L. Sabbatini et al., Analytical characterization of paintings on pre-Roman pottery by means of spectroscopic techniques. Part II: Red, brown and black colored shards, FRESEN J AN, 366(1), 2000, pp. 116-124
As a part of a systematic study aimed at assessing the chemical composition
of ancient pigments as well as at collecting information useful for the un
derstanding of the technical aspects related to pottery preservation and de
coration, the results of analysis performed on red, brown and black pigment
s decorating pre-Roman pottery excavated in thirteen different tombs uneart
hed in the archaeological zone of Canosa (Puglia, Italy) are presented. Bot
h surface (XPS) and bulk (ET-IR) spectroscopies were used which gave comple
mentary information and XRD was used in some cases to further support the s
pectral assignments. Results suggested that the shards characterized by "no
minally" the same color could be differentiated by the chemical composition
of the pigmented layers; in particular, the shards exhibiting the red pigm
ent could be divided into three groups containing, respectively, either hem
atite or ochre plus other substances not related to the color but of great
concern for the understanding of ancient techniques used for color preparat
ion. Manganese oxides were found to be the basis of the brown pigments, whi
ch could be divided into three groups on the basis of Mn and Fe contents. E
ither magnetite or carbon of vegetable origin was found in the black-pigmen
ted layers. Furthermore, an attempt was made to find a possible correlation
between this classification and the results of a provenance study carried
out on the same pool of shards analyzed in the present investigation.