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Instituto di Norvegia in Roma Viale Trenta Aprile 33 00153 Roma Tel. +39 06 5939 1000/6/7 E-mail: [email protected] Sito web: http://www.hf.uio.no/dnir/

‘Alabaster’: an interdisciplinary workshop on the sources and uses of -alabaster across archaeological contexts

Organising Committee: Simon J. Barker & Simona Perna

Norwegian Institute in 9-10 May 2019

The aim of this workshop is to look at the archaeological identification and use of alabaster, including its quarry sources, historical uses and symbolism from a comparative, interdisciplinary perspective. Characterized by a high visual impact and a deep semiotic value, alabaster was one of the most sought after decorative stones throughout antiquity; however, many aspects connected to its quarrying, scientific provenance and use remain unexplored. This contrasts with other decorative stones, especially white , where quarry sample databases and ever-developing techniques and methodologies for material characterization and provenance determination (Antonelli and Lazzarini 2015; Attanasio et al. 2006; Lazzarini 2004; Zöldföldi et al. 2008) have allowed marble artefacts to be provenanced with high reliability. While recent research has attempted to provide similar information for alabaster identification and provenance (Perna 2015; Perna and Barker 2017; Barker and Perna 2018; Barker et al. ASMOSIA XI; Barker and Perna ASMOSIA XI), the existing literature on the subject is still insufficient and scattered. As such, the quarrying, use and meaning of alabaster deserve an extensive study, akin to those already extended to other popular types of decorative stone. The objective of this workshop is to bring together, for the first time, scholars from several disciplines to offer comprehensive insight into alabaster as an archaeological aretefact. This will include a discussion of past and current issues related to the study and identification of this ornamental stone. The workshop’s primary aim is to contribute to the scientific debate on the trade and use of decorative stones in antiquity by studying the production, distribution and consumption of alabaster in the Mediterranean. The focus will be on the Roman period, however, for the analysis to be as comprehensive as possible, the workshop will include discussions of both earlier (, Hellenistic) and later periods (Late Antiquity, early Christian, Medieval, Renaissance). Geographically, the workshop will focus on the uses of this stone across the Mediterranean (, Asia Minor, Near East, ) to understand and analyse patterns of quarrying, trade, use and meaning both diachronically and cross-culturally from a wider comparative perspective. The importance of alabaster for Roman society, combined with its durability, provenancing potential, and chronological resolution – alabaster objects, such as pavements and urns, are generally well-dated – make it a very promising subject of research for archaeologists and historians. The outcome and publication of this workshop is expected to be a much needed and thorough study of this important stone that gathers together all available evidence. It will provide the first systematic and interdisciplinary examination of alabaster and is therefore set to become a point of reference for comparative analyses and a practical tool for future research on this decorative stone.

Practical Information

The Norwegian Institute in Rome is pleased to announce that the workshop will take place from Thursday 9th May until Friday 10th May.

The full programme follows below. The workshop is free but we kindly ask people to register at the following email: [email protected] by May 1st.

The conference will take place in Norwegian Institute in Rome, which is located on gianicolo hill on Viale Trenta Aprile 33. The Institute is located within a 5-10 minute walk of both the 44 and 75 bus routes.

The Norwegian Institute and workshop organising committee looks forward to welcoming you this coming May.

For any questions, please contact: [email protected]

2

‘Alabaster’: an interdisciplinary workshop on the sources and uses of calcite-alabaster across archaeological contexts

Norwegian Institute in Rome 9-10 May 2019

Organising Committee: Simon J. Barker & Simona Perna

DAY 1: THURSDAY 9TH MAY

9:00-10:00 REGISTRATION

10:00-10:30 INTRODUCTION TO THE WORKSHOP Organising Committee and Christopher Prescott, Director of the Norwegian Institute in Rome

10:30 -11:00 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CALCITE ALABASTERS USED IN ANTIQUITY AS DECORATIVE STONES Lorenzo Lazzarini, Università Iuav di Venezia This paper will present an introduction to the varieties of decorative stone (termed alabaster) that were used in Antiquity. The origin of the term alabaster is probably connected to Alabastrites, the old name of the Central Egyptian region (the area from Assiut to Minia) where the well-known calcite alabaster called lapis alabastrites or alabastrum melleum by the Romans, was quarried from Late Neolithic times to the present. In Antiquity this term clearly referred to an almost pure calcite ( carbonate)-rock. It was only in modern times that the term “alabaster” was also used (only, or especially by Anglo-Saxon mineralogists and petrographers), to identify (by-hydrated calcium sulphate), whose transparent or translucid variety was known to Romans as lapis specularis. The confusion, sometimes still current, affects the classification of alabasters which is further complicated by the fact that calcite alabasters are, and should be, correctly classified geologically as . It should however be taken into consideration that all the most beautiful and famous polychromed travertines used in Antiquity were named alabasters by the Roman stone- cutters of the Renaissance and Baroque, and that their names, often specifying colour and texture (e.g. a ciliegino, cinerino, cotognino, fiorito, ghiaccione, listato, marino, a pecorella, a tartaruga, etc.), are the oldest known traditional names that should still be used. The sedimentary genesis of travertines may be connected to the precipitation of calcite from cold groundwater saturated with meteoric CO2 (meteogenetic travertines), or from the thermally-generated degassing of the same gas in hot ground-waters present in correspondence with tectonic or volcanic activity (thermogenetic travertines). Both travertines may be bedded and/or banded according to their depositional environment: the first are the most common subaerial , normally forming mounds; the second form inside vertical or sub-vertical lithoclases tectonically opened in the former travertines, typically in fissure-ridges. Examples of bedded travertines are alabastro cotognino (Central Egypt), alabastro di Jano di Montaione and di Castelnuovo dell’Abate (); examples of banded travertines are alabastro fiorito/listato from Hierapolis (Turkey) and Diebel Oust (Tunisia). The

