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Articles

• Mahmoud, Marey, H.H.
• Kantiranis, Nikolaos
• Stratis, John

The present paper aims to characterize some Roman plasters from the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in the late 3rd century AD. These plasters were applied over Pharaonic walls from the reign of Amenhotep III (c.1402–1364 BC) at Luxor temple, Upper Egypt. For the characterization of theses plasters, several analytical techniques were applied such as optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron mi-croscopy (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray detector (EDS), X-ray powder diffraction analysis (XRPD), micro-Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies (μ-Raman and FT–IR). Based on the results of these analyses, the stratigraphic structure of the plaster layers was identified as fine coat ‘intonaco’ which is based mainly on lime and coarse coat ‘arriccio’ which consists of silica sand, phases of calcium carbonates and different pozzolanic additives. Moreover, the results revealed the green pigment as green earth (celadonite), the red pigment as red ochre, the yellow pigment as yellow ochre and the white pigment as calcium carbonate. The obtained data helped in improving our knowledge of some materials used during the Roman age in Egypt.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

Roman plasters, Luxor temple, XRPD, SEM−EDS, μ-Raman, FT–IR

Corresponding autho Hussein Marey Mahmoudr: (marai79@hotmail.com), The authors are grateful to Mr. S. Oikonomidis, School of Geology, Aristotle University for his support through the SEM study. Special thanks are due to Mr. S. Haralampos and to Mr. Th. Dimitriadis, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Aristotle University for their assistance in the study using FT-IR spectroscopy.

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