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Magna, and Cyrene in northern Africa. 308 This information greatly restricts the final
destination of the Punta Scifo A’s cargo to a few candidate cities. As stated on pp. 155-7,
the Thermae Antoninianae or a similar thermal complex might represent a possible final
destination of the cargo shipwrecked at Punta Scifo A. Docimian marble was used in the
174
baths, where archaeologists have uncovered a block, dating to A.D. 206 and carry the same
“COM” inscription that appears at Punta Scifo A. Moreover, the 13 labra are likely to have
been designed for use in public baths and the lead seals that Orsi saw designate quarried
items belonging to the emperors. Therefore, the Punta Scifo A shipwreck may represent the
first archaeological evidence to connect quarried marbles to their destination, a rare
example of the a very major step in the process of supply, transportation, and final use of
the quarried material.
The Quarries of Docimium (Iscehisar, Turkey)
The ancient quarries of Docimium are located in modern Iscehisar (Turkey), and
have been surveyed in recent years by M. Waelkens, while in 1987 J.C. Fant studied the
inscriptions visible on items abandoned there (fig. 48). 309
Docimian stone is white, with veins that range in color from light purple to almost
black. The resulting reddish shade gave the marble its name during the Italian Renaissance,
pavonazzetto meaning purple-red. In antiquity, it was named in different ways: Docimian,
308 Dodge 1988, 224, fig. 8.
309 Waelkens 1982, 33-55; Waelkens, De Paepe, Moens 1987, 113-26; Fant 1987, 127-32; Fant 1989a,
206-18.