Amphorae

Amphora with Four Men Molding Various Objects" by Kleophrades painter/Araldo de Luca/CORBIS... 

In Roman times tar and pitch from Pinaceae resinous wood were used to treat the inner surface of amphorae to store fluids such as wine [ 145,149] and to seal ship planks [89,144], Heating treatments applied to natural resins and resinous wood profoundly modify the chemical composition of the original material. Diterpenoid compounds undergo aromati-zation, demethylation and decarboxylation reactions, with the formation of new compounds of a lower molecular weight that show a high degree of aromatisation [87,88]. In tar and pitch produced from Pinaceae resin and woods, retene is considered as a stable end product of these reaction pathways and nor-abietatrienes, simonellite and tetrahydroretene represent the intermediates of these reactions [87,89,150]. 

M.P. Colombini, F. Modugno, E. Ribechini, Direct exposure electron ionization mass spectra metry and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry techniques to study organic coatings on archaeological amphorae, Journal of Mass Spectrometry, 40, 675 687 (2005). 

M.P. Colombini, C. Colombo, F. Modugno, F. Silvano, E. Ribechini, L. Toniolo, Chemical characterization of Egyptian amphorae from Fayum, Geoarchaeological and Bioarchaeological Studies, 157 160 (2005). 

D.P.S. Peacock, D.F. Williams, Amphorae and the Roman Economy An Introductory Guide, Longman, London, 1986, p. 49. 

DE-MS was employed in the characterisation of resinous materials from Roman ceramic vessels, Palaeolithic stone tools, Roman glass unguentaria and amphorae [14,16,18,23]. 

Analysis of the Organic Residue from a Roman Amphora Recovered in Liguria (Italy) [18]... 

Another interesting application of DE-MS was in the examination of a resinous archaeological substance sampled from the material contained in a Roman amphora (2nd 4th... 

Figure 3.17 shows the mass profile of the resinous material collected from the Roman amphora. It shows the presence of abietane skeleton diterpenoids due to the occurrence of the peaks at m/z 315, 299, 285, 253 and 239. Furthermore, a high degree of oxidation of the resin was ascertained by the abundance of peaks at m/z 315 and 253, deriving from 7-oxo-dehydroabietic acid, and those at m/z 331 and 329, from highly oxidised tricyclic diterpenoid molecules. Finally, the presence of retene was evidenced by the peaks at m/z 234 and 219. The results showed that a pitch from Pinaceae had been in the amphora. 

B. Stem, C. Heron, L. Corr, M. Serpico and J. Bourriau, Compositional variations in aged and heated pistacia resin found in late Bronze Age Canaanite amphorae and howls from Amama, Egypt, Archaeometry, 45, 457 469 (2003). 

Figure 8.4 Total ion current chromatograms of the (a) acidic and (b)neutral fractions of a sample collected from an amphora recovered in Fayum. DDA, didehydroabietic acid DA, dehydroabietic acid 70DA, 7 oxo dehydroabietic acid 70A, 7 oxo abietic acid 15Hy70DA, 15 hydroxy 7 oxo dehydroabietic acid 5HyDA, 15 hydroxy dehydroabietic acid R, retene MDA, methyl dehydroabietate. Slf internal standard, hexadecane IS2, internal standard, tridecanoic acid...

The archaeological sample (first to fourth century AD, sample 1286) was stocked in an amphora bearing the inscription incense in a warehouse (sector 6) at the Bir Ali site (Yemen). The authors objective was to confirm whether it really was frankincense [26]. 

Thomas, T.E. and M.G. Robinson. 1987. Initial characterization of the mechanisms responsible for the tolerance of Amphora coffeaeformis to copper and tributyltin. Bot. Mar. 30 47-53. 

Garduno R, Hall B, Brown L, Robinson M. Two distinct morphotypes of Amphora coffeaeformis (Bacillariophyceae) cultured on sobd media. J Phycol 1996 32 469-478. 

Beck, C.W., Smart, C.J. and Ossenkop, D.J. (1989). Residues and linings in ancient Mediterranean transport amphoras. In Archaeological Chemistry IV, ed. Allen, R.O., Advances in Chemistry Series 220, American Chemical Society, Washington, pp. 369-380. 

Heron, C. and Pollard, A.M. (1988). The analysis of natural resinous materials from Roman amphoras. In Science and Archaeology, Glasgow 1987, ed. Slater, E.A. and Tate, J.O., British Series 196, British Archaeological Reports, Oxford, pp. 429-447. 

Stern, B., Heron, C., Corr, L., Serpico, M. and Bourriau, J. (2003). Compositional variation in aged and heated pistacia resin found in Late Bronze Age Canaanite amphorae and bowls from Amarna, Egypt. Archaeometry 45 457 169. 

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