Scientific techniques developed in materials science offer invaluable information to
archaeology, art history, and conservation. A rapidly growing number of innovative methods …

Abstract Within the Topical Collection, this paper represents an introductory contribution
aimed at describing and discussing the research questions and the sampling criteria in the …

A brief history of the nature, use and technology of binders in ancient constructions and
buildings is outlined, including the apparent chronological discontinuities related to …

This work shows the preliminary results of an international project for the interdisciplinary
study of the limestone used in the plasters of the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The limestone …

The quarrying of marble and its processing to produce building materials often generates a
negative impact on the environment. In the Apuan Alps marble district, a renowned …

The present study focuses on the compositional characterisation of Roman, proto-Byzantine
and Medieval mortars, sampled in the archaeological site of Kyme (Turkey), an Aeolian city …

This paper presents the results of the compositional study of 29 samples of mortar from the
so‐called “Garum Shop”(I, 12, 8) at Pompeii in Southern Italy. The characterization of the …

Over recent decades, numerous studies have highlighted the importance of opal,
chalcedony and quartz varieties, chiefly in volcanic, but also in metamorphic and …

Twenty-six samples of mortar used for various construction applications (joint mortars, floor
mortars, filling mortars and plasters) were collected from different areas of the …

The aim of this research is to characterize the binder and aggregate fractions of sixteen
mortar samples from the bell tower of the St. Nicholas church at Pisa, using X-ray …