3 genesis and characteristics of other lesser known Italian alabasters from Campania (Gesualdo- Villamaina, and Fontegreca on the Matese Mountains, all in the Avellino province) and Sicily (Monte Pellegrino near Palermo) used in post-antique monuments will also be discussed.

11:00-11:30 COFFEE BREAK

11:30-12:00 ALABASTRO DEL CIRCEO AND OTHER ITALIAN ALABASTERS Matthias Bruno, Independent Researcher, Rome The most famous quarries of are without any doubt those of the Apuan Alps, an immense marble district in which the white Luna marble was quarried and, in much smaller quantities, also the gray bardiglio variety. Within the Italian peninsula many other ancient quarries produced various polychrome stones, such as the granites from the islands of Sardinia, Elba and Giglio and Nicotera in Calabria. Variegated polychrome like the Breccia rossa Apenninica, the Breccia rosata di Roselle, that from Serrravezza, the Cottanello, the pietra paesina, the litomarga verde or the lapis niger came from central Italy. Added to these are the alabasters extracted in Tuscany and Latium. This paper will look at these Italian sources and the alabasters that they produce. alabaster is attested since the Etruscan age, especially for small funerary urns, while the use of the Montaione alabaster, which can be identified as a kind of alabastro listato, is not really attested in Roman Antiquity. From Latium, however, an area that has produced different alabaster qualities is that of the Circeo promontory. Here, several small quarries have produced small amounts of alabaster of different qualities since Roman times. In the locality "La Batteria", the quarry produced a light-colored alabaster, sometimes similar to ice and therefore called also "alabaster a ghiaccione". This alabaster, whose quarries were reopened in the sixteenth century, was most likely used in Roman times, as testified by some evidences from the Vesuvian cities. Other different varieties were quarried in other locations of the promontory, among which, one near S. Felice Circeo, a so-called “tartarugato” alabaster variety was extracted. 12:00-12:30 ALABASTER IN ANCIENT (NUMIDIA AND MAURETANIA) John J. Herrmann, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Annewies Vandenhoek, Harvard University/Harvard Semitic Museum Algeria is endowed with many sources of alabaster or marble, and two of them have become rather famous. Alabaster a pecorella, which comes from Bouhanifia in western Algeria, is well known for its use in Roman times, especially in Italy. Aïn Tekbalet, also in western Algeria, produces an onyx marble that was popularized in France in the 19th century by the sculptor Charles Cordier. Other onyx marble sources quarried by Enamarbre, the Algerian state marble company, are at Aïn Smara and Mt. Mahouna in the eastern part of the country. Analysis of stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen has produced distinct and coherent characterizations for each of these stones (i.e., reasonably compact isotopic fields). A campaign of artefact sampling has made it likely that all these sources were used in Antiquity. Signs of pre-industrial extraction are rare in the quarries, but isotopically and visually some Roman artefacts seem to be made of these stones. The evidence, however, is somewhat ambiguous for Aïn Tekbalet. Mahouna was the most heavily used of the Algerian alabasters, but less for its decorative qualities than as a normal construction material in its region. Recent expansion of the oxygen-carbon database for alabasters in the Mediterranean basin (Brilli et al., Archaeometry 2017) makes it possible to establish the presence of imported alabasters in Algeria. Alabastro a pecorella seems to have been the only Algerian alabaster to have been exported to the northern shores of the Mediterranean, but some other Algerian alabasters may have been exported to Tunisia, the Roman province of Proconsularis. Even with the improvements in our

