New analysis of mosaics from the House of Charidemos at Halicarnassus

“The characterisation of the glass, stone, and ceramic tesserae from the House of Charidemos in Halikarnassos shows that a diversity of the materials were used for the production of the mosaics in private contexts during the late Roman–early Byzantine period in Anatolia”, Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Thomas Delbey, Bjarke Jørgensen, Kasper Høegh Jensen, Birte Poulsen & Poul Pedersen condlude. “The comparison of the glass composition with other sites in Anatolia showed similarities in the use of base glass materials. The presence of recycled Sb–Mn decoloured glass and the use of Ca-antimonate and Pb-antimonate are connecting these tesserae to the late Roman tradition. The use of Sb as an opacifying agent shows that this material was still widely used at this period in Halikarnassos and was not yet fully replaced by Sn-rich compounds as it can be seen in the deep red tessera KLR471. The very tight elemental distributions between the samples of similar colours reflecting the same base glass composition could support a hypothesis of secondary workshops specialised in the production of certain colour of tesserae. However, the compositional heterogeneity of elements linked to the colouring process is raising questions about the organisation of the production after the recycling of the glass.

“The re-use of materials, sometimes considered as a characteristic of the late Roman period can be interpreted as a consequence of changes in an economical system less globalised and maybe more turned toward short circuit consumption. The characteristics of the stone materials used in the House of Charidemos do not allow us to assess the provenance of the geological materials used in this context. Further investigations using thin-section petrography and perhaps stable isotope analysis would be beneficial in order to determine the type and the origin of the stone materials used for these samples”.