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Radiocarbon Dating of Mortars from the Baptismal Font of the San Lorenzo Cathedral of Alba (Cuneo, Italy): Comparison with Thermoluminescence Dating of Related Bricks and Pipes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2016

Giovanni L Pesce ,
Egle Micheletto ,
Gianluca Quarta ,
Sofia Uggè ,
Lucio Calcagnile  and
Anna Decri
Giovanni L Pesce*
Affiliation:
BRE-CICM, Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Claverton Campus, Bath, United Kingdom Ipsilon p.s.c.r.l., Via Martin Piaggio 13/9A, 16121, Genoa, Italy
Egle Micheletto
Affiliation:
Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage of Piedmont and of MAE, Piazza S. Giovanni, 2, 10122 Turin, Italy
Gianluca Quarta
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostic), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy
Sofia Uggè
Affiliation:
Superintendence for the Archaeological Heritage of Piedmont and of MAE, Piazza S. Giovanni, 2, 10122 Turin, Italy
Lucio Calcagnile
Affiliation:
CEDAD (Centre for Dating and Diagnostic), Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, via per Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy
Anna Decri
Affiliation:
Ipsilon p.s.c.r.l., Via Martin Piaggio 13/9A, 16121, Genoa, Italy
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

The San Lorenzo Cathedral of Alba is a Romanesque church (rebuilt in Gothic epoch) located in northwest Italy. Since 2007, this church has been subjected to renovations and archaeological excavations that led to the finding of the lower part of the basin and the water drainage pipe of a baptismal font of unknown age. Thermoluminescence and radiocarbon dating have been carried out respectively on some ceramic elements and lime mortar samples used in both the pipe and basin of the font. Thermoluminescence results suggest that some of the bricks may have been reused from previous structures while 14C results suggest that the font was built between the 9th and the 11th centuries AD, most probably in the 10th century AD.

Type
Articles
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 55 , Issue 2: Proceedings of the 21st International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 1 of 2) , 2013 , pp. 526 - 533
Copyright
Copyright © 2013 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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