense experience. Composite and complicated surveys have been realized using modern topographic and photogrammetric instruments, GPS receivers, Remote Sensing technique for the
survey of entire areas or single objects of artistic, archaeological or architectonic interest.
The unit research can give to the project their multi-year experience in the diagnostic field with techniques such as georadar, sonic test, impact-echo and thermal test, constitute the state-of-the-art in the Italian and international field (i.e. the use of impact-echo testing).
In the field of the structural modelling, the experience reached in the previous project have highlighted the aspects connected to the quite difficult task of the mechanical characterization of the “masonry materials” including the degradation of materials. The research activity also investigate the field of the survey as a support to the the structural model and as a validation comparison. Connected to this late point there are several experience accomplished by the Research Unit in the evaluation of roof-structures to protect archaeological excavations. Finally, the need to organize and make available in an effective way the information coming from the observations and analysis carried out led to the creation of a database .


4 – ARCHAEOMETRY OF MATERIALS: THE CONTRIBUTION OF ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY


Among the current historiographic trends in the field of archaeology, the theme of “Crafts Archaeology” is rapidly developing. Recently, in the view of a closer and more effective collaboration among different disciplines that have not been stringly interacting at least in Italy, those aspects have been studied not only with traditional archaeological methods, but also using archaeometric techniques, that revealed to be efficient and indispensable, to answer new questions or to reconsider old hypotheses in history, that were not based on solid evidences. Potteries are among the most studied findings, the best “fossils” for driving investigations in archaeological contests; the method of stratigraphic excavation, though, has focused interest also on other kind of objects.
This group is engaged since different years in investigations concerned with the physico-chemical characterisation, restoration and conservation of cultural heritage in Regione Puglia in collaboration with the “Soprintendenze ai Beni Culturali”. The investigations were carried out by using the most advanced techniques, and they were particularly applied for both bulk and surface analysis. As to the techniques, two different classes of methods will be used: on one hand well established techniques like ICP-MS, FT-IR, Raman will be used, on the other side innovative and less invasive procedures and techniques (like LA-ICP-MS), will be optimized, aiming at a more respectful treatment of the ancient manufacts and able to guarantee better results in terms of cleanliness and speed of analysis, precision and accuracy.
In particular, the capability of ICP-MS with sampling based on laser ablation (LA) for the characterization of archaeological material will be investigated. In the last decade the applications of mass spectrometry with inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and laser ablation (LA) as sample introduction system have been constantly increasing . LA provides interesting advantages over solution analysis such as the reduced time of sample preparation and the low amount of sample used for the analysis, also avoiding risks of contamination and the use of hazardous reagents. Laser ablation has the added advantages of providing excellent absolute detection limits due to the small amounts of sample required for a single determination (300 ng of glass for analysis instead of about ten mg needed for solution work): for this reasons the technique can be considered as essentially micro-destructive. However there are some drawbacks as to calibration difficulties, low accuracy and elemental fractionation .
Some example of investigation on the inorganic materials of mortar, plaster, stuccoes is already published . There is also a growing interest in the identification of organic archaeological materials. Traditional western wall paintings are mainly made of inorganic materials: lime-based plasters and mineral pigments; however, organic matter in small quantities has often been used to achieve different artistic and technological ends. In addition, the ‘contamination’ by restoration intervention carried out with organic matter, such as the application of egg or milk-based fixatives, provides for more complexity in the identification of the original organic components. Organic materials are typically added in smaller quantities than the inorganic (pigments and mortar) materials, are less stable and deteriorate faster than the inorganic components, and because of this, often only traces remain in old murals, making these organic components difficult to identify. As a result, both FTIR and modern and sensitive techniques like gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) and Curie point pyrolisis GCMS will be used. <<<