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Development of 14C Dating of Mortars at ETH Zurich

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2020

Irka Hajdas Open the ORCID record for Irka Hajdas [Opens in a new window] ,
Mantana Maurer  and
Maria Belen Röttig
Irka Hajdas*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, 8093Zurich, Switzerland
Mantana Maurer
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, 8093Zurich, Switzerland
Maria Belen Röttig
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH Zurich, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, 8093Zurich, Switzerland
*
*Corresponding author. Email: hajdas@phys.ethz.ch.
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Abstract

The ages of mortars and plaster can help reveal the history of monuments, their construction, or restoration times. However, these anthropogenic carbonates pose a challenge when it comes to separation of the atmospheric radiocarbon (14C) signal of the CO2 fixed in the mortar at the time of consolidation, i.e., the time of binder formation. The variety and heterogeneity of mortars require individual assessments of each sample and 14C results. Here we present our current preparation method and summarize experience based on results collected during the last 20 years of mortar dating at the ETH laboratory.

Keywords

archaeologyintercomparisonmortarradiocarbon AMS dating
Type
Research Article
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 62 , Issue 3: MoDIM 2018 Proceedings of the Mortar Dating International Meeting , June 2020 , pp. 591 - 600
Copyright
© 2020 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the Mortar Dating International Meeting, Pessac, France, 25–27 Oct. 2018

References

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