Archaeometry and urban archaeology: the case study of Sant'Agata la Vetere church (Catania, Sicily)

A. M. Gueli, V. Garro, S. Pasquale, G. Politi, G. Stella, D. Tanasi

Abstract

The church of Sant'Agata la Vetere in Catania is located in a complex area of urban stratification and, according to historical sources, it is considered the first cathedral of the city. The occasion of archaeological excavations in the area of Sant’Agata la Vetere yielded many finds. Among these, frescoes, fragments of glass and mosaic tiles were dated, on an archaeological basis, to the 3rd and 4th centuries BC. The aim of the present work is to provide a scientific contribution to the archaeological classification of the site through the characterization of the finds from a compositional and colorimetric points of view in order to gain insight about their manufacture. The different kinds of finds called for combined non-destructive methodologies for having complete and expanded information. The techniques employed were XRF for the compositional investigation and visible spectrophotometry for the colorimetric analysis coupled with the Raman spectrometry for pigment identification.

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IMEKO TC

TC4 - Measurement of Electrical Quantities

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