Abstract:

The «Val d’Aran» is a valley situated on the Atlantic side of the Pyrenees. Located in the northwest corner of Catalonia, has easy connection with France by the course of the Garonne River, which forms the main communication route, flows over land Aquitaine and empties into the Atlantic Ocean near Bordeaux. Under Roman control, the Aran Valley was part of the Novempopulania province.

Five of the most significant archaeological artefacts found in the Valley have been analyzed to investigate the provenance of the marble used for their manufacture. These archaeological pieces dated from 2nd to 5th century AD, are currently deposited in the «Musèu dera Val d’Aran». A combination of techniques with Optical Microscopy, Cathodoluminescence (CL) and Isotope-Ratio Mass Spectrometry was applied to know their marble source.

To carry out the comparative study with quarry marbles, local outcrops were examined and sampled. Marbles from the quarry of Arties were specially taken into account since, at least from the medieval times, were used with bulding purposes. The nearby Roman quarries of Saint-Béat have also been taken into consideration. The analytical results after applying the same methodology to both marble samples, artefacts and quarries, allow differentiating the two marble sources, Arties and Saint-Béat.