Abstract:
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The territory of “Alto Aragon” closely matches the current province of Huesca in the northeast of Spain. Its geographic location between the Pyrenean range and the Ebro basin, offers a wide variety of stone as raw materials. After the area came under Roman rule, around 200 BC, several Roman cities and villas were established in the territory. Local sandstone and limestone were used
for buildings and pedestals. Limestone from several other locations, including Santa Tecla quarry (Tarraco) was used as marmora. A small sculpture carved from Giallo antico, has also been found in excavations of ancient Osca. For reasons unknown, local marble outcrops from the Spanish central Pyrenees were not exploited during Roman times. However a small but significant, number of
archaeological pieces, mostly of white marble, were found. A combination of archaeometric techniques has been used to determine the source of the raw materials: optical microscopy, cathodoluminescence, carbon and oxygen stable isotopes. A number of pieces were carved from French Pyrenean marbles and from the Classical quarrying areas of Luni-Carrara, Paros, Proconnesos and Pentelikon. |
Publish at:
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Pensabene, P.; Gasparini, E. (eds.), Interdisciplinary Studies on Ancient Stone. ASMOSIA X. Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference of ASMOSIA Association for the Study of Marble & Other Stones in Antiquity (Roma (Itàlia), del 21 al 26 de maig de 2012), L'ERMA di Bretschneider, Roma (Itàlia), p. 191-200.
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