Dr. Rok Brajkovič received his PhD with the title Stratigraphic characterisation of ancient limestone quarries and comparison with stone artefacts from Emona under the mentorship of doc. dr. Luka Galet and co-mentorship of doc. dr. Petra Žvab Rožič from the Department of Geology, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL.

Emona (modern Ljubljana) was a Roman settlement in present-day central Slovenia. The Romans used limestones from different geological formations, ranging from the Lower Triassic to the Miocene, to quarry stone. Due to the insufficient resolution of the geological data, it has not been possible to classify the stone products into source areas. Therefore, all the sedimentary sequences in the areas of the proposed and newly identified Roman quarries have been studied in detail. The methodology used includes geological mapping, sedimentological profiling, optical microscopy, biostratigraphy, cathodoluminescence analysis, analysis of strontium, carbon and oxygen isotope ratios, determination of mineral composition and geochemical elemental content. The strontium isotope stratigraphy approach has made it possible to separate all the lithostratigraphic units and to determine the lithostratigraphic affiliation for all the stone products studied, allowing a more reliable study of the origin of the natural stone used in Emona.

The doctoral dissertation is available at here.