Early evidences of vitreous materials in Roman mosaics from Italy: An archaeological and archaeometric integrated study

This work displays the lines of a project about vitreous materials used in Roman Republican Age opus vermiculatum mosaics from Italy. This mosaic technique, originated in Egypt and Greece during the Hellenistic Age, testifies the fist evidences of vitreous materials used in mosaics: faience and glasses. The use of these materials in vermiculata mosaics from Italy was almost unknown when this research was started, so it was necessary to map and characterize the whole mosaic production. After a survey operated by a portable digital microscope, a reduced number of samples were collected to perform a laboratory characterization (OM, SEM–EDS, XRD). Data have been completed by an isotope ratio characterization (SIMS) to investigate the glasses raw materials provenance.