Unveiling the secrets of Roman craftsmanship: mortars from Piscina Mirabilis ( Campi Flegrei , Italy)
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(2020) 12:8
ORIGINAL PAPER
Unveiling the secrets of Roman craftsmanship: mortars from Piscina Mirabilis (Campi Flegrei, Italy) Concetta Rispoli 1 & Alberto De Bonis 1 & Renata Esposito 2 & Sossio Fabio Graziano 3 & Alessio Langella 4 & Mariano Mercurio 4 & Vincenzo Morra 1 & Piergiulio Cappelletti 1 Received: 21 February 2019 / Accepted: 28 November 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Aim of this study is the characterisation of ancient Roman mortars collected in Piscina Mirabilis, located in the important geological, archaeological and historical area of the Campania Region (southern Italy): the Campi Flegrei. Goals of this research were (a) improving knowledge of Roman construction techniques by means of detailed microstructural and compositional examination of cementitious binding matrix and aggregates, to point out both mortar mix-design and provenance of raw materials, (b) the study of secondary minerogenetic processes and (c) comparison with modern mortars. Thanks to the permission by the former Soprintendenza Archeologia della Campania (authority of the archaeological heritage) current “Parco Archeologico dei Campi Flegrei”, it was possible to collect small, non-invasive, but representative samples of mortars. Samples were studied by combined methodologies such as optical microscopy (OM) on thin sections, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning electron microscopy analysis (SEM), energy-dispersion X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), simultaneous thermal analyses (STA) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). Results showed that local geomaterials were used in this archaeological site, as they are well consistent with the surrounding geological setting. A relevant characteristic is the hydraulicity of these mortars shown by the reaction rims of pozzolanic materials. Composition of the cementitious binding matrix is characterized by various products of reaction, including amorphous C-A-S-H gel, calcite and Al-tobermorite. Results also highlighted that porosity represents the main difference between ancient Roman mortars and modern hydraulic ones. Keywords Ancient Roman mortars . Piscina Mirabilis . Mineralogical and petrographic analysis . Campi Flegrei . Standard hydraulic mortars
Introduction Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00964-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Concetta Rispoli [email protected] 1
Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse, Università di Napoli Federico II, Complesso Universitario Monte Sant’Angelo, Ed. L, Via Cintia 26, 80126 Naples, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Porta di Massa 1, 80133 Naples, Italy
3
Dipartimento di Farmacia, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via D. Montesano 49, 80131 Naples, Italy
4
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie, Università del Sannio, Via F. de Sanctis snc, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Mortars are composi
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