Tracing Medieval and Renaissance alabaster artwork back to quarries: A multi-isotope (Sr, S, O) approach. W. Kloppmann 1*, L. Leroux 2, P. Bromblet 3, C. Guerrot 1, E. Proust 1, A.H. Cooper 4, N. Worley 5, S.-A. Smeds 6, H. Bengtsson 7 1 BRGM, Unité Traçage isotopique et Datation, BP 6009, F-45060 Orléans cedex 2, France, 2 LRMH, USR3224 (MCC, CNRS, MNHN),29, rue de Paris, F-77420 Champs sur Marne, France, 3CICRP, 21, rue Guibal, F-13003 Marseille, France, 4British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK, 5 formerly British Gypsum Ltd. East Leake, Loughborough Leicestershire LE12 6HX, UK, 6Sveriges geologiska undersökning, Geological Survey of Sweden Box 670, SE-751 28 Uppsala, Sweden 7Upplandsmuseet (Uppland Museum), Fyristorg 2, SE-753 10 Uppsala, Sweden * Corresponding author; e-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT Multi-isotope fingerprinting (sulphur, oxygen and strontium isotopes) has been tested to study the provenances of medieval and Renaissance French and Swedish alabaster artwork. Isotope signatures of historical English, French and Spanish alabaster source quarries or areas reveal highly specific, with a strong intra-group homogeneity and strong inter-group contrasts, especially for Sr and S isotopes. The chosen combination of isotope tracers is a good basis for forensic work on alabaster provenance allowing verification of hypotheses about historical trade routes as well as identification of fakes and their origin. The applied analytical techniques of continuous flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CF-IRMS) and thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (TIMS) only require micro-samples in the low mg range thus minimising the impact on artwork.