The mystery of “Tremiti plates wreck”: studies on the plates metal and corrosion phenomena

Our research group is performing an extensive work in the field of cultural heritage. Between the other topics there is the study of archaeological metal objects. Several samples have been investigated such as roman bronzes from Pompei, the Tremiti plates and Alfedena Necropolis belts. Due to the collaboration with the Soprintendeza del Mare della Regione Siciliana we studied several metal artwork coming from the Sicilian seabed. The presentation will report two of the studies, which regard helmets and ingots [1-2]. For each of this case an appropriate set-up of analysis was developed in order to answer the archaeologist questions, and help to reconstruct the history of the objects. The used multianalytical approaches allows us to establish a network of national and international collaborations. Particularly, the results obtained with the investigation of the orichalcum ingots and helmets have had huge media success, with a strong impact on the dissemination of the importance of chemical-physical investigations to the study of archaeological objects