Abstract
The Roman municipium of Forum Sempronii (Fossombrone, Marche) was located along the ‘Via Consolare Flaminia’, in the stretch of road where it ran along the final sector of the valley of the River Metauro (Mataurus). The ancient colony of Forum Sempronii, which is cited by Strabo, Pliny, and Ptolemy, was found in the second century BC, probably on the site of an earlier community and its activity continued until the end of the fifth century AD. During ancient and more recent archaeological excavations, many fragments of coloured stones and marbles, and some white marble sculptures have been unearthed.
In this paper, we report the results of the provenance identification of the white marbles used for the sculptures found in the archaeological site of Forum Sempronii and now displayed at the local archaeological museum. The determination of the source origin of the white marbles used for the sculptures has been established by mineralogical-petrographic and geochemical analyses. Microscopic study of thin sections together with carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios indicate that more than one type of white marbles was used: Pentelikon, Lunense, and Thasian.
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Acknowledgements
This research was made possible through the useful and experienced cooperation of the Director of the Archaeological Museum of Fossombrone, Dr. G. Gori, who also supplied most of the archaeological information about the sculptures under investigation as well as assistance to F. Antonelli during the sampling procedure. Thanks are due to Professor M. Luni (University of Urbino) for his sustained support.
This work was carried out partially with the equipment acquired within “Iuav_Lab”, a project of the IUAV University of Venice realized with the contribution of the “European Regional Development Fund” (ERDF), Veneto Region, the Regional Operational Programme—Objective Regional competitiveness & employment 2007–2013.
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Antonelli, F., Columbu, S., Lezzerini, M. et al. Petrographic characterization and provenance determination of the white marbles used in the Roman sculptures of Forum Sempronii (Fossombrone, Marche, Italy). Appl. Phys. A 115, 1033–1040 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-7938-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-013-7938-2