Luminescence Dating of Brick Chimneys

Vernacular Architecture

Volumn 35, Issue 1, 2004, Pages 21-31

  Antrobus, Abby ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 35648983336     PISSN: 03055477     EISSN: 17496292     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1179/vea.2004.35.1.21     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. This paper is based on A. Antrobus, 'Optically stimulated lumi-nescence dating of sixteenth century chimneys', unpublished BSc dissertation, University of Durham, 2002.
2. P., Ryan, Brick in Essex, from the Roman Conquest to the Reformation (Chelmsford: Pat Ryan, 1996).
3. There have been a number of other scientific investigations into dating brick; including palaeomagnetic-intensity dating (M., Boyd, 'A new method for measuring palaeomagnetic intensi-ties', Nature 319 (1986), 208–9), and the use of the rate of diffu-sion of calcium ions from mortar into brick (C. Waddell and J. C. Fountain, 'Calcium diffusion: a new dating method for archaeological materials', Geology12 (1984), 24–6). However, results from these techniques are not widely known.
4. Bricks from India, France, Lincolnshire and Newcastle have so far been sampled. See I. K., Bailiff and N., Holland, 'Dating bricks of the last two millennia from Newcastle-upon-Tyne: a preliminary study', Radiation Measurements 32 (2000), 615–19.
5. E.g. M. J., Aitken, An Introduction to Optical Dating: The Dating of Quaternary Sediments by the use of Photon-stimulated Luminescence (Oxford: OUP, 1998); M. J. Aitken, Thermolumi-nescence Dating (London: Academic Press, 1985), and R. Griin, 'Trapped charge dating (ESR, TL, OSL)', in D. R. Brothwell and A. M. Pollard (eds), Handbook of Archaeological Sciences (London: John Wiley and Sons Ltd, 2001), 47–62. See also the US Geological Survey website, http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/wgmt/pacnw/t1primer.html, andhttp://www.daybreaknuclear.com/bortolot_faq.html for simple and accessible summaries.
6. Aitken (1998), 7.
7. M., Martini and E., Sibilia, 'Radiation in archaeometry: archaeological dating', Radiation Physics and Chemistry 61 (2001), 241–6 (p. 245).
8. For Romanesque, see Martini and Sibilia (2001), 245. For Renaissance; T., Cechak, J., Gemdt, M., Kubelik, L., Musilek and M., Pavlik, 'Radiation methods in research of ancient monuments', Applied Radiation and Isotopes 53 (2000), 565–70.
9. L., Botter-Jensen, N., Agersnap Larsen, V., Mejdahl, N. R. J., Poolton, M. F., Morris and S. W. S., McKeever, 'Luminescence sensitivity changes in quartz as a result of annealing', Radiation Measurements 24 (1995), 535–41 (p. 540).
10. Ian, Bailiff, pers. comm.
11. Bailiff and Holland (2000).
12. Other published articles include a study of archaeological bricks from India (M. Abeyratne, 'TL dating of Sri Lankan Archaeological Sites', Quaternary Science Reviews13 (1994), 585–8), seventeenth-century bricks from Newcastle (Bailiff and Holland, 2000) and fifteenth-century bricks from a priory in Finland (G., Hiltt, H. Y., Göksu, I., Jaek and M., Hiekkanen, 'Luminescence dating of Somero Sacristry, SW Finland, using the 210°C TL peak of quartz', Quaternary Science Reviews 20 (2001), 773–7).
13. M. H., Johnson, 'On science, buildings archaeology and new agendas', in J., Bayley (ed.), Science in Archaeology: An Agenda for the Future (London: English Heritage, 1998), 211–17 (p. 212).
14. This is a central theme in M. H., Johnson, Housing Culture — Traditional Architecture in an English Landscape (London: UCL, 1993), especially chapters 4–6, pp. 44–105. Social space is discussed in J. Grenville, Medieval Housing (Leicester: LUP, 1997), especially pp. 106–7).
15. See, for example, arguments presented by D., Stenning, 'Early brick chimney stacks', Essex Archaeology and History 20 (1989), 92–102.
16. Quoted in B., Oliver, Old Houses and Village Buildings in EastAnglia (London: Batsford, 1912), 65.
17. Ian, Bailiff, pers. comm.
18. Luminescence strength depends on the sensitivity of the sample, which is its propensity to acquire luminescence when bombarded with radiation (Aitken (1995), 1). Factors governing this are highly complex.
19. The clay of the white brick (285–3) was chalky and quartz grains were opaque under the microscope. Those samples which gave a stronger signal (and hence results that were less subject to variation) contain more transparent grains: the signal strength is possibly correlated to grain opacity.
20. Aitken (1985), Appendix B, 241–51. This is the generally accepted method of calculation and presentation, employed in datelists in Ancient TL, a journal published by the University of Durham (most recent volume published in 2000).
21. J., Gage, The History and Antiquities of Hengrave in Suffolk(London: Carpenter, Booker and Deek, 1822), 15.
22. Edward, Martin, pers. comm.
23. Gage (1822), 2.
24. Martin, Bridge, List 124, VA 33 (2003), 76–7.
25. Inferred from N. Moore, 'Brick', in I., Blair and D., Ramsay (eds), English Medieval Industries (London: Hambledon Press, 1991), 211–36, fig. 97.
26. Johnson (1993), 87n, and Leigh Alston, pers. comm.
27. Outlined in Stenning (1989), 94.
28. Leigh, Alston, pers. comm.
29. Department of Environment, 'List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest', accessed via the English Heritage website, http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk.
30. Leigh, Alston, pers. comm.
31. Stenning (1989), 96, citing a personal communication from E. Clive Rouse. It is also discussed and illustrated in E., Mercer, English Vernacular Houses (London: HMSO/RCHM, 1976), 20–1, 203 and pl. 13. Mercer gives an early sixteenth-century date for the chimney.
32. M. C., Bridge, List 122, VA 31 (2000), 87, for dates, and Leigh Alston, pers. comm., for ideas on the phasing.
33. Bridge (2000), 87.
34. P., Aitkens, 'Abbas Hall', Eavesdropper, newsletter of Suffolk Historic Buildings Group 16 (2000), 9.
35. Bridge (2000), 87.
36. Johnson (1993), 78.
37. Leigh Alston, pers. comm. The effect would be predicted to be minimal, as the sample was at least lm away from the roof. Changes in material at this distance would therefore change the geometry and intensity of the background radiation, but only slightly.
38. Bøtter-Jensen et al. (1995), 535, but soft bricks from Russia have yielded strong signals (Ian Bailiff, pers. comm.), and this aspect needs further investigation.
39. See examples in the gazetteer in J., Wight, Brick Building in England (London: John Baker, 1972), 222–392.
40. This is a theme in the work of T. P., Smith, The Medieval Brickmaking Industry in England 1400–1450, British Archaeo-logical Reports (British Series) 138 (1985).