Abstract
Iulia Concordia is an important Roman settlement especially known for the production of weapons during the Roman Empire. Excavations of the area revealed the evidence of metal-working activities and a huge number of well preserved arrowheads (sagittae) were found. In order to investigate the conservation state of the finds and to shed light about the production processes used by Roman for the manufacturing of sagittae, a neutron tomography analysis was performed on NEUTRA beam line at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland. Here, we present results from our investigation conducted on 18 samples, disclosing, in a non-invasive way, the morphological characteristic related to the ancient Roman working techniques.
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Appendix
Appendix
Hereafter, we reported cross sections taken from the 3D reconstruction of the investigated arrowheads, which were not shown in the main section of the paper. The data are arranged according to the three different categories of samples: triangular, flat and quadrangular.
Each sample is virtually cut along three orthogonal directions: the upper image is always referred to the axial section, whose position is defined by the horizontal red line crossing the normal and transversal views, placed side by side on the bottom. The normal and transversal slices are acquired at the centre of the axial one. At the top of each slice-group, the sample reference number is reported.
1.1 Triangular arrowheads
The reported samples feature a non-homogeneous body with dark areas (slag inclusions) and presence of inner cracks (red arrows). The condition of conservation is very poor and the alteration diffuses from the surface into the body through fractures
Inner crack (red arrow) and detached portions with glue application are visible in sample 53. An intense alteration of the iron can be evidenced for the samples 57
The orthogonal view shows a detached tip, reconnected with glue. Also for sample 82, inner crack are present
1.2 Flat arrowheads
See Fig. 9.
Due to the intense alteration of the inner volume, the structure of arrowhead 43 is hard to define. Also in this sample the fragile and rusty tip was probably restored applying a glue (red arrow)
1.3 Quadrangular arrowheads
Both samples exhibited the presence of inner cracks. While sample 35 is well preserved, in arrowhead 36 preferentially the tale appears alternated
Inner cracks, trace of slag inclusion, detached superficial rusty portions are visible in the reported virtual cross section of the samples
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Salvemini, F., Grazzi, F., Angelini, I. et al. Morphological reconstruction of Roman arrowheads from Iulia Concordia: Italy. Appl. Phys. A 117, 1227–1240 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8511-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-014-8511-3