Italica (Seville, Spain): use of local marble in Augustan age

This study concerns 51 marble finds made of “Cipollino verde” coming from the ancient city of Italica (north of the modern city of Santiponce, 9 km NW of Seville, Spain), the earliest Roman settlement in Spain, founded in 206 B.C. The aim of this work was to determine their provenance from Greek and Italian quarries or from local quarries worked in the Iberian Peninsula. Thin-section optical microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, bulk rock chemistry and O, C and Sr stable isotope analyses were carried out. Results were compared with literature data on “Cipollino verde” marbles quarried in southern Euboea (Greece), Apuan Alps (Italy), Almería, Extremoz, Seville (Spain) and Évora (Portugal). These comparisons indicated twenty-five marble samples consistent with an origin from Italy (Corchia and Arni districts, Apuan alps), twenty from Greece (Styra and Pyrgari districts, southern Euboea) and only six from Spain (Macael, Almería province).