The mid-Republican Temples at Largo Argentina in Rome

Quarry Provenience and Construction History of Ancient Roman Lapis Albanus Tuff

Abstract

Recent research at Largo Argentina in Rome has resulted in the attribution of Italic-Ionic order architectural members in Lapis Albanus (‘peperino’) tuff to the earliest, 3^rd century BCE phases of the so-called Temples A and C. Samples from both the architectural members and the ancient quarry sites of Lapis Albanus deposits at Marino (23 km from Rome) underwent ICP-MS trace-element and thin-section analyses. The results indicate that the material from Temple A is more geochemically homogenous, suggesting it was extracted from a restricted geographical area possibly corresponding to a single quarry, while Temple C reveals more heterogeneous sources. This study marks the first quarry proveniencing of contextualized Lapis Albanus building material, along with the first graphic reconstruction of the earliest columns of Temples A and C. Its results raise a number of questions regarding quarry extraction, distribution models, the constructional use of Lapis Albanus, and the stakeholders involved in the building processes.