Properties of Roman structural mortars in the province of Asia (Turkey)

IF 0.9 2区历史学 0 ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeological Research in Asia Pub Date : 2025-01-07 DOI:10.1016/j.ara.2024.100590

Burcu Taşcı , Hasan Böke

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In this study, the properties of Roman structural mortars composed of lime and natural aggregates from twenty-three archaeological sites in Western Anatolia were determined in order to understand whether there was a common production technology of lime mortars in the Roman Empire by making a comparison between Europe and Western Anatolia. Their basic physical and mechanical properties, raw material compositions, microstructural and hydraulic properties, mineralogical and chemical compositions of their lime binder and fine aggregates were identified by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis analyses, bulk density, total porosity and compressive strength of mortars. The results indicated that these mortars mortars were produced by combining fat or lean lime with coarse aggregates (quartz, tuff) and predominantly fine pozzolanic rhyolitic and dacitic tuff aggregates. The lime/aggregate ratios of the mortars generally exhibited a range of values between 1:4 and 1.5:1 by weight, which closely paralleled the lime/aggregate ratios in other Roman mortars published in literature. The presence of lime lumps within the mortar matrices, exhibiting a spongy texture, may suggest the use of the hot lime mixing method in the preparation of the mortars. The mortars are hydraulic, possessing compressive strengths comparable to those observed in natural hydraulic lime mortars (NHL2, NHL3.5 and NHL5 types). The results indicate that the production of structural mortars in the province of Asia was similar to that in other regions of the Roman Empire, although the raw materials are similar, small differences in raw material composition could be due to the use of local raw material sources. This may be evidence of a common lime mortar technology that deliberately used pozzolanic aggregates with almost pure lime throughout the Roman Empire.

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来源期刊

Archaeological Research in Asia ARCHAEOLOGY-

CiteScore

2.50

自引率

13.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Archaeological Research in Asia presents high quality scholarly research conducted in between the Bosporus and the Pacific on a broad range of archaeological subjects of importance to audiences across Asia and around the world. The journal covers the traditional components of archaeology: placing events and patterns in time and space; analysis of past lifeways; and explanations for cultural processes and change. To this end, the publication will highlight theoretical and methodological advances in studying the past, present new data, and detail patterns that reshape our understanding of it. Archaeological Research in Asia publishes work on the full temporal range of archaeological inquiry from the earliest human presence in Asia with a special emphasis on time periods under-represented in other venues. Journal contributions are of three kinds: articles, case reports and short communications. Full length articles should present synthetic treatments, novel analyses, or theoretical approaches to unresolved issues. Case reports present basic data on subjects that are of broad interest because they represent key sites, sequences, and subjects that figure prominently, or should figure prominently, in how scholars both inside and outside Asia understand the archaeology of cultural and biological change through time. Short communications present new findings (e.g., radiocarbon dates) that are important to the extent that they reaffirm or change the way scholars in Asia and around the world think about Asian cultural or biological history.