The so-called "Apulian marbles" have been, and still are, widely used as both building and ornamental materials. The lithotypes exploited in antiquity in nine quarries identified in the Ostuni district (South-Eastern Murge, Apulia, Italy) were studied. This research aims at: i) characterising, from minero-petrographic and geochemical points of view, the outcropping lithotypes (this kind of study being scarce or lacking in literature); ii) attributing them to their geological formation of provenance; iii) furnishing a data-base for comparisons (features of quarry materials), in order to solve archaeometric problems related to the various archaeological sites and monuments occurring in South-Eastern Murge. With these aims, on quarry samples, mineropetrographic, palaeontological, chemical and, only for some samples, isotopic and scanning electron microscopy analyses were carried out. The results allow us to conclude that, of the nine quarries, two (Lamasanta Grande and Costamerlata) are open in the "Calcare di Caranna" Formation (Campanian-Maastrichtian), two (Viale Oronzo and Ostuni-Villanova) in the "Calcare di Altamura" (Coniacian-lower Campanian); one (Via dei Colli) in the "Calcare di Ostuni" (Campanian-Maastrichtian); two (behind the Messapic Rosara quarry) in the "Calcare di Caranna" Ostuni variety (Campanian-Maastrichtian); and the last two (Tre Torri Hotel and Melpignano) in the megabreccia (Maastrichtian-Paleocene).
