Coroplastic art in Sicily: an investigation on provenance and manufacturing technology of Greek architectural terracottas from Gela (Italy)

In the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., Gela (Italy, Sicily) was one of the most important production centres of architectural terracottas in the Mediterranean basin. Nevertheless, few archaeometric data are actually available in scientific literature on this interesting artifacts class. Here we report anarchaeometric characterization of Geloan coroplastic materials. In particular, an investigation on finest architectural terracottas found in dumps archaeological contexts in Gela has been carried out with the aim at identifying the distinctive features of the production and the manufacturing techniques. The group of samples includes various remarkable architectural elements: painted sima and geison fragments, and acroteria specimens. Information about provenance, fabric features, technology and manufacturing techniques have been obtained by performing petrographic (OM), mineralogical (XRD) and chemical analyses (XRF). Moreover, as most of the identified petrographic fabrics have revealed the presence of volcanic temper, EDS chemical analysis have been performed on clinopiroxenes, being the latter ones an effective tool for provenance attributions. Finally, an analytical characterization of the painted polychrome decoration has been carried out by using Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy-Dispersive Spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and micro Raman spectroscopy. The obtained results allow us to define, for the first time, the technological features of the Geloan architectural terracottas production, opening new perspectives in the study of the coroplastic art in archaic Sicily.