PIGMENT IDENTIFICATION IN GREEK POTTERY BY RAMAN MICROSPECTROSCOPY*

Abstract

Raman microspectroscopy (RMS) is now established as a key technique for the identification of pigments of archaeological pottery that permits the in situ study of art objects by a non‐destructive procedure. The information obtained represents a great aid to restoration and conservation techniques. In this work, the chemical nature of the red, black and white pigments of five samples of Greek pottery from the end of the fifth century and the first half of the fourth century bc , exhumed from the Iberian necropolis of Cabezo Lucero (Guardamar del Segura, Alicante, Spain), has been identified. The black and the red pigments are found to be magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) and hematite (α‐Fe 2 O 3 ), respectively. The white pigment is found, for the first time, to be composed of alumina (α‐Al 2 O 3 and γ‐Al 2 O 3 ) probably yielded by the thermal decomposition of Greek bauxite.