Michele Secco

Mortars stand among the very few materials that theoretically cannot be reused due to irreversible hardening processes. Among the various dating techniques, radiocarbon and Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) struggle for being selected as the most robust and reliable dating technique for the specific material. The principle of mortar OSL dating depends on the bleaching of the quartz grains of the sandy aggregate while mixing and laying the mortar to daylight. Thus, the OSL ages strongly depend on the effective bleaching of the quartz. Here, we deal with OSL ages from the old Roman Theatre of Padua. Preliminary OSL results based on Single Aliquot Regeneration (SAR) protocol using three regenerated doses to multigrain (MG) quartz aliquots, indicated distributions of ED (Equivalent Dose) leading to significant mismatch of these results compared to the expected ages. The present work attempts to …

Rediscovering A Long-Forgotten Fresco by Giotto Page 23 23 Convegno Tematico AIAR-2024 ORAL Ricci G. 1, 2, Secco M. 2, 3, Marzaoli F. 4, Passariello I. 4, Terrasi F. 4, Artioli G. 1, 2 Ricci Giulia-giulia. ricci@ unipd. it 1 Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università di Padova, 35131 Padova, Italia 2 Centro CIRCe, Università di Padova, 35131 Padova, Italia 3 Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali (DBC), Università di Padova, 35139 Padova, Italia 4 Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica, Università della Campania ‘‘Luigi Vanvitelli’’, 81020 Caserta, Italia Numerous accounts from travelers and artists, including Lorenzo Ghiberti and Giorgio Vasari, documented the existence of a vast fresco attributed to Giotto and his school in the Sala del Capitolo of the Sant’Antonio complex in Padova, Italy, during the 14th and 16th centuries. Records indicate that the fresco was last sighted in 1537 before being concealed during extensive …

The mortar samples under examination were extracted from the tower that stands as a welcoming symbol for the village and its church. Each of these mortars, when viewed as a palimpsest of the town's history, is assumed to represent distinct phases of construction. However, even in the present day, the precision and accuracy of mortar dating continue to be topics of ongoing debate. This dating method relies on the unique characteristics of mortar, a masonry material that cannot be recycled. What sets mortar apart is its irreversible hardening process, which unfolds in the same time with the construction process.[2]

The scan of relative chronologies of ancient buildings through the analysis of mortars processed by multivariate statistics. The case of The Sarno Baths in Pompeii. Page 34 34 Convegno Tematico AIAR-2024 POSTER Dilaria S. 1, 2, Secco M. 1, 2, Previato C. 1, Bonetto J. 1, Busana MS 1 Dilaria Simone-simone. dilaria@ unipd. it 1 Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Padova, Piazza Capitaniato, 7-35139 Padova (Italy) 2 Inter-Departmental Research Centre for the Study of Cement Materials and Hydraulic Binders (CIRCe) The analysis of mortars has become a research method that is increasingly applied for the scanning and verification of building phases in ancient monuments (Crisci et al. 2001), and it has frequently adopted for the study of Vesuvian contexts (Bonazza, Santoro, Mastrobattista 2010; Miriello et al. 2010). For this purpose, archaeometric results of mortars’ characterization are often processed …

I mosaici parietali della prima chiesa di San Nicolò del Lido di Venezia: una fortunata riscoperta/The wall mosaics of the first church of San Nicolò on the Venice Lido: a fortunate rediscovery

For several decades, many efforts have been dedicated to enhancing the accuracy of mortar radiocarbon dating and evaluating the reliability of the results concerning the typology of the examined specimens. Several assumptions that are fundamental for the application of the method may be in many cases not fulfilled, such as (a) complete primary limestone dissociation during calcination, (b) efficient separation of geogenic carbon contained in calcareous aggregates, (c) short carbonation time, and (d) absence of secondary calcite. Many laboratories all over the world have proposed different methods to select suitable fractions of mortar.The first intercomparison attempt, involving eight international laboratories, was organized in 2016 aiming at comparing and statistically treating the results obtained on the same materials by different laboratories with their own characterization and pre-treatment methods (Hajdas et …

