Egyptian blue is a copper-based blue pigment that was widely used across the Mediterranean from ca. 3300 BC up to late antiquity and even later. For this case study, we analyzed the provenance of Egyptian blue from a Campana relief from the collection of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Denmark. Campana reliefs are terracotta plaques, which were named after the Italian collector Gampietro Campana, who published the first collection in 1851. These mould-made plaques were used as ornaments in central Italy from ca. 60 BC to 50 AD – a time when Egyptian blue production is attested at several sites in the Bay of Naples, Italy. The provenance of copper raw materials that were used for producing this pigment could provide clues about the distribution of production centers and trade contacts. A previous investigation of the provenance of a single bulk Egyptian blue sample of this artefact by Rodler et al. (2017) indicated a possible long-distance transport of (Iberian) copper ore or mixing of distant (Iberian) and Italian copper. Our new data are based on the lead isotope analysis of four individual Egyptian blue samples. The refined sampling resolution emphasizes the Italian South-Eastern Alps as the most likely source area of copper raw materials. This copper could have been processed in local Egyptian blue production workshops or brought to the contemporary Egyptian blue production hub in the Bay of Naples and transported from there to the workshop where the artefact was painted.

The method of facet-cutting was invented in the 1st century A.D. The craftsmen began to create zoned facet-cut decoration to arrange the facets in horizontal zones divided by linear grooves mostly in Isings 96 bowl in the second half of 2nd century and first half of 3rd century A.D. The western part of the Roman Empire is emphasized in production. Above all, we need to highlight the Rhine region (perhaps at Cologne), and Pannonia as production sites from which we now publish chemical compositions of this type for the first time. The existence of workshops at Dura Europos and Tanais is uncertain in the eastern part of the empire. Facet-cut vessels often appear also southern Germany, Bavaria. There are also rich places in Northern Italy as Bresca for example, and also known in France and Great Britain, but not in big quantities. The archaeometric study revealed that the chemical compositions of facet-cut bowls from Brigetio and Intercisa are the same, which indicates that they were made of the same raw glass. The appearance of another high-quality glass ware, the snake-thread beakers, coincided both in time and place in Pannonia with the facet-cut bowls. Therefore, we wondered how similar the composition of the base glass was and whether a further relationship could be assumed between them in terms of production. Interestingly, the chemical compositions of these two types are partly identical (Sb-decolourized facet-cut bowls and snake-thread beakers) and partly different (the two Mn-decolourized snake-thread beakers). The appearance of the Mn-decolourized objects needs further investigation.

Two Late Copper Age inhumation burials were uncovered in 2005 during the large-scale rescue excavations ahead of road construction in the vicinity of Balatonlelle (Somogy County). In addition to the burial proper, both graves contained the skulls of additional individuals. Beside the vessels, the 8–9-year-old child interred in Grave 415 had a bracelet of almost pure copper on the wrist, a black bead fashioned from jet or some similar organic material on the neck and a bead hammered from sheet copper. The burial practice and the jewellery items – currently unparalleled in the archaeological record – that were deposited in the grave clearly indicate that the child buried in the grave enjoyed a special status. The DNA analyses revealed the child’s genetic sex, and kinship ties between the boy and the other skulls placed in his burial. The sample from the black bead was studied by means of optical microscopy, X-Ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and stable isotope mass spectrometry. The bead is a light, black material with a network of fractures, and breaks with a shiny, conchoidal surface. The inner structure shows elongated pores under an optical microscope, similarly to coalified wood textures. The XRF spectrum indicates subordinate amount of silicate material, hence a shale origin can be excluded. The FTIR spectrum of the sample differs from those of the historical jet occurrences, but resembles those of sub-bituminous coals, especially Carboniferous coals from Spain and France. Stable hydrogen and carbon isotope compositions are closest to those of the latter occurrences, while local or closer regional coal and true jet locations with their special formation conditions can be excluded. The data collectively suggest Carboniferous coals, most likely from Spain or France as a source material. However, further systematic collection and geochemical investigations are needed to resolve the provenance of the „jet-like” bead.