Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-qxdb6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T19:40:31.268Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Atypical Medieval Burial at the Monte Dei Cappuccini Monastery in Torino (Italy): A Case Study With High-Precision Radiocarbon Dating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2020

Sara Rubinetti Open the ORCID record for Sara Rubinetti [Opens in a new window] ,
Irka Hajdas Open the ORCID record for Irka Hajdas [Opens in a new window] ,
Carla Taricco ,
Silvia Alessio ,
Luca P G Isella ,
Roberto Giustetto  and
Rosa Boano
Sara Rubinetti*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (OATo-INAF), Strada Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
Irka Hajdas
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
Carla Taricco
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (OATo-INAF), Strada Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
Silvia Alessio
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (OATo-INAF), Strada Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
Luca P G Isella
Affiliation:
Convento dei Frati Cappuccini “Santa Maria del Monte”, Piazzale Monte dei Cappuccini 3, 10131 Torino, Italy
Roberto Giustetto
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Torino, via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino, Italy Nanostructured Interfaces and Surfaces (NIS) Centre, via Quarello 15/A, 10135 Torino, Italy
Rosa Boano
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Torino, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email: sara.rubinetti@unito.it
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 1989 an ancient burial consisting of a skeleton and a few objects was discovered at the Monte dei Cappuccini Monastery, in Torino (Italy). Anthropological analysis of the skeleton revealed that it belonged to a young man, and the archaeometric characterization of the objects suggested that most of them are compatible with the Medieval period. As a proper archeological survey was not conducted at the time of the finding, due to the religious nature of the site, a high-precision radiocarbon (14C) dating has been performed. The samples were processed with three different methods: besides the ultrafiltration (UF) treatment, we applied the “collagen” (COL) and the Longin-base (LB) methods. While UF and COL treatments provided compatible results, LB method returned ages older with respect the UF one, with significant disagreements in some cases and this evidence is supported by several measurements on the same individual. Thanks to the reduction of the uncertainty with the high number of measured samples and the availability of historical evidence, the possible age of the burial has been limited to the time interval 1464–1515 cal AD.

Keywords

human bonesradiocarbon AMS dating
Type
Case Study
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , April 2020 , pp. 485 - 495
Copyright
© 2020 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barbero, A. 1995. Un’oligarchia urbana. Politica ed economia a Torino fra Tre e Quattrocento, Viella, Roma 1995. p. 319, 331.Google Scholar
Barbero, A. 2002. Il ducato di Savoia. Amministrazione e corte di uno stato franco-italiano, Editori Laterza, Roma-Bari 2002. p. 111, 292, 132–133.Google Scholar
Benedetto, SA. 1997. Strade, ponti, attrezzature alberghiere: un problema fondamentale. In: “Storia di Torino”, 2, Einaudi, Torino 1997. p. 753.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51(1):337–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2017. OxCal software version 4.3.2., http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/oxcal/OxCal.htmlGoogle Scholar
Buikstra, JE, Ubelaker, DH. 1994. Standards for data collection from human skeletal remains. Arkansas Archaeological Survey Research Series 44.Google Scholar
Capra, N, Pederiva, L, Dal Maschio, R. 2005. Formation of metallic copper cluster in silica based glasses. Advances in Glass and Optical Materials. Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Ceramic Society, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.Google Scholar
Charalambous, AC, Sakalis, AJ, Kantiranis, NA, Papadopoulou, LC, Tsirliganis, NC, Stratis, JA. 2010. Cypriot Byzantine glazed pottery: a study of the Paphos workshops. Archaeometry 52:628–643.Google Scholar
Gener, M, Montero-Ruiz, I, Murillo-Barroso, M, Manzano, E, Vallejo, A. 2014. Lead provenance study in medieval metallic materials from Madinat al-Zahra (Medina Azahara, Córdoba). Journal of Archaeological Science 44:154–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hajdas, I. 2008. Radiocarbon dating and its applications in Quaternary studies. Eiszeitalter und Gegenwart Quaternary Science Journal 57(2):2–24.Google Scholar
Hajdas, I, Michczynski, A, Bonani, G, Wacker, L, Furrer, H. 2009. Dating bones near the limit of the radiocarbon dating method: study case mammoth from Niederweningen, ZH Switzerland. Radiocarbon 51:675–680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hložek, M, Komoróczy, B, Trojek, T. 2012. X-ray fluorescence analysis of ancient and medieval brass artifacts from south Moravia. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 70:1250–1253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Isella, LPG. 2013. Il Monte dei Cappuccini e Filippo d’Agliè, Nuova Prhomos ed., Città di Castello.Google Scholar
Long, A, Rippeteau, B. 1974. Testing contemporaneity and averaging radiocarbon dates. American Antiquity 30:205–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, PJ, Bard, E, Bayliss, A, Beck, JW, Blackwell, PG, Bronk Ramsey, C, Buck, CE, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Friedrich, M, Grootes, PM, Guilderson, TP, Haflidason, H, Hajdas, I, Hatté, C, Heaton, TJ, Hoffmann, DL, Hogg, AG, Hughen, KA, Kaiser, KF, Kromer, B, Manning, SW, Niu, M, Reimer, RW, Richards, DA, Scott, EM, Southon, JR, Staff, RA, Turney, CSM, van der Plicht, J. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55(4):1869–1887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Synal, HA, Stocker, M, Suter, M. 2007. MICADAS: a new compact radiocarbon AMS system. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 259(1):7–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wacker, L, Christl, M, Synal, HA. 2010a. Bats: A new tool for AMS data reduction. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research B 268:976–979.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wacker, L, Bonani, G, Friedrich, M, Hajdas, I, Kromer, B, Nemec, M, Ruff, M, Suter, M, Synal, HA, Vockenhuber, C. 2010b. MICADAS: routine and high-precision radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 52(3):252–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wacker, L, Nemec, M, Bourquin, J. 2010c. A revolutionary graphitisation system: Fully automated, compact and simple. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 268: 931–934.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, TD, Folkens, PA. 2005. The human bone manual. Elsevier Academic Press.Google Scholar