OSL mortar dating to elucidate the construction history of the Tomb Chamber of the Holy Aedicule of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

Abstract

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) was applied on mortar samples, collected from the internal layers of the complex Holy Aedicule structure of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. OSL was accompanied by X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersion X-ray Analysis (SEM-EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the resulted data provide new information regarding the construction evolution of the Tomb Chamber of the Holy Aedicule and the Holy Tomb. Four distinct chronological periods, based on the OSL dating, were produced corresponding to important construction and restoration phases of the 4th, 11th, 16th and 19th centuries. These correspond to the Constantinean era Aedicule, the Byzantine reconstruction (1034–1041 CE), the renaissance restoration by Boniface of Ragusa in 1555 and the reconstruction by the architect “Kalfas” Komnenos in 1810. The majority of the historical mortars were gypsum-based, regardless of their use in the structure and construction era, indicating continuity in production technology. Through this study the historical sequence of the Tomb Chamber evolution from the Constantinean era Aedicule to the Aedicule as it stands today is elucidated.