4 knowledge of ancient alabasters, however, it is not yet possible to assign all ancient artefacts in Algeria made of this material to their original sources. 12:30-1:00 ALABASTERS OF JEBEL TEBAGA, JEBEL OUST AND JEBEL ROUASS IN TUNISIA: FROM THEIR EXTRACTION TO THEIR USES IN ANTIQUITY Ameur Younes, University of Tunis Alabaster was much appreciated throughout the ancient Mediterranean world, such as in Egypt where it was used from the Pharaonic period. During Roman times, the use of alabaster became more widespread for decorating public monuments and luxurious private constructions, particularly in towns located close to the quarries. Geo-archaeological analysis distinguishes between two varieties of alabasters: calcite alabaster and gypsum alabaster. Calcite alabaster was well known in Africa Proconsularis. Today, several Roman quarries have been found in the southern and northern Tunisian mountains (jebel Tebaga, jebel Oust and jebel Rouass), and most of these were previously unknown. Indeed, only the Roman quarry producing calcite alabaster located in jebel Oust is well- known, whereas those located in jebel Rouass and jebel Tebaga have not been published. The Roman quarries of calcite alabaster in these three sites are characterized by their small sizes. They were exploited in the open air, and the preserved cutting marks of the extracted blocks left on the quarry faces allow us to determine the extraction technique, together with the sizes of the cut blocks. The extracted blocks were shaped into columns, cornices and slabs, which were used for decorating the public monuments and luxurious houses of the Roman towns of Meninx, Gigthi, Ziqua, Thuburbo Maius, Uthina, Carthago, etc. Microscopic analyses (petrographic, mineralogical and chemical) have been undertaken on alabaster samples taken from the quarries of jebel Oust and jebel Tebaga, together with archaeological samples from the aforementioned Roman towns. The results of the analyses allowed us to make a database of this material used by the Romans to decorate and embellish both their aedifici publici and their domus.

1:00-2:00 LUNCH (SPEAKERS ONLY)

2:00-2:30 THE TEOMIM CAVE: AN ANCIENT QUARRY OF CALCITE ALABASTER ON THE WESTERN SLOPES OF THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF ISRAEL Boaz Zissu, Bar-Ilan University, Miryam Bar-Matthews, Uri Davidovich, Ayala Albeck, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Amos Frumkin, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Te’omim Cave is a hypogene karst cave located on the western slopes of the Jerusalem Hills. During the last decade, the cave was explored by our team on behalf of the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar-Ilan University and the Cave Research Unit at the Hebrew University. An extensive archaeological assemblage from various periods was found and studied. It is worth noting outstanding finds from two periods: (1) Three hoards of gold, silver and bronze coins, were discovered in the inner section of the cave which served as a refuge cave during the Bar Kokhba War (132-136 AD); (2) A rich assemblage of Late Antique oil-lamps concealed as part of a pagan ritual, were discovered in narrow fissures beside and underneath the main, large hall of the Te’omim Cave. An impressive quarry was identified in the lowest part of the main, large hall. Field examinations involving drilling revealed that the quarry was used in Antiquity as a source of calcite speleothems ('alabaster'). Following the quarrying, additional flowstone was further deposited on top of the surface of the quarry. A new approach for dating ancient quarries was applied to shed new light on the problem of calcite-alabaster provenance in the Southern Levant. Until now, calcite- alabaster artifacts from this region were commonly attributed to Egyptian sources. This raw material was used for the production of luxury vessels as well as high-class architectural elements and furniture. We show for the first time that calcite-alabaster was quarried in the southern Levant

5 from flowstone, which is deposited in karstic caves under free air conditions. During our study, an additional flowstone quarry was discovered, in the ‘Abud Cave, located also on the western slopes of the Central Highlands of Israel. Both quarries produced together over 200 m3 of raw material. A broken column left in the quarry at ‘Abud Cave indicates that large calcite-alabaster artifacts were produced inside the cave. Following extraction of blocks, additional flowstone was deposited on top of the quarried surface by continuous sheet flow of water. We use this deposit to date the quarrying period. The first abandoned parts of the Te’omim quarry are dated by U-Th to the Middle Bronze Age (first half of the 2nd millennium BC). This dating is corroborated by archaeological finds within Te’omim Cave, as well as by the wide distribution of calcite-alabaster artifacts in south Levantine sites during this period. Provenance study shows differences between the Israeli and the Egyptian alabaster, reflected in the composition of the materials and their crystalline structure. ICP analysis showed that the distribution of concentrations of the magnesium, strontium, phosphorus and titanium elements differ between the Israeli and Egyptian samples; Egyptian samples contain significantly higher concentrations of magnesium and strontium compared to the Israeli alabaster, while their phosphorus and titanium concentrations are lower. 2:30-3:00 TRAVERTINE (ORIENTAL ALABASTER) FROM EGYPT: ITS , AND ITS ANCIENT SOURCES AND USES James Harrell, University of Toledo Travertine (‘oriental alabaster’) was widely used in Egypt from the late fourth millennium BC until the end of the Roman period, about AD 400. It was employed mainly for small objects such as statuettes and shawabty figures, canopic and unguent jars, vases of many forms, bowls and dishes, offering tables, and paving stones. Larger objects were also occasionally carved from travertine including life-size and colossal statues, sarcophagi, embalming beds, and shrines. This rock is the alabastrites of the Romans and alabastro cotognino of Italian marmorari. It was obtained in Egypt from ten known ancient quarries. Egyptian travertine is a form of calcite that occurs as cavern and fissure fillings within . It was deposited from hydrothermal solutions spawned by rifting and associated volcanism in the Red Sea. The rock is typically banded white and yellowish brown with the latter color resulting from the activation of color centers by natural radioactivity (from uranium) within the calcite, and these color centers are deactivated by the ultraviolet component of sunlight. Such sun-bleaching reduces originally brown calcite to white. 3:00-3:30 AN OVERVIEW ON ALABASTER QUARRIES OF SOUTH-WESTERN PHRYGIA (TURKEY): CHARACTERISTICS OF EXTRACTION AREAS AND EXPLOITATION Giuseppe Scardozzi, CNR-IBAM, National Research Council of Italy - Institute for Archaeological and Monumental Heritage, Lecce This paper offers an overview on the ancient alabaster quarries of south-western Phrygia, located along the northern sector of the Denizli basin (ancient Lykos valley). These quarries are grouped in three main areas: two are close respectively to the ancient cities of Hierapolis and Tripolis, which widely exploited them for the supplying of their building sites; the third is close to the modern village of Gölemezli (about 13 km north-west of Hierapolis and 6.5 km south-east of Tripolis) and it was probably exploited by the both cities. The paper is especially focused on the Hierapolis and Gölemezli quarries, which were systematically studied in last years by the Italian Archaeological Mission at Hierapolis with the aim to document the extraction sites, and the exploitation techniques and strategies. At a short distance (not more than 3 km) away from Hierapolis, 21 quarries were identified, grouped in three districts named Çukurbağ-Öküzini, Karakaya-Yarıkkaya-Hanife and Yokuşyol-Çallı, located respectively west, north-west and north of the city. In the Gölemezli area, four quarries were documented, but they are mostly destroyed by the resumption of extraction activities in the last decade. These quarries generally consist of narrow (2-10 m), deep (5-20 m),

