Multidisciplinary Investigations on the Byzantine Oratory of the Catacombs of Saint Lucia in Syracuse

Abstract

This paper presents the outcomes of a multidisciplinary study conducted on the fresco palimpsest of the byzantine oratory (region C) of the Catacombs of Saint Lucia in Syracuse. The 3D model was integrated with data from investigations made with portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (pXRF), and Technical Photography (TP), in order to obtain a unified representation of the knowledge acquired. The different layers of the frescoes present in the palimpsest could then be individually identified and characterized using the data extracted from the model. The arcosolium examined here is an illustrative case study characterized by clear artistic and archaeological stratifications.