Sculptural marbles from Cosa (Tuscany, Italy) and their provenance by EPR and petrography

The marble provenance of 24 sculptural artefacts, sampled in the Antiquarium of Cosa, has been established by a multimethod approach using epr and petrographic/morphological information and a database including 10 quarrying sites considered to be possible marble sources. Seven questionable provenances were verified by independent isotopic provenancing, which resulted in the re-assignment of two samples. The overall result is that the use of Carrara marbles at Cosa, although widespread as expected, is not universal. Several other varieties, including 6 Pentelic, 5 Parian and 1 dolomitic Thasian marbles were detected and account for almost half of the total sampled artefacts. Most notable is the presence of the highly prized Parian lychnites used to carve a male torso and a draped female sculpture, both life-sized, or the use of Thasian dolomite for another male torso. The implications of these findings are briefly discussed.