RICERCA ITALIANA     

Development of reliable guidelines in the chemical characterization of works of art; case study: Vesuvian area (Hercolaneum and Pompeii)

Università degli Studi di Bari

Abstract

The aim of the project is the development of innovative analytical methodologies as well as the optimization of already established procedures to be employed for the chemical and physico-chemical characterization of archeological samples.
Ceramics, mosaics, glasses, bronzes and wall paintings from Vesuvian area (Hercolaneum, Pompeii), dating from VI sec. B.C. to 79 A.C., will be analysed by a systematic approach based on the use of complementary micro-distructive/non-destructive techniques in order to get precious information about production techniques, raw materials, degradation status. This information will lead to make hypotheses on the provenance of objects, the school of the artisans,the existence of commercial as well as cultural exchanges.
Deliverables of the project will be well defined protocols which could serve as reliable guidelines in archeometric investigations similar to those of the present study, helpful in the selection of the better approach to get the right answers to clear archeological questions with the minimum invasive impact onto the good of arts.
The presence of a research unit composed from archeologists and specialists in archeological heritage conservation ("Funzionari di Soprintendenza"), as well as the presence of archeologists within the other research units represent a point of strength of this project in that they will guarantee the consistency of the archeological objects, define the selection of proper sites for >>>

Principal Investigator

Luigia SABBATINI Università degli Studi di BARI

Research Objectives

The aim of the project is to emphasize the role and the power of chemical characterization in the study and valorization of archaeological heritage.
A comprehensive and interdisciplinary methodological approach will be implemented in order to define protocols which could serve as reliable guidelines in archeometric investigations, with two main goals:
- the selection of the better approach to get the right answers to archeological questions
- the reduction of the invasive impact of chemical analysis onto the material evidence of cultural heritage.
The project will develop essentially through two main research lines to reach the following targets:
1)Set up of innovative analytical chemical procedures and optimization of established methods
2)A multifaceted characterization of selected archaeological materials as test-field of the developed methodologies.
The project consortium is composed of five Research Units (RUs): Bari-BA, Bologna-BO, Modena-MO, Parma-PR, Venice-VE. Four of the five RUs (BA, MO, PR, VE) are mainly composed by chemists, while RU-BO is composed from archaeologists and specialists in archeological heritage conservation ("Funzionari di Soprintendenza") and will be the reference for archaeological activities.
A continuous interaction among the RUs will be essential to reach the project targets; actually, a set of complementary tasks are assigned to each Unit in order to create a frame of activities >>>

Timescale

24 months

National and international background

Among the current historiographic trends in the field of archaeology, the theme of "Crafts Archaeology" [1] is rapidly developing. This theme is included in the wider area of "material culture "considered, in general "as attention for all man products and, in the same way, as investigation of the relationships of production, trade, use" (1, p.XIII). Recently, in the view of a closer and more effective collaboration among different disciplines that were not interacting so far – humanistic and scientific - the aspects indicated above 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.

Among classes of archaeological materials wall paintings, floor moasaics and pottery have certainly been the most studied findings and will represent, with also glasses and bronzes, the case studies of the present project, in particular, the production unearthed in the archaeological sites of Vesuvian Area (Pompeii and Herculaneum).

The research unit of Bologna, as well as other groups, is working since many years on archaeological/archaeometric projects focused on these sites but many questions remain still open [2-6].
Wall paintings: is it possible to recognize a single workshop by the identification of materials and painting technique? Which are >>>