Straw in Clay Bricks and Plasters - Can we use its Molecular Decay for Dating Purposes?

journal article in Web of Science

English

Dating of earthen bricks (adobe) and plasters topic not only for buiding historians in the Pannonian region. Especially in vernicular architecture in this region, earth with straw amendments is a dominant construction material. The paper presents the potential of the molecular decay of these amendments to establish prediction tools for age based on infrared micrscopic measurements. Preliminary results revealed spectral differences between the different plant parts, especially culms, nodes and ear spindles. Based on these results, a first prediction model is presented including 14 historic samples. The coefficient of determination for the validation reached 62.2%, the (RMSE) root mean squared error amounted to 93 years. Taking the limited sample amount and the high material heterogeneity into account, this result can be seen as a promising output. Accordingly, ample size should be increased to a minimum of 100 objects and separate models for the different plant parts should be established.

adobe construction, earth construction, vernacular architecture, straw amendments, FTIR spectroscopy

ŽABIČKOVÁ, I., TINTNER, J., ROTH, K., OTTNER, F., SYROVÁ-ANÝŽOVÁ, Z., WRIESSNIG, K., MEINGAST, R., FEIGLSTORFER, h.

20. 3. 2020

MDPI

Basel, Switzerland

1420-3049

MOLECULES

25

1419

Swiss Confederation

1

9

9

https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/25/6/1419