Stone inscriptions represent irreplaceable sources of information on the ancient world, as they are often the only textual evidence preserved from the past. This is surely linked to the high durability of the stone support, which survived the test of time, although often fragmentary or corroded. It appears nevertheless that the support has been disregarded and not included in the historical interpretation of such texts. Within the ERC funded project "CROSSREADS - Text, materiality and multiculturalism at the crossroads of the ancient Mediterranean", inscriptions from Ancient Sicily are also considered from the materials point of view. Non-invasive approaches for the screening of stone supports in Sicilian epigraphy Alessia Coccato1, Germana Barone2, Paolo Mazzoleni2, Jonathan Prag1 1Faculty of Classics, University of Oxford, United Kingdom 2University of Catania, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania Introduction and aims This research is supported by the ERC-funded project "CROSSREADS - Text, materiality and multiculturalism at the crossroads of the ancient Mediterranean" (Grant agreement No. 885040). The authors thank the director of the Salinas museum, C. Greco, and the staff of the museum, especially S. Ruvituso for supporting the ongoing research. In order to assess the provenance of the used lithotypes, a multi-level approach has been devised. A first screening is carried out completely non-invasively in situ by means of portable X-rays fluorescence (pXRF) and digital microscopy with infrared, visible and ultraviolet light sources, at different magnifications. The systematic acquisition of chemical data and micro-photographs is accompanied by a limited sampling on a selected set of objects, in order to perform the traditional minero-petrographic thin-section observations, additional laboratory tests (X-rays diffraction, vibrational spectroscopies), and in the case of crystalline marbles, also isotopic analyses. Methodological approach The acquisition of extensive chemical datasets, as well as of microscopic images on the inscriptions (without taking a sample) is a challenging task in itself. The data processing of the numerous pXRF spectra that are currently being acquired on inscriptions on different materials across Sicily leads to multiple options for data interpretation: semi-quantitative data (major and trace elements) will be treated with well-established multivariate analyses to evaluate chemical differences and for comparisons with reference materials. Moreover, these approaches are also being tested on the raw spectra and will be compared with the results of compositional analyses. On the other hand, the petrographic information obtainable non-invasively with DinoLite will be compared with that from thin sections (on selected samples), in order to establish their usefulness in the characterisation of both Sicilian and exotic lithotypes. conclusions and perspectives X-rays fluorescence Digital microscopy A Bruker Tracer IV-SD is used with two different settings for 60s livetime acquisitions: • 15kV, 35A, with vacuum for major elements; • 40kV, 17A for the traces. For each stone, at least 3 measurements are acquired with each setting. Adapted configuration files are created for semi- quantification in PyMCA. The Spectroscopy package of Orange Data Mining is used for multivariate analyses of the spectra. A DinoLite AM7915MZTL digital microscope with 8 adjustable white LEDs is used. Images are acquired on well-preserved surfaces of inscriptions on display, and with consistent magnifications (ca. 30-35× and 70×). Additionally, a separate set of images with 100× magnification has been moreover acquired in the laboratory on the bulk samples, for further comparisons with the conventional thin sections. It appears that both local and imported stones were used in Sicily for different types of inscriptions (public works and accounts, religious dedications, funerary texts,