Analisi archeometriche su urne funerarie fittili

We have an authentic object, an Etruscan clay painted urn, which so far is unique in the world, found in a tomb in Tarquinia and preserved in the Museum of Tarquinia, which dates around 500/490 BC. We have also one urn very similar to this, in Rome in the Gorga Collection, without provenance. To remove any doubt about the authenticity of this urn, we decided to use the thermoluminescence analysis. We also used the XRF. Moreover, the traces of cobalt highlighted with XRF in the hair of a male figure of the Gorga urna seems to indicate the use of modern paint; the traces of lead, perhaps a final polish color. With the analysis on object from archaeological known contexts (the urn from Tarquinia), we have been able to establish that the other urn is modern. The colors used in the urn of the Gorga Collection were based on manganese and cobalt and the clay shows a widespread presence of Cadmium.