Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
Mount Pentelikus in Attica, Greece, and Carrara marble from Carrara in Italy,
were probably the best known in classical antiquity. Red-mottled Siena
marble, from Tuscany in Italy, and Tecali marble from Mexico are other well-
known examples of widely used types of marble. Because it is easily shaped
and polished, marble has been widely used since early antiquity for build-
ing and statuary. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the characterization
of archaeological marble, the determination of its provenance, and the study
of ancient marble trading patterns have attracted and continue to attract
much attention (Getty Museum 1990). A wide range of analytical techniques
have been used to study, for example, the provenance of marble (Maniatis
2004). Some of these techniques include analysis of trace elements (Mathews
1997), thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance (Armiento
et al. 1997), and determination of the ratios of stable isotopes of oxygen
and carbon (see Fig. 13) (Walker and Matthews 1988; Craig and Craig 1972).
FIGURE 13
Carbon and oxygen isotopes in marble.
Measuring the weight ratios
between the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen (i.e., of carbon-13 to carbon-12 and
of oxygen-18 to oxygen-16) in marble often enables one to differentiate between dif-
ferent sources of the rock. Having determined such ratios (represented by δ in the
graph) in samples from well-known ancient marble sources from the Greek Aegean
Islands and from archaeological marble made it possible to identify the sources of the
marble. With only one exception, that of marble from the Naxos quarries, these ratios
are specific for each source and different from isotopic ratios in other sources (Craig
and Craig 1972).