The research focuses on analyzing the production techniques and materials of a Roman paint-plastered ceiling from a Late Antique Roman villa near Negrar (Verona, Italy), recently uncovered. Stylistic features of the decoration, found in reworked collapse debris during the villa’s excavation, date the ceiling to the original construction phase in the 4 th century CE. The paper presents the protocol we adopted for recovering and analyzing the painted decoration of the villa, which was in-laboratory recomposed in its original layout after a meticulous and systematic retrieval of fragmented materials. Microsamples of mortar and pigment were then taken to fully reconstruct the execution technique and raw materials used in the paint-plastered ceiling, detailing the application of the tectorium and pigment preparation. Mortar samples were analyzed to define preparatory layer properties, using various analytical techniques …

In this paper, we discuss the presence of volcanic pozzolans in the structural mortars of the Roman Temple of Nora in Sardinia (3rd c. AD), represented by pyroclastic rocks (pumices and tuffs) employed as coarse and fine aggregates. The provenance of these materials from the Phlegraean Fields was highlighted through a multi-analytical approach, involving Polarized Light Microscopy on thin sections (PLM), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Quantitative Phase Analysis by X-ray Powder Diffraction (QPA-XRPD), and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) investigations. These volcanic pozzolans, outcropping in the Bay of Naples between Pozzuoli and the Vesuvius, are traditionally associated with the pulvis puteolana, the famous pozzolanic ash prescribed by Vitruvius and Pliny in order to confer strength and waterproofing capabilities to ancient concretes. This is the first evidence of the trade of this volcanic material from the Neapolitan area to Sardinia, starting at least by the Middle Imperial Age. The use of the pulvis puteolana in the Roman Temple of Nora seems primarily targeted to strengthen above-ground masonries, while waterproofing capabilities were not strictly pursued. This opens new questions about the construction reasons for which the demand and commercialization for this product was intended.

Lo studio archeometrico della pittura norense: nuovi dati da un vano affrescato dall’edificio a est del Foro, in Pareti dipinte. Dallo scavo alla valorizzazione, Atti del XIV Colloquio AIPMA (Napoli 9-13 settembre 2019), a cura di A. Coralini. IRIS IRIS Home Sfoglia Macrotipologie & tipologie Autore Titolo Riviste Serie IT Italiano Italiano English English LOGIN 1.IRIS 2.Catalogo Ricerca UNIPD 3.04 CONTRIBUTO IN ATTO DI CONVEGNO 4.04.01 - Contributo in atti di convegno Lo studio archeometrico della pittura norense: nuovi dati da un vano affrescato dall’edificio a est del Foro, in Pareti dipinte. Dallo scavo alla valorizzazione, Atti del XIV Colloquio AIPMA (Napoli 9-13 settembre 2019), a cura di A. Coralini. F. Stella Mosimann;M. Secco In corso di stampa Scheda breve Scheda completa Scheda completa (DC) SFX Query Anno In corso di stampa Titolo del Libro Pareti dipinte. Dallo scavo alla valorizzazione Appare …

Multi-analytical characterization of wall-paintings from the Roman villa of Negrar di Valpolicella (VR, Italy), Stella Mosimann Federica, Sbrolli Clelia, Dilaria Simone, Secco Michele, Favero Anna, Basso Patrizia, De Zuccato Gianni, Salvadori Monica IRIS IRIS Home Sfoglia Macrotipologie & tipologie Autore Titolo Riviste Serie IT Italiano Italiano English English LOGIN 1.IRIS 2.Catalogo Ricerca UNIPD 3.04 CONTRIBUTO IN ATTO DI CONVEGNO 4.04.03 - Poster Multi-analytical characterization of wall-paintings from the Roman villa of Negrar di Valpolicella (VR, Italy), Stella Mosimann Federica, Sbrolli Clelia, Dilaria Simone, Secco Michele, Favero Anna, Basso Patrizia, De Zuccato Gianni, Salvadori Monica Stella Mosimann Federica; Dilaria Simone;Secco Michele; Basso Patrizia; Salvadori Monica 2023 Scheda breve Scheda completa Scheda completa (DC) SFX Query Anno 2023 Titolo del Libro Trent’anni di AIAr, …

Gli arredi pittorici della villa romana di Negrar di Valpolicella (VR): approcci multidisciplinari per la conoscenza della pittura parietale in contesto in età tardo antica, in Tecniche e processi di esecuzione, conservazione e valorizzazione , Atti del XV Convegno Internazionale AIPMA (Cartagena, 12-16 de septiembre 2022), a cura di A. Fernandez Diaz. IRIS IRIS Home Sfoglia Macrotipologie & tipologie Autore Titolo Riviste Serie IT Italiano Italiano English English LOGIN 1.IRIS 2.Catalogo Ricerca UNIPD 3.04 CONTRIBUTO IN ATTO DI CONVEGNO 4.04.01 - Contributo in atti di convegno Gli arredi pittorici della villa romana di Negrar di Valpolicella (VR): approcci multidisciplinari per la conoscenza della pittura parietale in contesto in età tardo antica, in Tecniche e processi di esecuzione, conservazione e valorizzazione , Atti del XV Convegno Internazionale AIPMA (Cartagena, 12-16 de septiembre 2022), a cura di A. …

