History as quarry: how chemistry uncovered the routes of medieval artistry. Science deepens our historical understanding along unexpected pathways. From the article:

In a study published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. [Wolfram] Kloppmann and a team of art historians, geologists and geochemists traced the origins of more than 60 alabaster statues. While many came from known quarries in England and Spain, the analysis of the stone also revealed an overlooked hub for alabaster production in the western French Alps. The site was a much richer source of the mineral than previously thought. The researchers’ work helped reconstruct an art trade route that existed across western Europe from the 12th to 17th centuries.

“This gives a picture of Medieval Europe in details we didn’t suspect before,” Dr. Kloppmann said….

At their lab, the scientists analyzed the flakes for sulfur, oxygen and strontium isotopes. Such signatures are fingerprints that made it possible to match the flakes to their original alabaster quarries…. [T]o the team’s surprise more than 20 of the statues they analyzed originated from near Notre-Dame-de-Mésage in the western French Alps. The quarry there operated for more than five centuries, supplying material for some of western Europe’s most important artworks.

“We did not know that this was really a major source of alabaster in western Europe,” said Dr. Kloppmann. “We discovered the French part of the story.”