Petrography and mineralogy of the white marble and black stone of Goktepe (Mugla, Turkey) used in antiquity: New data for provenance determination

The discovery near Goktepe (Mugla province, Western Turkey) of an ancient quarrying site of white marbles and black stones has recently been reported by some authors. Assigning the provenance of stone from ancient artifacts to Goktepe is currently possible mainly thanks to chemical, EPR and MGS data. Petrographic description, which many researchers use to characterize ancient marbles, is still incomplete. Several thin sections of both types of stone were thus examined in this study, and also used for cathodoluminescence analysis. As the rock is >99% calcite, trace minerals could only be detected in some samples by XRD analysis of insoluble residues after acetic acid attack. Data on strontium and manganese contents and carbon and oxygen isotopes were also recorded, for better understanding of some petrographic features.