Four mortar samples were collected from a submerged Roman well-cistern in the norther part of the Lagoon of Venice, recently investigated during underwater surveys promoted by the team of maritime archaeology of the University Ca’Foscari of Venice. Samples were preliminary described following a standardized protocol of analytical techniques, including Polarized Light Optical Microscopy (PLM), X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) coupled with Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS). Analyses were aimed at performing a petro-mineralogical characterization of the materials and parametrizing the complex reaction chemistry of the hydraulic processes developed in the mortars in underwater conditions. Archaeometric analyses allowed the mortars to be identified as cocciopesto enriched with local sand in variable concentrations. Moreover, pyroclastic aggregates from the Phlegraean fields (pulvis puteolana) were added to the mortars to enhance the hydraulic capabilities of the compounds. Provenance determination of the volcanic pozzolans was determined geochemically by analysing via SEM-EDS and Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) unreacted cores of volcanic glass and by comparing the results with the geochemical profiles of pyroclastic products of the Italian Plio-Quaternary magmatic districts. Around 950 geochemical profiles of juveniles, relating to differentiated eruptive events within the Phlegraean Fields, Somma-Vesuvius, Ischia and Procida-Vivara, constituted the reference database. An updated pattern of trace elements was selected …

This paper examines eight marble samples from the architectural elements and liturgical furniture of the ecclesiastical complex of Santa Giustina in Padova (Italy), founded by the Rufus Venantius Opilio before AD 524. The provenance determination of the marbles was carried out by means of a multi-analytical approach combining mineralogical–petrographic investigations, performed by microscopic observations of thin sections, and the measurement of the ratios of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. The results obtained were compared with up-to-date petrographic and isotopic databases (Antonelli and Lazzarini 2015), and they showed that the analyzed marbles come from the quarries of the island of Proconnesus in Asia Minor, modern Marmara Adası (Turkey). Archaeometric evidence, together with the stylistic and functional analysis of the pieces, suggests the direct importation of a complete set of sculptures, shipped at different stages of workmanship from the workshops of Constantinople and expressly ordered by a single patron, who can be identified as Opilio, founder of the basilica of Santa Giustina and praetorian prefect at the court of King Theodoric.

The paper reports the results of the analyses on mortar-based materials from the Roman theatre of Aquileia (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Northern Italy), recently dated between the mid-1st Century BCE and the mid-1st Century CE. Samples were characterized by Polarized Light Microscopy on thin sections (PLM), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM–EDS) and Quantitative Phase Analysis by X-Ray Powder Diffraction (QPA-XRPD). Pyroclastic aggregates (mainly pumices and scattered tuffs), incompatible with the regional geology, were found in two samples from the preparation layers of the ground floor of the building. Their provenance was determined by means of QPA-XRPD, SEM–EDS, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Laser-Ablation Inductively-Coupled-Plasma Mass-Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). Mineralogical and geochemical analyses demonstrated their provenance from the …

New research was recently conducted on the medieval remains of the religious complex of Santa Giustina in Padua (Italy) within the framework of the project ArchiDate. The latter, funded by the University of Padua, gathered scientists from the fields of art history, archaeology, material science and archaeometric dating of building materials. After several decades of debates, the chronological framework for two key ancient structures of the complex, San Prosdocimo’s chapel and the so-called ‘Opilio’s mausoleum’, was established thanks to the integration of mortar luminescence dating in the stratigraphical study of the architectural remains.

