Radiocarbon Dating Historical Mortars: Lime Lumps and/or Binder Carbonate?
Open accessAbstract
Lime lumps and bulk mortars show different 14 C contamination when analyzed in several CO 2 fractions isolated from the effervescence of an ongoing hydrolysis reaction. Age profiles of both materials are therefore highly complementary and together they can provide a reliable date. Furthermore, they can also reveal the complexity of the radiocarbon (14 C) distribution within the mortar and thus prevent over-interpretation of the data. The lime lump versus bulk mortar dating data presented here has been collected over 22 years, with only a small fraction of the results so far published internationally. Since there has been an increasing interest in mortar dating over recent years with a special focus on lime lumps, and since many laboratories have just begun mortar dating experiments, we wish to present some of the extensive data that already exist. Previously published data from 15 lime lumps (including 34 14 C measurements from sequential dissolution) and 43 new 14 C measurements from 17 lime lumps are presented here. The samples are from medieval Finland and Sweden, classical Rome and medieval Italy, and the Roman Jerash (Gerasa), Jordan.
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Recent work demonstrated detectable changes corresponding to less than one percent by weight of newly formed carbonates in oil well cements.
“Recent work demonstrated detectable changes corresponding to less than one percent by weight of newly formed carbonates in oil well cements [30].”
From Isotope chemistry to trace carbon mineralization in construction materials (2026) · cites this paper as [30]
The Conclusion discusses radiocarbon dating of lime lumps and historical mortars, not oil-well cements. Searches for oil-well cement carbonation and the claimed less-than-one-percent detection threshold found no passage addressing either point in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Isotope chemistry to trace carbon mineralization in construction materials
Jansen, D., Matschei, T., Van Geldern, R., Barth, J., & Snellings, R. (2026) · RILEM Technical Letters · doi:10.21809/rilemtechlett.2026.232
- Authors
- Lindroos, A., Ringbom, Å., Heinemeier, J., Hodgins, G., Sonck-Koota, P., Sjöberg, P., Lancaster, L., Kaisti, R., Brock, F., Ranta, H., Caroselli, M., & Lugli, S.
- Affiliations
- Åbo Akademi University (FI)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- Ohio University (US)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Lindroos, Alf
- ORCID
- Venue
- Radiocarbon
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2018-04-06
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 875-899
- ISSN
- 0033-8222 (ISSN-L)
- 1945-5755
- OpenAlex
- W2796377456
- Cited by
- 29
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 2.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Radiocarbon (publishedVersion)
- CERES (Cranfield University) (submittedVersion)
- IRIS UNIMORE (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Åbo Akademi University Research Portal (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Academy of Finland
- Åbo Akademi
- Suomen Tiedeseura
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Archaeology and ancient environmental studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Ancient and Medieval Archaeology Studies
- Keywords
- radiocarbon dating, historic mortars, age profiles, medieval masonry, Roman masonry
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