Characterization of Stone Materials from the Roman Caracalla Bath in Ancyra
Künye
TANRIVERDİ, Zeynep, Ali Akın AKYOL & Yusuf Kağan KADIOĞLU. "Characterization of Stone Materials from the Roman Caracalla Bath in Ancyra". Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences, 34.2 (2025): 211-228.Özet
The Roman Caracalla Bath was built during the reign of Roman Emperor Caracalla (circa AD 200). Today it exists only in
the form of wall remnants at the foundation level and functions as an open-air museum. It is located on a mound approximately 2.5-m
high along Ulus’s Çankırı Street in Ankara. This research paper aims to identify the characterization and implications for provenance of
the stone materials used in the construction of the bath by using mineralogical, petrographic, and geochemical definitions. The results
obtained from the stone materials also provide guidance for restoration and reinforcement of the bath. In this study, the 13 stone and
2 stone tessera materials were examined using petrographic analysis to determine their provenance, along with X-ray fluorescence
analysis to identify their chemical composition. The mineralogical composition of each stone shows that the samples can be classified
into five subgroups: andesite, limestone, marble, sandstone, and tuff. The andesite was related to Hüseyingazi-Kale and the limestone
to the Haymana region, the marble was from Afyon-İscehisar marble quarry (ancient marble quarry), and the sandstone and tuff was
related to the village of Memluk Yuva (cetaceous flysch stone). Moreover, the stone tesserae belong to the radiolarite rock group from the
village of Elmadağ Irmak. The petrographic results indicate that the stone samples belong to various rock groups, including sedimentary,
metamorphic, and volcanic, each reflecting the distinct chemical characteristics of their respective classifications. These findings reveal
that the geological formation of the stone materials used at the foundation level of the Roman Caracalla Bath in Ankara corresponds to
the surrounding geology of the Ankara region.