Radiocarbon Dating of Dolomitic Mortars from the Convent Saint John, Müstair (Switzerland): First Results

The monastery of St. John in Müstair, a UNESCO world heritage site, preserves archaeological remains and stone structures dated from the 8th century to the present. It has been extensively studied archaeologically so that numerous samples of historical materials, including mortar, are available for study. In addition to that, some of the structures have been precisely dated with dendrochronology. The monastery is located in a region characterized by dolomite rocks and the mortars are therefore of dolomitic nature, being perfectly suited to test the possibility of being dated with 14C. Furthermore, the presence of embedded carbon fragments has provided additional independent data to support or deny the results of mortar dating. A comparison of the results obtained from radiocarbon (14C) dating of bulk mortars, sieved fractions enriched in binder, lime lumps and carbon fragments, for two samples is presented, in relation to the petrographic characterization and the mineralogical phase content. This preliminary study shows that the dating of 14C can potentially be applied to the mortar of Müstair, as results in accordance with the established chronologies have been obtained for one sample. However, if the dolomitic sand contamination is very high, further studies are needed to develop a specific sample preparation technique.