Archeometrical study of marmora from Vetus Vrbs of Italica (Santiponce, Seville, Spain)

Abstract

This paper shows the archaeometric analyses carried out on marmora located at the Cerro de San Antonio (San Antonio Hill), within the archaeological site of Italica (Santiponce, Seville, Spain). This area of the site was an outstanding topographic point of the so-called vetus urbs of Italica. Various Roman public buildings stood here and the archaeological elements studied here would have formed part of their architectural decoration. For this study, samples of stone material have been selected from the theatre and the Temple of Isis, located in the porticus post scaenam, as well as from the excavation of no. 19 Feria Street. The materials have been analysed with petrographic, mineralogical and geochemical methods. The results confirm a major presence of Hispanic marmora from sources within the Baetican and Lusitanian provinces. As an appendix, we present a specific study of the stone materials from the Sierra de Córdoba (Cordoba Mountains) and Alconera (Badajoz) quarries, as well as those of the Trigaches and Ficalho (Portugal) quarries.