M. Járó - L. Költő szerk.: Archaeometrical research in Hungary (Budapest, 1988)

Dating - ERDÉLYI Balázs: Thermoluminescence dating in the history of arcmtecture

Method (Function) Time range (years) 1. Chemical dating of bone (A) 2. The nitrogen test (A) 3. The fluorine test (A) 4. The uranium test (A) 5. Radiological and optical dating of bone (A) 6. Patination dating of stone (A) 7. Cultural stratigraphy (B) 8. Geological stratigraphy (B) 9. Palaeontology (B) 10. Fossil pollen analysis (B) 11. Seriation (B) 12. Culture trait correlation (A, B) 13. Dendrochronology (C,D) 14. Archaeomagnetic dating (C,D) 15. Radiocarbon dating (CD) 16. Potassium argon dating (D) 17, Fission-track dating (C,D) 18. Thermoluminescence dating (C,D) 19. Obsidian hydration dating (C,D) 500,000 50,000 2000 1,000,000 100,000 10,000 0 Fig.l Summary of dating methods. The principle dating functions are as follows. A: evaluation of intracomponent associations; B. relative dating of components; C: Chronometrie dating of artifacts; D; Chronometrie datingof components (Michels, 1973). operations are generally omitted, and in their place empirical, visual, and comparative examinations of art history are carried out. Specialists processing previous, traditional technological knowledge could acquire and record more information by this method than could contemporary researchers. Most buildings exhibit perceptible variations of mass, form, space layout, ornaments and finish that are sensitive and reliable means of architecture historical dating relying on style critical examinations (Michels, 1973). Any chronology is built on a continuous time scale perceived as a sequence of events. Reference points are observed interventions marking, in a given meaning, the variation of buildings. (The first, so-called "variation" is the construction of the building, that may be a timely protracted process in terms of time, i. e. a period.) Variation is a chronology landmark for the historian of architecture or archaeologist (Chang, 1967). This variation permits one to divide the time continuum - that is, the history of the building - into discrete time parts, i.e. periods. These time segments — let them be called architecture historical styles — are time units comprising no significant variation, or at least insufficient to overthrow the whole ^cultural system; in other words they are structurally tolerable. These periods - style periods - may be handled as synchronous segments, that is, periods within that any time point can be considered as simultaneous. The criterion of what can be considered as steady-state from the aspect of culture somewhat varies for each researcher (Michels, 1973). It may even be stated that under certain — frequent — conditions, the available (mostly traditional) dating methods severely restrict the accuracy of dividing the time continuum, certainly resulting in a mere relative chronology.