Thermoluminescence Dating in Architectural History: The Chronology of Palladio's Villa Rotonda

Abstract

The dating of Palladio's Villa Rotonda by thermoluminescence (TL) has made it possible to establish a more reliable chronology for this building: Vincenzo Scamozzi's completion can be more accurately defined, and the early 18th-century interventions by Francesco Muttoni are proved to be far greater than hitherto assumed. The TL results, furthermore, give criteria by which to assess the relative value of various other documentary sources for the Rotonda, and so indirectly allow an image to appear of what the Rotonda was at its original completion and how it was used.

Using the TL Single-Aliquot Regenerative-Dose Protocol for the Verification of the Chronology of the Teutonic Order Castle in Malbork

“…After the first application of TL dating to pottery samples in 1960s, some attempts to date architectural objects were undertaken (Goedicke et al, 1981 and1986;Abrahamsen et al, 1996;Banerjee et al, 1999;Bailiff and Holland, 2000;Göksu and Schwenk, 2000;Antrobus, 2004;Sanderson and Bingham, 2004). The accuracy of TL dating achievable earlier could not satisfy historians of art, but recently the development of luminescence measurement technique and the intensive research in field of retrospective dosimetry (Better-Jensen and Murray, 1999;Bailiff and Mikhailik, 2004) using luminescence of building materials have led to significant improvement of dating precision.…”