## 3 Results
### Bright Red, Red, Purple Red, Light Red/Orange and Yellow  
Samples 1, 2, 3 and 4 showed various and evidently different red hues, even under simple naked-eye examination; in particular, the main chromatic dissimilarities were observed between the red and purple red colour groups, namely, samples 2, and 4, and the bright red couple of samples 1 and 3. Sample 1 and sample 3 were characterised by a highly saturated bright red colour that was attributed mostly to the presence of cinnabar by SEM-EDS analys.es (see Table 2) [5], although iron was also found in both fragments. As regards sample 2, the elemental analysis suggested the contemporary \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Sample** & **Colour** & **SEM-EDS Analysis** & **FTIR Peaks (cm\({}^{-1}\))** & **Raman Peaks (cm\({}^{-1}\))** \\  & & **(Elements)** & **FTIR Peaks (cm\({}^{-1}\))** & **(cm\({}^{-1}\))** \\ \hline
**1** & bright red & Ca, Hg, Si, Fe, Al, K, S, & 1403, 1032, 1007, 871, 712, 532, 284, 343, 1086 \\  & & Cl, Au & 1409, 1032, 1009, 913, 872, 712, 533, 468 & 147, 223, 253, 291, 406, 494, 605, 1086 \\
**2** & red & Ca, Fe, Si, Pb, Al, K & 712, 533, 468 & 253, 284, 343, 1086 \\
**3** & bright red & Ca, Hg, S, Si, Fe, Al, K & 1404, 1024, 872, 712, 670, 467 & 253, 284, 343, 1086 \\
**4** & purple red & Ca, Fe, Si, Al, K, Na, Mg & 1409, 1090, 872, 794, 712, 540, 472 & 223, 288, 404, 490, 604 \\
**5** & light red/orange & Ca, Si, Fe, Al, K, Mg & 797, 779, 712, 693, 526, 466 & 143, 284, 405, 463, 710, 1086 \\
**6** & yellow & Ca, Fe, Si, Ba, Al, K, S & 797, 712, 532, 468 & 284, 391, 712, 1086 \\
**7** & green & Ca, Si, Fe, K, Al, Mg & 1414, 970, 873, 798, 712, 679, 490, 452 & - \\
**8** & light blue & Ca, Si, Fe, Cu, Al, K & 874, 795, 778, 754, 712, - 663, 593, 519, 472 & - \\
**9** & light blue & Ca, Si, Fe, Al, K, Cu, Cl, Mg, Na & 1412, 1160, 1045, 1008, 874, 793, 754, 712, 663, - 593, 519, 467 & - \\
**10** & light blue & Ca, Si, Al, Cu, Fe, K, Na, S, Mg & - & - \\
**11** & white & Ca, Si, Fe, Al, K, Cl, Mg & 1403,1033, 872, 712 & 285, 391, 712, 1086 \\
**12** & black & Ca, Si, Al, K & 1403, 1033, 872, 712 & 1300, 1580 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: SEM-EDS, ATR-FTIR and Raman results. presence of iron-based and lead-based pigments, whereas in sample 4 the SEM-EDS results led us to think that it was basically composed of iron oxide (see Table 2). ATR-FTIR and Raman measurements were applied to confirm the presence of cinnabar in samples 1 and 3 and to investigate the possible presence of some red iron-based and/or lead-based pigments. Figure 4 shows the ATR-FTIR spectra of red samples. All of them are characterised by the strong bands of calcium carbonate at 1403-1430, 871 and 712 cm\({}^{-1}\)[19; 20; 21; 22] and by a wide band around 1000 cm\({}^{-1}\), due to the presence of silicate minerals [23; 24], which is perfectly aligned with the elemental analysis results. In the following discussion, ubiquitous and well-known bands of calcite at 1403-1430, 871 and 712 cm\({}^{-1}\) will be not taken into account. Actually, the most diagnostic zone of these spectra is the one from about 1200 to 450 cm\({}^{-1}\), especially the wavenumber range below 700 cm\({}^{-1}\), where the differences among the spectra are even more emphasised. Sample 1, whose main bands stand at 1032, 1007, 532 and 472 cm\({}^{-1}\) (Figure 4a), shows the features of a red ochre containing kaolinite [24; 25; 26; 27]; in sample 3 the band at 1024 cm\({}^{-1}\) (Figure 4c) suggests the presence of another silicate, possibly illite [28], whereas the bands of red ochre are barely detectable. This difference from the point of view of the composition could seemingly be due to a different provenance of the raw material, but this deserves further study.