<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Numerous ruins around the world lack the radiometric dating due to the scarcity of organic carbon. Here, we present results of radiocarbon dating of mortar samples from an early Medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland, which was dated to the early 6th century, based on typology. The method of dating mortars, which is currently applied at the ETH laboratory, involves sieving the crushed mortar, selection of grain size 45−63 μm and sequential dissolution resulting in four fractions of CO2 collected in a 3-second interval each. Two mortar samples, which were analyzed using sequential dissolution and one by dating a bulk of lime lump, resulted in a combined radiocarbon age of 1551±21 BP translating to the calendar age of 427−559 AD.</abstract>

Numerous ruins around the world lack the radiometric dating due to the scarcity of organic carbon. Here, we present results of radiocarbon dating of mortar samples from an early Medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland, which was dated to the early 6th century, based on typology. The method of dating mortars, which is currently applied at the ETH laboratory, involves sieving the crushed mortar, selection of grain size 45−63 μm and sequential dissolution resulting in four fractions of CO2 collected in a 3-second interval each. Two mortar samples, which were analyzed using sequential dissolution and one by dating a bulk of lime lump, resulted in a combined radiocarbon age of 1551±21 BP translating to the calendar age of 427−559 AD.

14C Dating of mortar from ruins of an early medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland

Geochronometria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

C Dating of mortar from ruins of an early medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland

Numerous ruins around the world lack the radiometric dating due to the scarcity of organic carbon. Here, we present results of radiocarbon dating of mortar...

¹⁴C Dating of mortar from ruins of an early medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland

Article Category: CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “METHODS OF ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY” JUNE 5-7TH, 2019, TARNOWSKIE GORY, POLAND

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 118 - 123

Received: Dec 16, 2019

Accepted: May 29, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/geochr-2020-0027

Keywords
Archaeology, early Medieval, mortar, radiocarbon dating

© 2020 I. Hajdas., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

14C Dating of mortar from ruins of an early medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland

Article Category: CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS OF THE 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “METHODS OF ABSOLUTE CHRONOLOGY” JUNE 5-7TH, 2019, TARNOWSKIE GORY, POLAND

Published Online: Dec 31, 2020

Page range: 118 - 123

Received: Dec 16, 2019

Accepted: May 29, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/geochr-2020-0027

KeywordsArchaeology, early Medieval, mortar, radiocarbon dating

© 2020 I. Hajdas., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

¹⁴C Dating of mortar from ruins of an early medieval church Hohenrätien GR, Switzerland

Keywords
Archaeology, early Medieval, mortar, radiocarbon dating