Carbon and Oxygen Isotopic Ratios: A Data Base for Classical Greek and Roman Marble

An isotopic data base of δ 13 C and δ 18 O analyses of 528 samples collected from 39 classical Greek and Roman quarries of Turkey, Greece, Italy and Tunisia has been accumulated. The discriminative possibilities of the data base vary from quarry to quarry. Most quarries have a distinctive pattern for either or both variables, but some have more than one grouping. The data also overlap for many quarries preventing a unique provenance assignment. If the alternatives are known so that the total pool of possible sources is reduced, the data base can then discriminate and assign a provenance for most classical marble artifacts.