Understanding Ancient Roman mortars through building archaeology and archaeometry

This paper intends to show, through a practical example from Ostia antica, how fruitful a collaboration can be between archaeologists and archaeometrists for the study of Roman mortars. The case presented is a single building of the ancient city of Ostia, the sc. Caseggiato delle Taberne Finestrate (IV, V, 18). Through the combination of building archaeology and petrography, the study of Roman mortars can provide useful information on technique and crafstmanship of Roman builders. Moreover, inserted in an archaeologically studied context, archaeometric analyses can provide an useful tool for dating specific structures, enlightening characteristics specific to certain periods