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Identification of green pigments from fragments of Roman mural paintings of three Roman sites from north of Germania Superior

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Abstract

Roman mural green pigment painting fragments from three Roman sites in the north of the Roman province Germania Superior: Koblenz Stadtwald Remstecken (KOSR), Weißenthurm “Am guten Mann” (WEIS) and Mendig Lungenkärchen (MELU), dating from second and third centuries AD were analyzed. The experiments were performed nondestructively using synchrotron-based scanning macro-X-ray fluorescence (SR-MA-XRF), synchrotron-based scanning micro-X-ray fluorescence (SR-μ-XRF), synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Correlation between SR-MA-XRF, SR-μ-XRF elemental map distributions and optical images of scanned areas was mainly found for the elements Ca, Fe and K. With XRF, Fe and K were identified correlated with green pigment, but in samples from two sites, Mendig Lungenkärchen and Weißenthurm “Am guten Mann”, also Cu was detected in minor concentration. The results of SR-XRD and Raman spectroscopy were limited to one sample from Weißenthurm “Am guten Mann”. In this sample, green earth and calcium carbonate were identified by SR-XRD and, additionally, malachite by Raman spectroscopy.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Generaldirektion Kulturelles Erbe (GDKE) for providing the fragments for this study, Markus Meinen and Peter Henrich for the support. Ralf Lang and Wolfgang Möck provided technical support at the beamline. Beamtime at ANKA Synchrotron Radiation Facility is acknowledged. R. Debastiani also thanks CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico-Brazil) for the scholarship number 202311/2013-9.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ANKA-IBPT/IPS, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

    Rafaela Debastiani, Rolf Simon, Joerg Goettlicher, Ralph Steininger, David Batchelor, Michael Fiederle & Tilo Baumbach

  2. Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Rafaela Debastiani

  3. Freiburg Materials Research Center (FMF), University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

    Michael Fiederle

  4. Institute of Functional Interfaces (IFG), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany

    Stefan Heissler

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  1. Rafaela Debastiani
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Correspondence to Rafaela Debastiani.

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Debastiani, R., Simon, R., Goettlicher, J. et al. Identification of green pigments from fragments of Roman mural paintings of three Roman sites from north of Germania Superior. Appl. Phys. A 122, 871 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-016-0400-5

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