A Multi-Disciplinary Contribution to the Provenance Determination of Ancient Greek and Roman Marble Artifacts

The problem of determining the provenance of the white marble used for antique artifacts has been tackled in different ways. During the past decade it became clear that a multimethod approach is required to solve the problem. In addition, reliable reference material, i.e., samples collected at the ancient quarry sites in an archaeologically and geologically justified manner, turned out to be a prerequisite for reliable provenance determination. A multimethod approach based on petrography, stable isotope analysis of O and C, and trace element analysis yields complementary information. These methods were applied to the same set of 225 quarry samples. When processed with powerful statistical methods, the data thus obtained allowed all major types of marble used in antiquity to be distinguished. Thus, most problems concerning the provenance of artifacts can be solved. This approach was successfully applied to the provenance determination of about 75 artifacts from different museums in Europe and the USA.