Romano-British wall-paintings II: Raman spectroscopic analysis of two villa sites at Nether Heyford, Northants

We report the analysis of 31 fragments of Roman wall-paintings from two adjacent villa sites near Northampton, which date from about 1800 years B.P. The specimens comprise pigments which are still attached to their substrate, affording an opportunity for the examination of interaction. The palette is rather restricted to a predominance of red (with shades varying from pink through to deep red), white and grey colours, with yellow, blue, brown and green being only rarely observed. This contrasts with Romano-British villa specimens from other sites where a more extensive palette has been recognised. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.