Abstract
The research reported in this thesis concerns the re-evaluation of an archaeological assumption surrounding the origin of Ceramic Building Materials (CBM) used from the 9th to the 11th century in religious buildings of north-western France and south-eastern England. Are the bricks used in the masonry structures Roman spolia or a novo productions? Amongst the dating methods that can contribute to building archaeology, it is the technique of stimulated luminescence applied to CBM that is the focus of this study. Results from thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating performed on 52 CBM samples from 11 churches showed that the practice of reusing Roman brick was commonplace in small parish churches, but also that brick-making was not a totally unknown skill of the early medieval craftsmen as it has long been supposed. Most importantly, by identifying that the building material is contemporary to the church, a defined chronology emerges resulting in a new and extremely useful reference point in the history of early medieval architecture.
Highlights
IntroductionMedieval buildings Geographically, this study covers the regions of Normandy and Pays-de-Loire in north-west France and the counties of Kent and Essex in south-east England (Fig 1)
The overall aims of this study were to evaluate the potential viability of luminescence dating as a tool for building archaeology and in so doing, to re-address the long-standing theories surrounding the reuse of Roman spolia on medieval building sites
Cases where the scientific results are in good agreement with archaeological assumptions and/or bringing further information: the study of the Collegiate of SaintMartin in Angers, for which the bell-tower was erected in the 9th century (AD 850±60); the study of the church Notre-Dame-sous-Terre which allowed defining, in conjunction with the archaeological data, the identification of two building phases in the late 10th century (AD 950±50 for the surrounding walls and AD 990±50 for the eastern sanctuaries and the median wall); the study of the parish church of St Martin of Tours, Chipping Ongar, where the bricks sampled (AD 1040±30) appeared to be of early medieval manufacture produced slightly prior the Conquest
Summary
Medieval buildings Geographically, this study covers the regions of Normandy and Pays-de-Loire in north-west France and the counties of Kent and Essex in south-east England (Fig 1). The research reported in this thesis concerns the re-evaluation of an archaeological assumption surrounding the origin of Ceramic Building Materials (CBM) used from the 9th to the 11th century in religious buildings of north-western France and south-eastern England. Amongst the dating methods that can contribute to building archaeology, it is the technique of stimulated luminescence applied to CBM that is the focus of this study. Results from thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating performed on 52 CBM samples from 11 churches showed that the practice of reusing Roman brick was commonplace in small parish churches, and that brick-making was not a totally unknown skill of the early medieval craftsmen as it has long been supposed. By identifying that the building material is contemporary to the church, a defined chronology emerges resulting in a new and extremely useful reference point in the history of early medieval architecture
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