An Etruscan ointment from Chiusi (Tuscany, Italy): its chemical characterization

This paper focuses on the chemical characterization of the original contents of an Egyptian origin alabaster unguentarium, found in an Etruscan burial in Chiusi (Tuscany, Italy) and dated 150/125–100 B.C. The unguentarium, found in an intact tomb belonging to a noble woman of Chiusine society, preserved a good part of its original contents owing to a protective layer of clay. The chemical characterization was carried out using a combination of two analytical procedures based, respectively, on Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS).FTIR is a fast fingerprinting tool able to highlight different classes of organic materials. After wet-chemical treatment of the samples, GC–MS was chosen for the recognition of the organic substances and their degradation products.The analytical approach used allowed us to obtain information on the presence of a mixture of at least three different substances: a vegetable oil, probably moringa, and two plant resins, mastic and pine.