Studi e ricerche

Primo studio archeometrico di sarcofagi e vere da pozzo medievali rinvenuti in area veneziana e ravennate

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Abstract

Many Medieval sarcophagi found in the Northern Adriatic area dating to the Roman period were reused and often also reworked, in the IX and X century. However, some were suspected to be instead of Medieval quarrying. All have been sculpted from limestones from Aurisina, a Rudists limestone quarried in the province of Trieste, or from other similar Dalmatian limestones such as that of Brazza (Brač, province of Split). The same may hold for several coeval wellheads evidently produced from Roman spolia such as large capitals and columns. To confirm the macroscopic identification, of the limestones on an archaeometric basis, as well as to verify their Roman or Medieval quarrying, samples taken from 15 sarcophagi and 6 wellheads were analysed for their stable isotopic composition of C and O. The criteria for this analytical choice, and the methodology used are briefly described and the results discussed with reference to two initial isotopic databases relative to the main quarry of Aurisina and some quarries of Brazza which were both very important sources of building and decorative stones for the Roman Adriatic towns. The results suggest that 11 sarcophagi and 4 wellheads have most probably been carved out from Aurisina whereas 3 and 1 from Brazza limestone, respectively. One sarcophagus resulted carved from the Assos (Behramkale) andesite, and one wellhead from Proconnesian marble (island of Marmara), both localities in present-day Turkey.


open access | peer reviewed

Submitted: June 9, 2025 | Accepted: Aug. 5, 2025 | Published March 5, 2026 | Language: it

Copyright © 2026 Lorenzo Lazzarini, Nereo Preto. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/979-12-5742-002-4/015


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