Archeometric study of the more ancient painted wall found in Sicily (Apaforte – Licata)

In the present work, an analytical study of painted plaster samples coming from an ancient crypt, dated back to 4th – 3rd cent B.C. and located in Licata (Sicily, Southern Italy), has been carried out. This crypt situated in the street called “c.daApaforte” is an interesting hypogeum composed of a single room made of stone blocks. The importance of this crypt is represented by the presence of the most ancient painted wall recovered in Sicilian hypogea structures. In order to identify the pigmenting agents, the preparation layers and the deterioration processeswe carried out non-destructive micro-Raman spectroscopy and micro-destructive analyses through SEM-EDS. Preliminary characterization of samples was done by optical microscopy (OM). The micro-Raman measurements have been performed in order to investigate the molecular nature of the used materials and obtain a preliminary characterization of the decorated surfaces. The quantitative analysis of the chemical composition of the different layers (pigments, preparation layers, deteriorated parts) has been obtained by SEM-EDS. Finally, preliminary macroscopic and thin section analysis have been carried out with the aim at characterizing plaster features and degradation processes. In order to establish the production technique used by the craftsmen, the results were compared with our recent data on Hellenistic plasters coming from an ancient buildings located in Licata and dated back 2ndcent B.C (Aquilia E. et al., 2012).