6 and long (a few dozen metres, in some cases more than 100 m) vertical‐sided trenches, dug for a selective extraction of alabaster included in nearly vertical fissures of travertine‐elongated mounds, commonly defined fissure-ridges. The extracted stone is both coloured (alabastro listato and fiorito varieties) and white (ghiaccione), and it is identified with the “Hierapolis marble” mentioned by Roman and Byzantine literary sources, widely exported in the Province of Asia, but also in Constantinople and Rome, where it arrived from the Augustan age as attested by Strabo. Moreover, the Hierapolis and Gölemezli quarries were systematically sampled and archaeometrically characterized using carbon and oxygen stable isotopes and XRD analyses in order to identify the provenance of the Hierapolitan artefacts made of this stone and with the aim of discriminating the alabaster of Hierapolis from the various calcite alabasters extracted in Antiquity in the Mediterranean basin.

3:30-4:00 COFFEE BREAK

4:00-4:30: CALCAREOUS ALABASTER FROM THE MARIB PROVINCE/ – MINING, USAGE AND OCCURRENCES BY THE SABAEAN CULTURE Christian Weiß, University Erlangen, Dr. Iris Gerlach, German Archaeological Institute Calcareous alabaster from the Marib region in Northern Yemen was used by the Sabaean culture (c. 1000 BC to 100 AD) as ornamental and jewelry stone. The stones analyzed in this work, were found in excavations in several places in Marib, Sirwah and Tanim in Yemen and in Yeha in Ethiopia. Typical finds of the stones are statues, incense burners, altar plates, wall covers or benches. Quarries can be located on two sites in the Marib/Sirwah region. One is placed in the North of Sirwah at Al-Machdara where the rocks were obtained in large underground mining systems. A second area is placed close to the ancient city of Marib were the rocks were mined in small surface quarries. Petrological analysis was carried out on samples from both quarry areas and from archaeological material. Microscopic analyses classify several microfacies types of the alabaster and show that two of them were preferred as ornamental stone. One microfacies is a homogenous, light stone without layering which was used for statues and filigree works. The second microfacies is a yellow to brown colored fine layered type that can be found as ornamental stone on buildings. Geochemical and isotope data allow the allocation of the archaeological material to the quarry sites. Finds from Yeha suggest an export of the stones to East Africa in the first Millennium B.C., where the alabaster was used as an ornamental stone, for example, as altar plates. 4:30-5:00 ANCIENT BANDED TRAVERTINE QUARRIES IN THE LYCUS VALLEY: MINERO- PETROGRAPHIC, GEOCHEMICAL AND MULTI-ISOTOPIC CHARACTERIZATIONS Tamer Koralay & Nergis İmre, Pamukkale University The Lycus Valley in Western Anatolia is one of the archaeological sites that have hosted many civilizations due to its historical and geographical features, geopolitical location and favourable climatic conditions. The banded travertine type was commonly used as building stone for antique settlements in the Lycus Valley. White, yellow, brown, red and reddish burgundy colored bands ranging in thickness from a few mm up to cm are specific characteristic of banded travertines, extracted from the ancient quarries at Çukurbağ, Hierapolis, Develi-Akköy, Gölemezli and Tripolis and are called “Alabastro fiorito”, “Alabastro listato” and “Alabastro rossa”. The banded travertine samples in the Lycus Valley have similar compositions and mainly consist of carbonate (needle or column-shaped calcite, minor amounts of dolomite, aragonite) and Ca-Fe-oxide, micro-sparite, micrite. Calcite is present in the form of needle-shaped crystals ranging between 116- 979 µm for Çukurbağ; 160-1720 µm for Hierapolis; 258-2370 µm for Develi-Akköy; 465-3000 µm

