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

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

But TL dating maybe of help in solving theoretical problems in this field of science, as seen by the set of new questions on Palladio or the relation between architect and builder at the time of Palladio, raised by results of a German research team (Goedicke et al., 1981). 3. TL dating in the hungarian history of architecture This method is of special importance for the Hungarian research into the history of architecture; namely, most buüding remnants lack style critically évaluable details suiting dating, and destruction due to historical events sometimes required frequent building interventions. The significance of TL dating is enhanced by the fact that the preferential buüding material of mediaeval architecture was brick, and masonry was mixed (stone, brick) masonry. Often this is the only possibility to obtain exact period data since history which is destructive to buildings did not manage mediaeval archives, either. There are a number of monuments that were first mentioned in writing after the Turks were expelled, and some not at all. The decisive majority of these buildings are simple rural churches with no detail prone to style critical analysis. Their eventual mouldings or carvings belong to general elements of international styles not typical even of the century, let alone a more exact dating. Therefore the material that is most suitable for dating is brick, which is encountered in nearly all mediaeval building remnants. Historical monuments containing no brick at all are scarce, belonging to the most representative group of monuments, best datable by traditional style critical analysis. This theoretical basis was the one underlying Chronometrie TL dating of the brick material monuments some years ago (Erdélyi et al., in press). In spite of initial difficulties and financial restrictions, interesting results, important for the building history of monuments — mostly rural churches — have been achieved (Kása et al., 1984). Let me present one of them in some detail, pointing to chronological contradictions underlying TL dating, with test results. 4. Dating of the round church at Kallósd The mediaeval church that has been subjected to the most rigorous testing applying ten separate samples - is the Romanesque rotunda of the West-Transdanubian village of Kallósd. It has been much concerned with in architecture historical research as a presumed group-forming representative of late Romanesque. Its time of construction is generally put to the last third of the 13th century (after 1263), in compliance with data in a misinterpreted land-grant document (Bogyay, 1940). The church nave is a circular buüding of 1.5 m wall thickness and an outer diametei of about 8 m, joined to the east by a smaU horseshoe arch (Fig. 2). The church was buüt exclusively of brick. Engaged columns dividing the facade consist of profile bricks. A peculiarity of the church is a staircase ascending in the north waU of the nave, midway leading to a timber choir. The architecture historical investigation previous to TL dating raised the foUowing problems: 1. The construction time of the church is presumably the turn of the 12th to 13th centuries, rather than the last third of the 13 th century. 2. During the Turkish rule the church was out of use, damaged, hence its re-use might be bound with serious reconstructions — mid-18th century.