A New Methodology for the Provenance of Marble Based on EPR Spectroscopy

Abstract

Fifteen years of research in investigating the characteristics of the EPR spectra of different types of white marble from several quarries in the Eastern Mediterranean has produced an accumulation of a large number of data, and much experience. Statistical treatment of these EPR data (statistical distributions and parameter correlations), has led to the selection of 10 parameters that are useful for quarry discrimination. Apart from the EPR parameters, the maximum grain size, measured with a stereomicroscope, has been found very useful. Boxplots have been found to be very useful as a first easy visual tool for evaluating the discrimination capacity of each parameter. On the basis of these results, a new methodology for determining the provenance of an archaeological sample was developed in stages, using a different pair or combination of parameters each time. In the first stage, the Penteli, Naxos, Hymettus and Proconnessus quarries are completely separated from each other. However, overlapping occurs between the parameter fields of Paros and Proconnessus, Paros and Hymettus and between the two archaic quarries of Melanes and Apollon on Naxos. If the sample is located in a non‐overlapping area, its provenance is obvious and easily determined. If the sample lies in one of the above three overlapping areas, an additional stage is necessary, in which other parameters are used to eliminate or decrease the overlap. Despite the partial overlapping of Paros with other quarries, the famous Lychnites marble of Paros, which was quarried underground, is clearly distinguished.

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