7 for Gölemezli and 100-1270 µm for Tripolis quarries. Generally, the crystal sizes of the banded travertines increase from the quarries in the SE to the quarries in the NW. They show colloform (balloon structure), radial dendritic and micritic laminated texture. These results are also supported by XRD and CRS studies. The Lycus Valley travertines which are geochemically similar to thermogenic banded travertines, indicate depletions between 10-1000, 5-100000 and 10-10000 compared to the Continental Crust (CC), North American Shale Composition (NASC) and Average Phanerozoic (APL), respectively. In CC, NASC and APL normalized diagrams, banded travertine samples show clear anomalies in Al, Ca, Fe, Ti, Cr, Ni, Ba, Rb, Sr, Zn, Pb, Ce, La and Nd elements respective to other elements. The remarkably high Sr contents of the banded travertines are between 618.9-6920 ppm for Çukurbağ, 616-8585 ppm for Hierapolis, 1669-8375 ppm for Develi-Akköy, 592-1269 ppm for Gölemezli and 1116-9509 ppm for Tripolis samples. δ13CV- PDB and δ18OV-PDB values of Lycus valley travertines range between (5.41-6.68‰), ((-16.05)-(- 12.09)‰) in Çukurbağ; (5.09-5.63‰), ((-14.85)-(-9.18) ‰) in Hierapolis; (4.69-5.16‰), ((-14.98)- (-11.62) ‰) in Develi-Akköy; (4.21-4.51‰), ((-15.29)-(-13.76) ‰) in Gölemezli and (2.99- 3.99‰), ((-15.93)-(-13.01) ‰) in Tripolis respectively. The geologic ages of banded travertines from the Çukurbağ, Hierapolis, Develi-Akköy, Gölemezli and Tripolis quarries varies between 24.11±0.13-91.1±1.4 ka, 55.10±0.22-158.3±4.8 ka, 55.59±0.23-74.92±0.32 ka, 303.0±20-408.0±15 ka and 2.09±59-351.01±8.12 ka, respectively. 5:00-5:30 ANCIENT ALABASTER, NEW PROVENANCE METHODS AND QUARRY DATA Simon Barker, Norwegian Institute in Rome, Simona Perna, Instituto Catalán de Arqueología Clásica (ICAC), Igor M. Villa, Università di Milano Bicocca, Institut für Geologie, Bern. Alabaster, geologically labelled onyx marble, calcitic alabaster or travertine, was one of the most valued ornamental stones in the Roman period. The study of its use, however, remains problematic due to two interrelated issues: the incomplete knowledge of all alabaster sources alongside the shortage of specific studies on their archaeometric characterization and the fact that only few samples have been analysed and provenanced. While much work has been done over the last decade, including numerous papers presented at ASMOSIA (Barbieri et al. 2002; Bruno 2002; Çolak, Lazzarini 2002; Lazzarini et al. 2012; Herrmann Jr. et al. 2012; Scardozzi 2012; Barker et al. 2018), the establishment of a reliable methodology for provenancing and the collection of detailed quarry data sets are still needed. The on-going project, 'Alabaster:' Quarrying and Trade in the Roman World, seeks to contribute to the discussion by building quarry datasets and promoting novel scientific methods for provenancing alabaster artefacts. For example, previous testing of Egyptian, North African, Turkish, Cretan and Italian alabasters (Antonelli et al. 2010; Barbieri et al. 2002a, 2002b; Çolak, Lazzarini 2002; Lazzarini et al. 2006; 2012; Brilli 2017 et al.) highlighted the importance of strontium-isotope analysis as a method for provenancing calcite-alabaster/travertine. The present authors propose a new methodology based on a quadruple discriminator combining Sr and Pb data, Ba/Mg/Sr element concentration ratios, and oxygen isotope data. The augmentation of quarry datasets to include Pb isotope data as an additional discriminating tool is expected to refine our ability to identify candidate quarries. This paper reports the results of minero-petrographic and isotopic analyses carried out at the Institut für Geologie at the Universität Bern on a total of 14 quarry samples from four quarries obtained from several sources (J. Harrell: Egypt; J. Herrmann Jr.: North Africa; G. Scardozzi: Hierapolis / Golemezli, Turkey) in addition to those collected by the authors (Italy). The results show that the subsamples were heterogeneous, both isotopically and chemically (one contained practically no lead). In fact, the scale of the heterogeneity (0.5 cm) confirms that the genetic mechanism that creates alabaster out of calcareous sediments is spatially very irregular and very unpredictable. The analysis suggests that samples from quarries are always likely to present heterogeneous results, and thus overlaps between different quarries will be likely. Mapping out the isotopic and compositional fields of each quarry therefore will require dozens of analyses, rather than a few. Analyzing an artefact will also require multiple subsamples, as the possibility of cm-scale heterogeneities requires establishing a separate field for each artefact.

