Physical-Chemical study for the characterization and for the traceability of archaeological finds in the Rome area

The present research concerns a comparative study between the chemical and mineralogical composition of the sixteen century potteries found inside the Castle of Pope Giulio II in Ostia Antica (Rome) and clay samples taken from the quarries of roman territory historically validated. The purpose of this research has been to provide scientific support to archaeologists who are carrying out studies to establish if the ancient ceramics collected had been made in roman territory or imported from the major famous pottery factories of central-northen Italy. The study of geographical traceability of everyday objects such as potteries would be important to trace the production part of Rome in a era in which wars and invasions had created great social unrest. Specifically, have been carried out experimental X-ray diffraction analysis of minerals, chemical composition analysis by La-ICP-MS(Laser Ablaction-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass) techniques and optical and electronic SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope ) microscopy images have been studied. All of the data obteined was processed with different statistical methods, such as the linear correlation between the chemical composition of clay and ceramics and the multivariate analysis (PCA) in order to formulate hypothesis concerning the production geographic area of archeological findsTesi di dottorato di ricercaMinistero per i Beni e le Attività Cultural