Non-Destructive In Situ Investigation of the Study of a Medieval Copper Alloy Door in Canosa di Puglia (Southern Italy)
Giovanni Buccolieri,
Alfredo Castellano,
Vito Nicola Iacobelli,
Giorgio Giuseppe Carbone,
Antonio Serra,
Lucio Calcagnile,
Alessandro Buccolieri
Affiliations
Giovanni Buccolieri
Center of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics (CEDAD), Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Alfredo Castellano
Center of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics (CEDAD), Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Vito Nicola Iacobelli
Polo Museale della Puglia, Via Pier l’Eremita 25/b, 70122 Bari, Italy
Giorgio Giuseppe Carbone
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche e Ambientali, Università del Salento, S.P. 6, Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Antonio Serra
Center of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics (CEDAD), Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Lucio Calcagnile
Center of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics (CEDAD), Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Alessandro Buccolieri
Center of Applied Physics, Dating and Diagnostics (CEDAD), Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica “Ennio De Giorgi”, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
This paper reports the analyses carried out on the medieval copper alloy door (1111–1118 AD) of the mausoleum of Boemondo d’Altavilla in Canosa di Puglia (Southern Italy). The studied door is the smallest medieval bronze door extant in Italy and, unlike the other Byzantine doors, was most probably made in Canosa di Puglia and not in Constantinople. Analyses were performed to assess the chemical composition of the alloy patinas using a portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF) instrument designed at the University of Salento. The experimental results suggested that the two door leaves have the same chemical composition, even if they appear different in both style and size. Furthermore, the alloy used for the door is different from the other previously-analyzed Byzantine bronze doors. The obtained results can be used in the future to compare the chemical composition of other Byzantine doors in order to better understand the manufacture of these precious artifacts.
