Journal of Cultural Heritage 13 (2012) 229–233 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Case study Spectroscopic analyses of Hellenistic painted plasters from 2nd century B.C., Sicily (South Italy) Erica Aquilia a , Germana Barone a , Vincenza Crupi b , Francesca Longo b , Domenico Majolino b,∗ , Paolo Mazzoleni a , Valentina Venuti b a Department of Geological Science, University of Catania, Corso Italia 55, 95129 Catania, Italy b Department of Physics, University of Messina, V. le Ferdinando Stagno d’Alcontres 31, 98166 Messina, Italy a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 6 May 2011 Accepted 27 September 2011 Available online 29 October 2011 Keywords: XRF SEM-EDS FT-IR Plasters Pigments a b s t r a c t In the present work, an analytical characterization of painted plaster samples coming from ancient buildings dated back to 2nd cent. B.C., located in Licata (Sicily, Southern Italy), has been carried out. The investigation has been performed through different spectroscopic techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF) using an handheld energy-dispersive XRF analyzer, scanning electron microscopy equipped with an Energy Dispersive Spectrometry microanalysis detector (SEM-EDS) and Fourier transform infrared absorbance spectroscopy (FT-IR). The main goal is to identify the plaster and pigments material. In par- ticular, the XRF investigation of surfaces is the first step for a preliminary elemental characterization. Then, through SEM-EDS measurements, a quantitative analysis of the chemical composition of the plaster and the pigmenting agents along with eventual components related to deterioration processes has been obtained. Finally, FT-IR absorbance spectra have proven to be a useful tool to investigate the molecular nature of the used materials. © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. 1. Research aims In a broadly vague and poorly defined scenario as is that of the origin and development of Hellenistic art in Sicily, whose findings are still unknown, and especially difficult to fit chronologically, an important contribution in defining the historic-social and economic production contexts and use of findings, can be represented by the integrated approach between Archaeology and Archaeometry of materials. In this scenario, the physico-chemical analysis applied on samples of painted plaster, duly selected by the archaeologists, can provide information on production. Actually, there is a lack of systematic analyses of the Hellenistic wall paintings in the Southern and Western Sicily. In principle, as is well known, a comparison of the pigmenting agents and the particular techniques used in different geographical areas, could help in tracing the possible routes of their origin and diffusion. In the last decade, many analytical techniques, such as Raman spectroscopy [1–3], X-ray fluorescence (XRF) [4–6], X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) [7,8], Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) [9,10], were applied to determine the nature of “archaeological” pigments. In particular, some recent authoritative papers by Brysbert et al. [11,12], concerning a detailed spectro- scopic investigation on Bronze Age painted plasters from Aegean ∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0906765237; fax: +39 090395004. E-mail address: majolino@unime.it (D. Majolino). and Eastern Mediterranean area, have characterized the painted surface showing that the mainly used technique was “al fresco” painting. Here, we propose a spectroscopic study performed on Hellenis- tic plasters coming from Licata (Sicily, Southern Italy) excavations, through complementary techniques, focusing our interest on the characterization of the pigments. In particular, we carried out non- destructive XRF measurements, followed by micro-destructive analyses through SEM-EDS technique and FT-IR absorbance spec- troscopy. It is worth noting that this work is part of a wider project, aim- ing to study and identify the pigments and the pictorial techniques used in various Sicilian cities (Gela, Heraclea, Morgantina) in dif- ferent periods. 2. Materials and methods 2.1. Sampling We analysed samples of plasters (labelled as LIC#), coming from excavations at Licata (Sicily, Southern Italy). The findings, dated back to 2nd cent. B.C., belong to ancient buildings located in Via S. Maria and on Monte Sant’Angelo. The selected specimens are representative of the variety and differences of colour present in each site. The size of the fragments ranged from 4 to 20 cm 2 . Some examples are shown in Fig. 1. 1296-2074/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.culher.2011.09.006