Jewish cemetery in Hamburg Altona (Germany): State of marble deterioration and provenance

Several highly ornamented marble tombstones from the Jewish cemetery in Hamburg Altona were investigated concerning their state of preservation and their provenance. Ultrasonic measurements were performed on-site and on drill cores in the laboratory for the determination of the rock decay. The investigations show that the predominantly strong decay of the marbles can only be determined exactly in the laboratory. Since on-site the influence of water leads to an increase of ultrasonic velocities, the water content has to be taken into account when dealing with ultrasonic analysis. In addition to the rock fabric investigations, geochemical analysis of the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen as well as the major and trace elements were used to identify the provenance. All the information gathered in this study points to the quarries of Carrara as the rock source.