Provenance materials for Vitruvius harenae fossiciae and pulvis puteolanis Geochemical signature and historical–archaeological implications》.pdf

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 2 (2015) 186 –203 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports journal homepage: http: ///jasrep Provenance materials for Vitruvius harenae fossiciae and pulvis puteolanis : Geochemical signature and historical–archaeological implications E. DAmbrosio a, F. Marra b,⁎, A. Cavallo b, M. Gaeta c, G. Ventura b a Via Cupa 5, 00048 Nettuno, Rome, Italy b Istituto Nazionale di Geofi sica e Vulcanologia, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143 Rome, Italy c Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Sapienza-Università di Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Article history: In this paper we present new geochemical and petrographic data aimed at identifying the volcanic materials used Received 25 September 2014 in Roman times to produce the fine aggregate of mortars employed in the construction of terrestrial (harenae Received in revised form 15 January 2015 fossiciae ) and maritime (pulvis ) masonry structures, described by Vitruvius in De Architectura. Using trace- Accepted 23 January 2015 element discrimination diagrams, this study establishes the lithological provenance of a selected dataset of mor- Available online 7 February 2015 tar aggregates sampled from Roman edifices in the ancient Etruscan towns of Sutri, Vulci and Volsinii (Bolsena), from Rome (Temple of Castor and Pollux, Temple B of Largo Argentina, Forum of