8 5:30-6:0030-11:00 FLUID ANALYSIS AND ICP-MS ANALYSIS FOR DETERMINING ALABASTER PROVENANCE Walter Prochaska, Montanuniversität Leoben, Simon Barker, Norwegian Institute in Rome, Simona Perna, Instituto Catalán de Arqueología Clásica (ICAC),

6:00-7:00 DRINKS RECEPTION

DAY 2: FRIDAY 10TH MAY

9:30-10:00 USES AND SYMBOLISM OF ALABASTER FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE RENAISSANCE Simon Barker, Norwegian Institute in Rome, Simona Perna, Instituto Catalán de Arqueología Clásica (ICAC) Recent studies have highlighted that ancient societies across the Mediterranean valued calcite (Oriental) alabaster for its colour, origins and properties. The aesthetic perceptions evoked by alabaster’s natural hues and colour, further enhanced by polishing, favoured its popularity as a decorative stone both in real and painted forms particularly in Roman architecture. The continued appreciation for this material is further testified by consisting patterns of use and re-use, such as salvaged panels, tiles and columns, in domestic contexts and churches from the Late Antiquity through to Renaissance. However, the historical uses of alabaster suggest that its consumption went beyond aesthetics and that it had a strong underlying symbolic message. Alabaster seems to have possessed an aura of “sacredness” which made it particularly apt for ritual contexts and cultic paraphernalia. “Magical” ritual powers were conferred upon it, particularly those of rebirth and purity, and these appear to have been transferred onto artefacts made from it. The cross-cultural importance and value of calcite alabaster, particularly in ritual contexts, is made apparent by the so- called “Cana wedding jars”, ancient vases salvaged, re-carved and worshipped as sacred relics by Christian rulers in the Early Christian period. The allusion to ‘alabaster’ containers in the Gospels (Matthew 26:7-10; Mark 14:3; Luke 7:37) connected to episodes from Jesus’ life may have further invigorated the symbolism of this stone in Christian imagery. The use and re-use of alabaster, particularly in Early Christian contexts, must be also understood in these terms. The paper presents an overview of the use of this stone from Roman times through to the Renaissance. It will examine the use of the alabaster, real and painted, at various sites across the Mediterranean with an emphasis on Italian examples from the Vesuvian area and Rome. Attention will also be given to the symbolic associations of alabaster overtime. 10:00-10:30 ALABASTER VESSELS IN THE BRONZE AGE MEDITERRANEAN: AN EXAMPLE OF INTERNATIONAL AND RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES Hélène Bouillon, Université -Sorbonne (Paris IV) Alabaster was used with predilection to produce luxury vessels from the beginning of the Bronze Age. The sources of alabaster stones were diverse, and their different natures did not seem to be perceived as important to their users. The rare tools discovered and traces of drilling help researchers to reconstruct the manufacturing processes also attested by iconography. Archaeology tends to indicate that the drilling techniques were similar from to Egypt when dealing with calcite-alabaster. During the second millennium BC, trade and diplomacy expanded in the Near East and Mediterranean areas. Furthermore, long distance exchanges and migration flows are better attested by texts from the Middle Bronze onwards. These phenomena lead to a conspicuous and well-studied cosmopolitism in the decorative arts. Among other types of luxury goods that circulated around the Mediterranean Sea, alabaster vessels are cited within administrative and

9 diplomatic archives: from the Palace of Mari during the reign of Zimri-Lim to the Amarna letters. New forms of vases spread over the Eastern Mediterranean during the Late Bronze Age. Reciprocal influences and transculturation created certain typologies and functions that were shared from to the Aegean and from to Nubia, most of them still considered as Egyptian. However, a detailed observation of the techniques and use of material indicate geographical and cultural differences and show that the Egyptian stone vessel industry, although better attested, was not the only one, nor everyone’s model. 10:30-11:00 THE ALABASTER INDUSTRY FROM THE AGE TO THE IN THE NEAR EAST: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LARGE EMPIRES Andrea Squitieri, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Alabaster vessels were very popular in both the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East during the Bronze Age (c. 3000 – 1200 BC), when they were gift-exchanged among royal houses, traded as luxury objects, used in royal tombs, palaces, rich graves, and temples. Little research, however, has been devoted to alabaster vessels in the Near East during the subsequent periods, that is the Iron Age through the Hellenistic period (c. 1200 – 30 BC). This paper deals with the overall changes in shape repertoire, raw material sources and manufacturing techniques characterising the alabaster industry during these later periods, which, I will argue, point to a slow but steady shift in the vessels’ economic and social values. These changes can be connected to the establishment of large and long-lived empires in the Near East, that radically altered the fragmented political landscape characteristic of the Bronze Age. These changes, however, also brought about the gradual diminishing in the Near East of the alabaster vessel industry’s output during the Hellenistic period due, as I will argue, to the increasing and competing spread of glass containers.

