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RADIOCARBON DATING OF MORTAR CHARCOALS FROM MEDIEVAL RÝZMBURK CASTLE, NORTHWESTERN BOHEMIA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 December 2022

Kateřina Pachnerová Brabcová Open the ORCID record for Kateřina Pachnerová Brabcová [Opens in a new window] ,
Pavel Kundrát ,
Tomáš Krofta ,
Václav Suchý ,
Markéta Petrová ,
Nikola Pravdíková ,
David John ,
Petr Kozlovcec ,
Kristýna Kotková  and
Anna Fialová
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Kateřina Pachnerová Brabcová*
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, 180 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Pavel Kundrát
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, 180 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Tomáš Krofta
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, 180 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Václav Suchý
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, 180 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Markéta Petrová
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, 180 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Nikola Pravdíková
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, 180 00 Praha, Czech Republic
David John
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, 180 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Petr Kozlovcec
Affiliation:
Department of Lime Technologies, Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prosecká 809/76, 190 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Kristýna Kotková
Affiliation:
Department of Lime Technologies, Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prosecká 809/76, 190 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Anna Fialová
Affiliation:
Department of Lime Technologies, Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prosecká 809/76, 190 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Jan Válek
Affiliation:
Department of Lime Technologies, Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prosecká 809/76, 190 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Ivo Svetlik
Affiliation:
Department of Radiation Dosimetry, Nuclear Physics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Na Truhlářce 39/64, 180 00 Praha, Czech Republic
Pavel P Povinec
Affiliation:
Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, 841 03 Bratislava, Slovakia
*
*Corresponding author. Email: brabcova@ujf.cas.cz
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Abstract

Rýzmburk Castle is one of the largest and most important medieval castles in Bohemia, documented since 1250 AD. Its North tower is assumed to be built in 1260–1300 AD. To test this assumption, the surface layers of mortar were inspected for the presence of charcoals suitable for radiocarbon dating, and 10 charcoals were found. The charcoals probably originated from wood used for lime burning. The results of radiocarbon dating using accelerator mass spectrometry agree with the historical estimation. Single post-1287 sample indicates that the building date might be refined to 1287–1300 AD.

Keywords

charcoalsmortarsradiocarbon AMS datingRýzmburk Castle
Type
Case Study
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 65 , Issue 1 , February 2023 , pp. 275 - 283
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press for the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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