305 © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 M. Koui et al. (eds.), 10th International Symposium on the Conservation of Monuments in the Mediterranean Basin, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78093-1_32 32.1 Introduction In 2012, during preliminary excavations for the construction of the ‘Olympian’ motorway close to the location of Ancient Corinth, an ancient cemetery came to light. As the excavation team was digging through a layer from the Roman times, grave ‘313’ was unearthed. Archaeologist Aglaia Koutroubi was in charge of the excavation works. The monument came to light a year after the fnd of another ornate Roman tomb in the same location. Tomb ‘313’ was dated by the archaeologist between the frst and the second centuries AD. The entrance was oriented to the south; the staircase was decorated on either side with two ceramic tiles in deep relief, one showing a quadriga (four-horse chariot) and the other depicting a char- iot pulled by dolphins next to a sea creature. The interior of the tomb contained wall paintings, depicting garlands, fruit and three fgures, two men and a woman (Fig. 32.1) [1]. In the summer of 2013, the Archaeological Council, due to the importance of the monument, decided to transport and relocate it in the Museum of Corinth. During the transport operation, the tomb was reinforced with a concrete periph- eral beam, and it was lifted (Fig. 32.2). Nevertheless, soon after the intervention, salt efforescence was observed on the wall paintings of the tomb. The aim of this work is to study the appearance of moisture and salts on the wall paintings of the tomb after its relocation. For this reason IR thermogra- phy has been combined with salt analysis and characteriza- tion in order to obtain a preliminary evaluation of possible threats as fast as possible. 32.2 In Situ Non-destructive IRT Tests Passive IRT investigation was performed using a ThermaCAMTM SC640 long wave thermography system (7.5–13 μm). The main purpose of this survey was to apply thermographic testing in order to investigate any moisture accumulation on the walls of the tomb [2, 3]. The self- potential and the thermography survey verifed that moisture content changes mainly on the southeastern sidewalls of the Non-destructive Investigation of Salt Efflorescence on Roman Tomb After Relocation in Ancient Corinth, Greece Ekaterini Ftikou, Petros Prokos, and Alexis Stefanis E. Ftikou () Ministry of Culture, Directorate of Conservation of Ancient and Modern Monuments Athens, Athens, Greece P. Prokos Directorate of Conservation of Ancient and Modern Monuments, Ministry of Culture, Athens, Greece e-mail: pprokos@culture.gr A. Stefanis Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art, Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Athens, Greece e-mail: astefanis@teiath.gr 32 Contents 32.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 305 32.2 In Situ Non-destructive IRT Tests ................................................................................................ 305 32.3 Laboratory Investigation of Salt Samples.................................................................................... 306 32.4 Discussion........................................................................................................................................ 307 32.5 Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 310 References .................................................................................................................................................. 311 pprokos@culture.gr