Historic-artistic and archaeometric studies of the sculptures of the museum of Ostia

An archaeometric study was conducted on 21 marble sculptures belonging to the collection of the Museum of Ostia. The sculptures consist of statues, reliefs, portraits, and architectural freizes from public buildings, private residences and funerary monuments. The study, aimed at determining the provenance of the marbles used, is based upon the measurement of the oxygen and carbon isotopic composition and the evaluation of the macroscopic features of the marble of the various items, corroborated by the historic-artistic information available. The results obtained indicate that the majority of sculptures are of Luni marble and were very likely crafted by local workshops. Parian and Thasian marbles, two of the finest Greek marbles, were also used; most artefacts made of Parian marble were imported, but the two sculptures of Thasian marble so far studied were probably carved by urban workshops. Relatively limited seem the use of marbles from Anatolia. Our data suggest that at Ostia the marbles from Luni (Carrara) and, to a lesser extent, Paros were the most widely used varieties; only few artefacts carved in marbles from other Classical sources have been found so far in the collection of the Museum. However, more data are needed to confirm this indication.