“Multi-method-approach” has now been for many years the buzzword in marble provenance analysis. Nevertheless a true combination of the results of different analytical methods is rarely applied in the sense of the combined simultaneous use of a large number of analytically obtained numerical variables. It is demonstrated here that the combination of data from isotope analysis, chemical data, and data from the chemical analysis of inclusion fluids of an artefact and of course in combination with a corresponding database enhances substantially the accuracy of marble provenance analysis. It is explicitly pointed out that the unchallenged collection of data of the chemical composition of marbles from different sources (and different analytical procedures) most probably implies severe differences in their comparability. Exemplarily presented is the nearly perfect discrimination of the most important fine-grained marbles and furthermore the possibility of the intra-site discrimination of the three Carrara districts and the assignment of two portrait heads to the Carrara Torano quarries.

Genetic concepts on the formation of the Austrian magnesite and siderite mineralizations in the Eastern Alps of Austria

The paper presents evidence of Roman marble production in the Balkan region, specifically from the south-eastern Rhodope Mountain area (modern Bulgaria) and Armira. Although the Roman marble trade and production in antiquity are well known in Prokonnesos, Thasos, and several other production sites, marble deposits from inland Thrace have received far less attention. In 2018–2019, a systematic survey of south-eastern Bulgaria (Roman Thrace) was carried out by our team in collaboration with the National Archaeological Institute with Museum in Bulgaria. White marble quarries and outcrops were investigated in situ with the goal of characterizing the macroscopic qualities of the stone. Quarry samples were collected and analyzed through various techniques—petrography, isotopic, and chemical analyses—and compared with the architectural decorative marble and artifacts from the Roman villa at Armira. We demonstrate that the geochemical and petrographic features of these samples indicate a marble provenance restricted to a few selected sources. We conclude that the local marble from the Armira and Kamilski Dol quarries was widely used for the complete architectural program of the Roman villa of Armira.

The study of marble trade in antiquity has received a lot of scholarly attention in the last few decades; however, numerous deposits of high-quality white marble in the Thracian interior have only recently become pivotal in Bulgaria. Following the establishment of Thrace as a Roman province, investments into transport infrastructure, urban and rural construction works and monumentalizing architecture in marble have led to an increased demand for stone. Local marble quarries close to urban centres and larger imperial quarries were used for civic buildings, villas and sanctuaries. Provenance analysis of marble quarries and artefacts has established a close link between the place of origin and subsequent place of use. This multi-disciplinary study explores marble sources in the Thracian interior via various approaches such as epigraphy, archaeology, and archaeometry regarding urbanization, trade, and transportation. In this paper, we consider and investigate the Berkovitsa marble, a quarry close to Montana in northwestern Bulgaria, and present a broader framework for the marble trade of the region.

The Sn-W ore deposits in the Krupka surroundings are associated with greisens, which occur in the upper parts of Late Variscan granitoid intrusions. Fluid inclusions were studied in samples of quartz, cassiterite, apatite, fluorite, and topaz in greisenized granites, greisens, and hydrothermal veins with Sn-W mineralization. The greisenization process took place at temperatures 370–490 °C and pressures 155–371 bars, and associated fluids had predominantly low salinity and a low gas (CO₂, N₂ and CH₄) content. The post-greisenization stage was connected with the formation of (i) low-salinity (0–8 wt. % NaCl eq.) fluid inclusions with homogenization temperatures 35 wt. % NaCl eq.) fluid inclusions with homogenization temperatures 140–370 °C, often containing trapped crystals of quartz, topaz, and sulfides, or daughter crystals of salts and carbonates, which were identified by microthermometric measurements, electron microprobe analysis, and Raman spectroscopy. Analyses of fluid inclusion leachates have shown that Na and Ca chlorides predominate in fluids. According to hydrogen stable isotopes, the source of greisenizing and post-greisenizing fluids was not only magmatogenic but also meteoric water or fluids derived from sedimentary rocks.