IMEKO International Conference on Metrology for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage Torino, Italy, October 19-21, 2016 The Cluny Priory of Castelletto Cervo (Biella, Italy): Archaeometric Study of Mortars Eleonora Destefanis 1, Elena Basso 2,3 , Gabriele Ardizio 4 1 Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università del Piemonte Orientale, p.zza S. Eusebio 5, 13100 Vercelli, Italy,
[email protected] 2 Indipendent scholar, via Campo Sportivo 7, 13047 San Germano Vercellese, Italy,
[email protected] 3 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e dell’Ambiente, Università de gli Studi di Pavia, via Ferrata 1, 27100 Pavia, Italy 4 Archaeologist, former researcher Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università del Piemonte Orientale,
[email protected] Abstract – The Cluny Priory of Castelletto Cervo still characterized by extended moorland areas, as it was (Biella, Piedmont) was deeply investigated from 2006 in the past. Not so far, and just beneath the Priory, the to 2014, in a multidisciplinary project. This water stream Ostola joins the river Cervo, that flows at contribution deals with the methodological approach the foot of the relief. followed for the archaeometric study of mortars, and Firstly mentioned in 1092 as already established (likely the results in term of material knowledge and reading founded in the last quarter of the 11 th century), the St. of the building phases in a time interval of about a Peter and Paul monastery developed and implemented his millennium. ownership at least until the first half of the 13 th century. Petrographic observations combined with Then, the whole region was marked by a long period of microchemical data showed that the local raw troubles and wars involving the monastery too, which the materials were exploited during a very long time written sources attest as abandoned by monks, who left span: the aggregates are polygenic sands, with a high for the safer dependency in Carpignano (Sesia Valley).