Provenance study of the white marbles of the “Baths of Elagabalus” at the Palatine Hill in Rome

Abstract

The provenance of marbles, mainly used for sculptural material and recently unearthed from the foundations of a building dating back to the Late Antiquity at the Palatine Hill (Rome), has been determined using a well-established multimethod approach that includes petrographic, isotopic, cathodoluminescence and trace element analytical techniques. Almost the totality of this material was supposedly relevant to a building complex developed in the Severan age, thus allowing investigation about the use and distribution of sculptural marbles in such a temporal context. A large fraction of the marbles tested are shown to be from Asia Minor, originating mostly from the recently discovered site of Goktepe near Aphrodisias, whereas non-Asiatic marbles include Paros-lychnitic and non-lychnitic, and Pentelicon provenances. Carrara seems to play a subordinate role, related mainly to architectural elements. Petrography was the starting point for assignment elaboration. This study confirms the importance of strontium concentration and the contribution of cathodoluminescence to distinguish Goktepe from Carrara marble as previous studies have already shown. Carbon and oxygen isotopes were crucial for the identification of Paros-lychnite and Penteli marbles, respectively. The multimethod, however, remains the most reliable approach for assigning the provenance of white ancient marbles.