This study provides the first detailed insight into the composition and properties of structural mortars used in a 4th‐century AD bath complex in Aquileia, the emblematic center of Roman culture in Northern Italy. Eighteen mortars, taken from different structures of the site, and three stone samples from the vaulting opus caementicium have been analyzed adopting a multianalytical approach integrating optical microscopy, X‐ray powder diffraction, X‐ray fluorescence, and scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy‐dispersive spectroscopy. The properties of the compounds are outstanding, as revealed by the formation of hydraulic phases (i.e., Al‐tobermorite and AFm) in most of the samples: the waterproofing capabilities of cocciopesto mortars are remarkable, as revealed by the formation of anthropogenic Al‐tobermorite (5.5 wt%) in pool coating samples; the lightweight of the vaults was guaranteed by the …

The hydraulic characteristics in a lime-based mortar are primarily determined by the occurrence in the raw materials of a variable amount of reactive silica (SiO2) and alumina (Al2O3) that, in presence of water, interact with lime (CaO) to form different hydrate products (C-A-H; C-A-S-H; C-S- H). At certain conditions, other hydrate products, based on the interaction of magnesium with silica (and sometimes also with alumina) can occur (M-S-H/M-A-S-H). The target of this research is the analysis and comparison of the characteristics and structure of calcium-based silico/aluminate hydrates and magnesium-based silico/aluminate hydrates in ancient mortars and concretes. We adopted a multianalytical approach for characterizing samples from the sites of Aquileia (Northern Italy), Nora (Sardinia) and Pompeii (Naples), having different composition and collected from structures with different function. The results we obtained demonstrate the occurrence of different hydraulic phases in mortar-based materials of the investigated sites. The crystallinity degree of hydraulic phases primarily depends on the composition of raw materials used in the compounds. The accuracy devoted in the treatment of raw materials and in the making of the compounds are other factors influencing the hydraulic properties of the resulting mortars, as well as the pH of the system.

Si riportano nel seguente contributo i principali risultati analitici di uno studio di caratterizzazione effettuato su 7 campioni di materiali leganti prelevati dai lacerti murari residui del sito di Cuol di Ciastiel. Lo studio è stato articolato in una prima fase di caratterizzazione dei materiali, volta a determinare le principali caratteristiche minero-petrografiche, microchimiche e microstrutturali dei leganti e dei loro costituenti in relazione al contesto architettonico e cronologico di pertinenza. A tal fine, si è adottato un approccio multianalitico che include: studi minero-petrografici in microscopia ottica a luce trasmessa (TL-OM), analisi cristallografiche in diffrazione ai raggi X delle polveri (XRPD) e analisi microstrutturali e microchimiche in microscopia elettronica a scansione con associata microanalisi EDS (SEM-EDS). La metodologia integrata è la stessa utilizzata in studi precedenti e riportata in dettaglio in letteratura (Secco et al. 2018). Su un campione composizionalmente rappresentativo si è poi proceduto a determinare la cronologia assoluta attraverso la tecnica del radiocarbonio (Libby 1965). La datazione è stata effettuata sulla componente carbonatica del legante calcico, secondo innovativi protocolli sperimentali recentemente sviluppati per la datazione al 14C delle malte storiche e archeologiche (Addis et al. 2019).I campioni selezionati sono stati studiati mediante un approccio multianalitico comprendente analisi petrografiche, mineralogiche, micro-spettroscopiche e microchimicomicrostrutturali al fine di definire in maniera univoca le proprietà composizionali e tessiturali dei materiali analizzati. Si è eseguito innanzitutto uno studio …

Mortars, composite materials used to bind together masonry elements and to seal and waterproof architectural surfaces, have been employed by human populations for sheltering purposes since the beginning of technological evolution of mankind, constituting the first attested products of pyrotechnology since the Neolithic period. Over times, selection of raw materials and optimization of recipes and mixing procedures allowed to diversify and optimize their properties, in order to meet the most sophisticated demands of human cultures. In this contribution, a brief excursus of the evolution of mortar technology from the Palaeolithic to the late Roman times is reported, with a particular focus on the selection of functional compounds to push some specific properties of these binding composites within differentiated human societies.

Radiocarbon dating of the carbonate binder of historical mortars is a strategic research topic not lacking in complexities. The critical step is the separation of anthropogenic CaCO3-binder from other carbonate sources that could severely affect the resulting dates. Here we present a complete procedure for the processing and characterization of difficult mortars and of the separated binder fractions in order to assess a priori the chances of positively dating the mortar, and produce a binder fraction yielding the most reliable radiocarbon dates possible. Two complex architectural case studies from Northern Italy are presented and discussed in detail: the churches of Santa Maria Maggiore (Lomello, Pavia) and Santa Maria (Torba, Varese). The results support that both the reliability assessment and the successful radiocarbon dating are possible through a multi-analytical approach encompassing mineralogical and …