The challenge of a successful discrimination of ancient marbles (part IV): A databank for the white marbles from the region of Ephesos

Abstract

The data presented in the “Supplementary Material” are intended to supply a databank for future marble provenance analysis of artefacts to be checked against Ephesian marbles. For the sake of comparability, the methods of analysis of a sample to be investigated have to be in strict compliance with the analytical methods that were used for the preparation of this databank. In a first step it is shown that there are several different types of Ephesian marbles due to their different geologic sources. These various types of Ephesian marbles are characterised and it is shown that they can be separated by the use of a combination of different variables analysed thus the isotopic overlap can be largely reduced and an intra-site discrimination is possible. Using this multi method approach it is furthermore possible to largely tell apart the Ephesian marbles from other similar medium-grained marbles used in Antiquity all over the Roman Empire. Though not considered to be “white marbles”, the analytical data for the Ephesian Greco Scritto marble from the area of Hasançavuşlar some 20 km NE of Ephesos are presented in order to enable a future user to discriminate against similar grey mottled marbles from Cap de Garde or from Prokonessos.