Marble Sculpture and Architecture

I am widely known in the classical archaeology world for doing multi-method analyses of marble objects to determine their geological source (microscopy to determine maximum grain size, X-ray diffraction to test for dolomite, XRF analysis for Mn and Sr concentrations, carbon and oxygen isotope analysis). These include my analysis of major marble sculpture collections in the Boston, Cleveland, Rhode Island, and many other museums, including most recently in the Vatican. Furthermore, I have conducted field research on quarries in Algeria and characterized many North African sources. I am also the only one to have conducted these analyses on Maya marble vessels, attributing them to sources in Honduras. The use of marble is limited mostly to the elite, but major differences in source utilization have been shown over time in the Mediterranean, and between different classes of the elite.

Ancient quarrying of marble at a source area in Algeria Using non-destructive XRF for dolomite, Mn, Sr testing

ThermoFisher MAT253 Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer at USF Stable isotope data for North Africa marble sources

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Send questions or comments to: R. Tykot