Publication Date:
2021-01-21
Description:
A Roman luxury villa (1st century BC) was discovered in the town of Positano, in the Sorrento
peninsula (Campania region, southern Italy). Despite being more than 20 km away from
Vesuvius, the villa was buried under almost overall 20 meters (total thickness) of pyclastic
materials of the Plinian eruption of 79 AD, which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum
towns. The exceptional level of conservation of this residential complex is due to the peculiar
burial process, which determined the excellent state of preservation of both the fresco
decorations (Fourth Style) and all other artefacts (masonries, plasters, tiles, furnishing
remains, wooden elements, kitchenware, glazed oil lamps, bronze vessels and other metallic
findings, etc.). This study presents the results of a multi-analytical archaeometric analysis of
plasters, fresco pigments and roof tiles, aimed at identifying their mineralogical and
petrographic nature and the provenance of raw materials. Constraints to the
geoarchaeological landscape of the Positano area are also given. The analyzed plasters are
mainly lime-based, usually with the addition of an aggregate. The anchoring layer is made by
a volcanic component, characterized by clinopyroxene, alkali feldspar, garnet, amphibole,
biotite and leucite crystals, together with a sedimentary component represented by carbonatic
fragments, also with traces of microfossils. The features of plasters confirm the high degree of
technological standardization of plasters in classical Roman age. Mineral pigments
recognized by preliminary XRD are mainly iron-based for the ochers-red-crimson colors and
copper-based for green-blues colors. In the roof tiles two kind of tempers are identified. In
three samples a volcanic temper was identified, and represented by clinopyroxene, feldspar,
garnet and leucite, whereas the temper of a fourth sample contained pumices with minor
amounts of alkali feldspar, clinopyroxene and biotite. The raw materials are of local
provenance (Somma-Vesuvius, Phlegraean Fields, Apennine limestones), and the
microstructure of the materials are comparable with similar artefacts from Pompeii,
Herculaneum and other Roman sites in Campania region. On the basis of geoarchaeological
investigations, here reported, it is reasonable to think that there are other unearthed
archaeological areas in Positano that will require further study to be properly known.
Description:
Published
Description:
319-344
Description:
5V. Processi eruttivi e post-eruttivi
Description:
JCR Journal
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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