Stieghorst, C.MLZ* ; Kuhnen, H.-P. ; Neumann, J. P. ; Plonka, C.

2018

Abstract: The provenance analysis of Roman limestone via neutron activation is a pilot study leaded by the JohannesGutenberg University Mainz in co-operation with the National Institute for Preventive ArchaeologicalResearch (INRAP, Metz), the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren and the Directorate General of CulturalHeritage Rhineland-Palatinate, Koblenz.The most common stone material for ornamental craftwork during the first century AD in NorthwesternEurope was a fine white Jurassic limestone. Since the 19th century archaeologists and geologists believe that thequarries of this stone were located in the upper valley of the river Moselle near the city of Metz at the village ofNorroy-lès-Pont-à-Mousson (Goethert-Polaschek, 2002). Inspired by the successful Limestone ProvenanceProject of the Metropolitan Museum of Art a new research project was started at the Johannes Gutenberg-University (JGU) in Mainz in 2010 to investigate Roman limestones from the Moselle valley in variousarchaeological contexts. Both projects are based on instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) for provenancestudies. The work of our project was accomplished at the TRIGA Mark II research reactor of the Instituteof Nuclear Chemistry in co-operation with the Institute of the Study of the Ancient World at the JGU Mainz.The main objective of the project was to figure out, if a provenance analysis for the Roman limestone objectsin the corresponding geographical region will be feasible. Methodological issues were focused on the problemof contamination during the sampling process, the check of a sufficient homogeneity of the samples, the datapreparation and the application of multivariate statistics. For these purposes, the famous quarry site at Norroyand a second deposit near the village of Maidières located a few kilometers south of Norroy were sampled. Formethodological comparison additional material was analysed:–– Oxfordian limestones from different deposits near Verdun (France)–– Devonian limestone from a modern quarry in Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany)–– Stone artefacts from excavation of a Roman villa rustica near Metz, of a Carolingian bridge builtup from Roman spoils near Dieulouard and of Roman layers in Tongeren. The latter were also partof an independent project of the Gallo-Roman Museum of Tongeren with a comprehensive petrographicanalysis by R. Dreesen which provided an opportunity for validation.In this paper, the results of the statistical separation of the deposit data and the successful provenance analysisof the Tongeren samples will be presented. With some exceptions, the stone samples from Tongeren show avery high resemblance to the samples from the quarry site at Norroy. Further descriptions as well as results ofthe other findings can be found in Stieghorst, 2016 and 2017 (upcoming publication).

Keyword(s): Earth, Environment and Cultural Heritage (1st) ; Archaeology/Museums/Arts (2nd)

1. PGAA

1. Measurement at external facility