Calcarenite di gravina formation a row material for the lime production.

Sassi di Matera represent one of the best preserved rupestrian settlements and the oldest town in the world. It is UNESCO site since 1992 thanks to its cultural history and its harmonious development within its ecosystem. Sassi are completely built with a soft granular limestone, the Pleistocene Calcarenite di Gravina Formation, characterised by good workability. The stone, however, can be an extremely heterogeneous building material depending on the composition of the particles and their characteristics. Six lithofacies corresponding to sub-typologies of building stones have been characterized from a chemical and mineralogical point of view. The Calcarenite di Gravina was in the past, and still is used also for the production of mortars. The aim of this study is to identify and describe the Calcarenite di Gravina as a raw material for the production of lime to be use for preserving the stones of Matera. Mineralogical and chemical results show that, despite the differences in sorting, typologies of bioclasts, cementation and porosity, they have mostly similar compositions. This confirms the good quality of Calcarenite di Gravina for the production of aerial lime. © 2019 International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage.