Ancient White Marbles

Determining the provenance of ancient white marbles remains a fundamental challenge in archaeometry, art history, and stone conservation. While traditional petrographic and isotopic methods offer critical insights into quarry identification, overlapping analytical signatures often limit their standalone diagnostic accuracy. This monograph presents a comprehensive methodological framework for the characterization and provenance assignment of classical Mediterranean white marbles using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. By evaluating substitutive trace impurities, primarily $Mn^{2+}$, within the carbonate crystal lattice, EPR captures diagnostic spectral features—including quantitative signal intensity, linewidth, and fine structure parameters—that reflect specific geological origins. Supported by an extensive reference database of over 1,000 samples from major historic quarries, the volume details rigorous experimental procedures, data standardization techniques, and multivariate statistical classification models. Furthermore, practical applications demonstrate the utility of EPR in fragment matching, structural recomposition, and detecting historical restorations.