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An Atypical Medieval Burial at the Monte Dei Cappuccini Monastery in Torino (Italy): A Case Study With High-Precision Radiocarbon Dating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2020

Sara Rubinetti Open the ORCID record for Sara Rubinetti [Opens in a new window] ,
Irka Hajdas Open the ORCID record for Irka Hajdas [Opens in a new window] ,
Carla Taricco ,
Silvia Alessio ,
Luca P G Isella ,
Roberto Giustetto  and
Rosa Boano
Sara Rubinetti*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (OATo-INAF), Strada Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
Irka Hajdas
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics, ETH, Otto-Stern-Weg 5, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
Carla Taricco
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (OATo-INAF), Strada Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
Silvia Alessio
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Torino, via Pietro Giuria 1, 10125 Torino, Italy Osservatorio Astrofisico di Torino (OATo-INAF), Strada Osservatorio 20, 10025 Pino Torinese, Italy
Luca P G Isella
Affiliation:
Convento dei Frati Cappuccini “Santa Maria del Monte”, Piazzale Monte dei Cappuccini 3, 10131 Torino, Italy
Roberto Giustetto
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Torino, via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino, Italy Nanostructured Interfaces and Surfaces (NIS) Centre, via Quarello 15/A, 10135 Torino, Italy
Rosa Boano
Affiliation:
Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, University of Torino, Via Accademia Albertina 13, 10123 Torino, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email: sara.rubinetti@unito.it
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Abstract

In 1989 an ancient burial consisting of a skeleton and a few objects was discovered at the Monte dei Cappuccini Monastery, in Torino (Italy). Anthropological analysis of the skeleton revealed that it belonged to a young man, and the archaeometric characterization of the objects suggested that most of them are compatible with the Medieval period. As a proper archeological survey was not conducted at the time of the finding, due to the religious nature of the site, a high-precision radiocarbon (14C) dating has been performed. The samples were processed with three different methods: besides the ultrafiltration (UF) treatment, we applied the “collagen” (COL) and the Longin-base (LB) methods. While UF and COL treatments provided compatible results, LB method returned ages older with respect the UF one, with significant disagreements in some cases and this evidence is supported by several measurements on the same individual. Thanks to the reduction of the uncertainty with the high number of measured samples and the availability of historical evidence, the possible age of the burial has been limited to the time interval 1464–1515 cal AD.

Keywords

human bonesradiocarbon AMS dating
Type
Case Study
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , April 2020 , pp. 485 - 495
Copyright
© 2020 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona

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