Early exploitation of Neapolitan pozzolan (pulvis puteolana) in the Roman theatre of Aquileia, Northern Italy.

The paper reports the results of the analyses on mortar-based materials from the Roman theatre of Aquileia (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Northern Italy), recently dated between the mid-1st Century BCE and the mid-1st Century CE. Samples were characterized by Polarized Light Microscopy on thin sections (PLM), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and Quantitative Phase Analysis by X-Ray Powder Diffraction (QPA-XRPD). Pyroclastic aggregates (mainly pumices and scattered tuffs), incompatible with the regional geology, were found in two samples from the preparation layers of the ground floor of the building.