11:00-11:30 COFFEE BREAK

11:30-12:00 ALABASTER VASES FROM Eustathios Raptou, Department of Antiquities of Cyprus Alabaster vessels have been found in Cyprus ever since prehistoric times, but it is in the Late Bronze Age that their number increases significantly, coming from several places on the island, where they are related to the trading of the luxury goods of those times, such as ivory, faience, precious stones, etcetera. They continue to appear in the Geometric period and, less frequently, in later times, i.e. the Archaic and Classical periods. The study of alabaster vessels in Cyprus has so far shown an Egyptian origin, or Egyptian artistic influence, arriving on the island either as a result of direct trade with Egypt or via other countries, possibly the Levant, with which Cyprus had close relations. Alabaster vessels have been found in the large cosmopolitan cities of the Late Bronze Age and Geometric periods, Enkomi, Kition, Hala Sultan Tekke as well as Pyla-Kokkinokremos, Palaipaphos and other places. The majority of these items were deposited in tombs as prestige objects, demonstrating the wealth and power of their owners, who were members of the aristocracy. Alabasters are less frequent in settlements, evidently found in the residences of the local elite, where they would have been decorative rather than utilitarian. In recent excavations at Palaipaphos, several new specimens have been unearthed amongst the rich funerary material discovered in the necropoleis of Plakes and Skales. Additionally, a great number of fragments from large vessels of various shapes have been unearthed in the settlement, on the slopes below Marcello hill. Vessels of this kind would have been highly appreciated amongst the local population and for this reason it is possible that they were imitated in local stone, especially soft gypsum. Objects found in tombs are often complete and therefore can be better analysed and appreciated for their artistic value, thus providing us with important information. On the other hand, finds from settlements provide a wider

10 range of shapes that can further contribute to our knowledge of the objects. Vessels of this category often bear engraved decoration, rarely painted. In the following paper we present mainly new finds from our recent excavations in the western part of the island, integrating the vessels in their broader chronological and cultural context. 12:00-12:30 ALABASTER IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE Alfred M. Hirt, University of Liverpool Starting with papyri from documenting the release of convicts from the alabaster quarries, the paper examines the documentary evidence for alabaster and its exploitation during the Roman Principate. Its aim is, firstly, to provide a survey of epigraphic and papyrological evidence and, secondly, to set the exploitation of alabaster in the wider context of the involvement of local and imperial authorities in quarrying. 12:30-1:00 EVIDENCE FOR USE AND TRADE IN EGYPTIAN ALABASTER IN THE ROMAN PERIOD Patrizio Pensabene, Università degli Studi "La Sapienza" di Roma Since the early Augustan Age there is evidence of a wide diffusion of alabaster both in public and private contexts. Among the public buildings we could mention the theatres, where only for the most important like the theatre of Marcellus in Rome, we can speak of an imperial commission. In the case of other theatres, such as Cadiz, Nocera and Ferento, the reference is to private commissions, both in connection with the imperial house and with the local elites. On the other hand, the private uses were for the funerary urns in alabaster, which for their cost were more accessible than the porphyry ones used by the imperial family or rich members of the senatorial order. The mention of alabaster in the Edict of Diocletian, at a relatively low price, shows the continuity of use of this stone, although we must ask ourselves if it alludes also to the micro-Asiatic alabaster and not just the Egyptian one.

1:00-2:00 LUNCH (SPEAKERS ONLY)

2:00-2:30 ALABASTER AT LEPTIS MAGNA, TRIPOLITANIA (LIBYA) Matthias Bruno, Fulvia Bianchi, Independent Researchers, Rome Leptis Magna, one of the most well-known cities of ancient Tripolitania, allows us to obtain a comprehensive overview of the use of white and polychrome marbles in an important provincial city of the Roman Empire. Even if the first “marble witnesses” could be referred to in the early Augustan age, as well testified by some floor revetments discovered in the cella of the so called Liber Pater Temple at the Forum Vetus, the “marmorization” process started quite late in the second quarter of the second century AD, with the building project of the large Hadrianic Baths, and then growing during the Antonine period and reaching its peak at the end of the second century AD when the huge Severan Complex was built along the Wadi Lebda. Polychrome and white marbles were largely imported from Greece as well as from Asia Minor, while Egyptian coloured stones were rarer. In this wide Leptician marble panorama, alabaster qualities are attested in a very specific way. Revetment slabs are scattered all over the archaeological site, but many of them, in alabastro cotognino as well as alabastro fiorito, are visible, for example, not only in the marble stacks of the Severan Complex but also in its revetment preparation layers. Only one building, the so called schola along the Decumanus Maximus near the Arch of , testifies to a unique and homogeneous alabaster decoration still visible in place. On the other side alabaster was used also in private context as attested by some pavements of private villas of the mid-imperial period of the suburb of the Tripolitanian city. Column shafts are very rare, both in Asiatic alabastro

11 fiorito and a lighter Egyptian onyx variety, the latter one perhaps pertinent to the Severan Temple of the Gens Septimia. Interesting is also the use of a beautifully yellow alabastro cotognino variety for cinerary urns in some funerary contexts. 2:30-3:00 ALABASTER MERCHANDISE AND ITS GLASS EMULATIONS IN ANTIQUITY Miguel Cisneros Cunchillos, Universidad de Cantabria, Esperanza Ortiz, , Juan Ángel Paz, Museum of Zaragoza The objective is to analyse merchandise, which reflects two aspects of one single phenomenon: the replication of objects made of costly and highly appreciated raw materials using cheaper ones for wider commercialisation within the framework of joint research on Roman glass and precious and ornamental stones, paying particular attention to the transfer of stone colours and decoration patterns onto glass. This emulation phenomenon, known as skeuomorphism, may be traced back to any historical period and encompasses a wide range of raw materials. One of the most prevalent and best-known instances in Antiquity were alabastra whose name derives from the material they were originally made of: alabaster. They were replicated in metal, ceramic and glass in terms of shape and use. These similarities point to the existence of models well known to artisans. In the case of glass, instances go back to circa 1500 B.C. in Mesopotamia and Egypt with both plain and patterned instances, the latter being the most recurrent and varied. Both kinds coexist and diverge from other hard stones, such as agates, that may be isolated for characterization. This is the only model, which evolved uninterruptedly and shows a major development in Antiquity in terms of shapes, textures, colours and patterns. An analysis into the reasons for this imitating process reveals various economic aspects—greater convenience to create a model using cheaper raw material—and technological implications such as the creation of colours and patterns not always readily available in natural form as well as the imitation of stylish colours and models. Our aim is to isolate models in the category of alabaster items in order to establish markers concerning other similar stones as well as to analyse how they were emulated in glass. This investigation work is part of the project Ficta Vitro Lapis: Glass imitations of stones in Roman Hispania (HAR2015-64142-P) (MINECO/FEDER, UE). 3:00-3:30 ENGLISH ALABASTERS IN CONTEXT: SYMBOLIC MEANINGS, MATERIAL QUALITIES, AESTHETICS Zuleika Murat, Università degli Studi di Padova English alabasters played a seminal role in the artistic development of late medieval and early modern Europe. Quarried and worked in England as early as the twelfth century, alabaster began to be exported on a large scale from the fourteenth century, with carvings sold all over Europe. By exploring the various meanings attributed to English alabaster in the past, and with specific respect to Italian centres, which once held or still hold alabaster works, this paper recovers a sense of the place that the stone once enjoyed in the general hierarchy of materials. Adopting a combined approach, which is based around not only the works of art themselves but also written texts that make reference to alabaster, I aim to demonstrate how the choice of alabaster as a material by artists and patrons, along with the reception of alabaster works by their audiences, were influenced not only by aesthetic, technical and economic factors but also by more complex cultural dynamics. Moreover, a comparison with qualities attributed to English alabaster and those ascribed to other types of alabaster (and to other stones as well), will provide an innovative area of analysis, allowing me to recover the full range of meanings that alabaster once enjoyed.

3:30-4:00 COFFEE BREAK

12 4:00-5:00 ALABASTER CARVING DEMONSTRATION Federico Pruneti and Simone Ferti, Alabastraio, scultore, ornatista, Volterra, Italy 5:00-5:30 CONFERENCE CONCLUSION Organising Committee

8:00 CONFERENCE DINNER (SPEAKERS ONLY)

13 Fulvia Bianchi Juan Ángel Paz Independent Researcher Rome Museum of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, . [email protected] Hélène Bouillon Patrizio Pensabene Université Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV) Histoire de l'art Università di Roma “Sapienza et Archéologie Orient et Méditerranée Department Scienze dell’antichità Facoltà di lettere e filosofia [email protected] [email protected]

Matthias Bruno Walter Prochaska Independent Researcher Rome Department Applied Geosciences and Geophysics, [email protected] Montanuniversität Leoben [email protected]

Miguel Cisneros Cunchillos Esperanza Ortiz Universidad de Cantabria, Ciencias Históricas Department, Archaeologist, Zaragoza, Spain. Faculty Member. [email protected] Iris Gerlach Eustathios Raptou Head of the Sanaa Branch Department of Antiquities of Cyprus, Department Member German Archaeological Institute [email protected] Orient Department [email protected] James A. Harrell Giuseppe Scardozzi Emeritus Professor of Geology CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Department of Environmental Sciences (MS 604) IBAM - Istituto per i Beni Archeologici e Monumentali [email protected] Responsabile Unita' Organizzativa di Supporto [email protected] John J. Hermann Andrea Squitieri Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Art of the Ancient World Alexander von Humboldt-Professorship Department, Emeritus. History Department [email protected] Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich [email protected] Alfred M. Hirt Annewies Vandenhoek University of Liverpool, Archaeology, Classics and Harvard University Department, Faculty Member Harvard Semitic Museum [email protected] [email protected] Tamer Koralay Igor Villa Pamukkale University Faculty of Engineering Department of Institute of Geological Sciences, Universität Bern, and Centro Geological Engineering, 20162 Denizli, TURKIYE Universitario Datazioni e Archeometria, Università di Milano [email protected]; [email protected] Bicocca [email protected] Nergis İmre Christian Weiß Pamukkale University Archaeology Institute, Conservation Geological Survey and Consulting and Restoration of Cultural Assets Master’s Degree Frauenholzstr. 2-4 Programme, Denizli, TURKIYE 90419 Nürnberg Germany [email protected] Lorenzo Lazzarini Ameur Younes Emerito University of Tunis, Department of History, Faculty Member. Laboratorio di Analisi dei Materiali Antichi Università IUAV [email protected] di Venezia [email protected] Zuleika Murat Boaz Zissu Dipartimento dei Beni Culturali: archeologia, storiadell’arte, Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology del cinema e della musica (Università degli Studi di Padova) Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, ISRAEL [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

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