Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.17018/portal.2018.3
Results of Archaeological Surveillance and Dating of Wooden Foundation Beams from the Atrium of the Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik
Nikolina Topić
; Museum of London Archaeology
Ines Krajcar Bronić
orcid.org/0000-0002-6534-4125
; Ruđer Bošković Institute
Andreja Sironić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7256-206X
; Ruđer Bošković Institute
Abstract
The Rector’s Palace in Dubrovnik is one of the most prominent Gothic-Renaissance buildings on the Adriatic coast. It was transformed from a defensive building into a palace in the 15th century, and today it is a museum. In the first half of the 15th century, Onofrio di Giordano della Cava, an engineer from Naples, built the Palace. His interventions determined all later restorations. The building was renovated during the next three centuries and after the 1979 earthquake.
This article presents the results of archaeological surveillance over construction works undertaken at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, as well as the results of radiocarbon dating of wooden foundation beams (14C – AMS, accelerator mass spectrometry).
Geomechanical drillings were carried out in several structures, both archaeological (stone foundations for pillars) and of recent construction, confirming the presence of wooden foundation beams embedded in the muddy soil to ensure the stability of the building. The analysed wood samples were dated to a period from the 16th to the 19th century using the radiocarbon method, proving they are not original wooden beams from the first phase of construction of the atrium (15th century) and that the original beams were later replaced by new ones. The results partially match the archival data on the acquisition of wooden construction materials for the Palace at the end of the 17th century. Analyses have shown that wooden foundation beams were used in later interventions during the 18th and 19th centuries.
The foundations were made from cut or dressed stone (sometimes with the addition of tuff ) held by lime mortar and charcoal or red soil. It was confirmed that the archaeological layers are up to 3.5 m below the present-day floor of the atrium, followed by geological layers.
The fill layer around the pillars contained some archaeological finds (pottery, glass, metal, stone) that were subsequently reconstructed in drawings. The material found is evidence of the usage of tableware and kitchenware in the Palace and/or surrounding buildings (a possible source of material during recent filling). The material also indicates that the Palace and/or surrounding buildings were illuminated using glass lamps, and that glass discs (oculi) were used to make windows. The pottery found was imported from Italy, while the glass vessels could have been made in Venetian or Dubrovnik workshops. Oculi were probably made in Dubrovnik glass workshops.
Keywords
radiocarbon dating; archaeological finds; archaeological surveillance; wooden foundation beams; Dubrovnik; Rector’s Palace
Hrčak ID:
218260
URI
Publication date:
30.12.2018.
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