Data di Pubblicazione:
2015
Citazione:
AMS radiocarbon dating of mortar: The case study of the medieval UNESCO site of Modena / Carmine, Lubritto; Caroselli, Marta; Lugli, Stefano; Marzaioli, Fabio; Nonni, Sara; Marchetti Dori, Simona; Terrasi, Filippo. - In: NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH. SECTION B, BEAM INTERACTIONS WITH MATERIALS AND ATOMS. - ISSN 0168-583X. - STAMPA. - 361:(2015), pp. 614-619. [10.1016/j.nimb.2015.05.015]
Abstract:
The carbon dioxide contributing to binder formation during the set of a lime mortar reflects the atmospheric
14C content at the time of construction of a building. For this reason, the 14C dating of mortars
is used with increasing frequencies in archaeological and architectural research. Mortars, however,
may also contain carbonaceous contaminants potentially affecting radiocarbon dating. The Centre for
Isotopic Research on Cultural and Environmental heritage (CIRCE) of the Second University of Naples
(SUN) has recently obtained some promising results in mortar radiocarbon dating thanks to the development
of a procedure (i.e. CryoSoniC/Cryo2SoniC) aiming to eliminate exogenous C contamination that
may occur in a mortar.
The construction history of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Modena (Italy) is still controversial and
represents a challenging case study for the application of absolute dating methodologies for different reasons.
From the point of view of 14C dating, for example, given the high percentage of carbonate aggregates
composing these samples, Modena mortars represent an experimental test particularly indicative of
exogenous carbon sources suppression ensuring methodology accuracy.
In this paper several AMS Radiocarbon dates were carried out on lime lumps with the aim to: (i) verify
procedure accuracy by a comparison of the results obtainable from lime lumps dated after different treatments
(i.e. bulk lime lumps vs. CryoSoniC purified lime lumps); (ii) compare different building phases
absolute chronology for the medieval UNESCO site of Modena, with that assumed by historical sources
in order to assess preliminary the 14C dating feasibility for of the site.
Historical temporal constraints and mortar clustering, based on petrography, have been applied to
define a temporal framework of the analyzed structure. Moreover, a detailed petrographic characterization
of mortars was used both as a preliminary tool for the choice of samples and to infer about the lack of
accuracy (when verified) of the applied mortar 14C dating procedure.
14C content at the time of construction of a building. For this reason, the 14C dating of mortars
is used with increasing frequencies in archaeological and architectural research. Mortars, however,
may also contain carbonaceous contaminants potentially affecting radiocarbon dating. The Centre for
Isotopic Research on Cultural and Environmental heritage (CIRCE) of the Second University of Naples
(SUN) has recently obtained some promising results in mortar radiocarbon dating thanks to the development
of a procedure (i.e. CryoSoniC/Cryo2SoniC) aiming to eliminate exogenous C contamination that
may occur in a mortar.
The construction history of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Modena (Italy) is still controversial and
represents a challenging case study for the application of absolute dating methodologies for different reasons.
From the point of view of 14C dating, for example, given the high percentage of carbonate aggregates
composing these samples, Modena mortars represent an experimental test particularly indicative of
exogenous carbon sources suppression ensuring methodology accuracy.
In this paper several AMS Radiocarbon dates were carried out on lime lumps with the aim to: (i) verify
procedure accuracy by a comparison of the results obtainable from lime lumps dated after different treatments
(i.e. bulk lime lumps vs. CryoSoniC purified lime lumps); (ii) compare different building phases
absolute chronology for the medieval UNESCO site of Modena, with that assumed by historical sources
in order to assess preliminary the 14C dating feasibility for of the site.
Historical temporal constraints and mortar clustering, based on petrography, have been applied to
define a temporal framework of the analyzed structure. Moreover, a detailed petrographic characterization
of mortars was used both as a preliminary tool for the choice of samples and to infer about the lack of
accuracy (when verified) of the applied mortar 14C dating procedure.
Tipologia CRIS:
Articolo su rivista
Keywords:
Mortar
Radiocarbon dating
Accelerator mass spectrometry
Elenco autori:
Carmine, Lubritto; Caroselli, Marta; Lugli, Stefano; Marzaioli, Fabio; Nonni, Sara; Marchetti Dori, Simona; Terrasi, Filippo
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