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COMPARISON OF THERMAL DECOMPOSITION AND SEQUENTIAL DISSOLUTION—TWO SAMPLE PREPARATION METHODS FOR RADIOCARBON DATING OF LIME MORTARS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2021

Thomas Schrøder Daugbjerg Open the ORCID record for Thomas Schrøder Daugbjerg [Opens in a new window] ,
Alf Lindroos Open the ORCID record for Alf Lindroos [Opens in a new window] ,
Irka Hajdas Open the ORCID record for Irka Hajdas [Opens in a new window] ,
Åsa Ringbom Open the ORCID record for Åsa Ringbom [Opens in a new window]  and
Jesper Olsen Open the ORCID record for Jesper Olsen [Opens in a new window]
Thomas Schrøder Daugbjerg*
Affiliation:
Aarhus AMS Centre (AARAMS), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus University, Moesgård Allé 20, DK-8270Højbjerg, Denmark
Alf Lindroos
Affiliation:
Faculty of Science and Technology, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
Irka Hajdas
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Åsa Ringbom
Affiliation:
Art History, Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
Jesper Olsen
Affiliation:
Aarhus AMS Centre (AARAMS), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Centre for Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), Aarhus University, Moesgård Allé 20, DK-8270Højbjerg, Denmark
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

Dating lime mortar samples using the radiocarbon (14C) method can be difficult. This is because the contamination is similar to the primary dating material (CaCO3) and consequently difficult to remove. Mortar can also have late-in-formation pyrogenic carbonate from interactions with the environment after the initial hardening phase, such as recrystallization, fire damage or delayed hardening. When 14C dating a system of primary dating material, contamination and late-in-formation pyrogenic carbonate, one approach is multi-fraction dating with conclusiveness criteria. If a sample has sufficient contamination or late-in-formation pyrogenic carbonate, the criteria evaluate the result inconclusive. To improve inconclusive results from such samples, this study investigates sample preparation by thermal decomposition. Here samples that were inconclusively dated by the authors’ traditional method, sequential dissolution with 85% phosphoric acid, are investigated further. This study finds that CO2 thermally decomposed at low temperatures contains some late-in-formation pyrogenic carbonate. By rejecting CO2 decomposed at low temperatures, Kastelholm castle and Kimito church in Finland are conclusively and accurately dated. Furthermore, a preheating method removes some late-in-formation carbonate, but not enough for a conclusive result. Finally, thermal decomposition finds difficulty in discerning binder carbonate from limestone and marble contamination.

Keywords

mortar datingradiocarbon datingsequential dissolutionthermal decompositionpreheating
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 405 - 427
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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