Browsing by Author "van der Plicht, Johannes"

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    Defining multiple inhabitations of a cave environment using interdisciplinary archaeometry: the ‘Christmas Cave’ of the Wadi en-Nar/Nahal Qidron, west of the Dead Sea
    (Springer, 2022-02-05) Rasmussen, Kaare Lund; van der Plicht, Johannes; Degano, Ilaria; Modugno, Francesca; Colombini, Maria Perla; de la Fuente, Guillermo; Delbey, Thomas; Frumkin, Amos; Davidovich, Uri; Porat, Roi; Shamir, Orit; Sukenik, Naama; Doudna, Greg; Taylor, Joan; Popović, Mladen
    The present study reports a series of interdisciplinary archaeometrical analyses of objects found in the Christmas Cave, which was discovered by John Allegro and his team in 1960 on the West Bank of the Dead Sea and assumed to be inhabited only in the Chalcolithic era and by Jewish refugees of the second century CE, at the end of the Bar Kokhba Revolt. Like many other Judaean desert caves, there was an abundance of organic material, especially textiles, surviving in the dry environment. In the absence of clear stratigraphy and even a proper publication of the finds, the present study shows how archaeometry can provide important insights. We analysed food crusts on ceramics by gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC–MS), made petrographic descriptions to estimated provenance of the ceramics, produced new radiocarbon dates from organic material and thermoluminescence (TL) dates from the pottery. It appears from the data that the Christmas Cave has been briefly inhabited or visited intermittently over a very long time, starting ca. 4000 BCE (the Chalcolithic period), and extending all the way to the Medieval period, even though there is also a concentration of dates near the period of the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132–136 CE). We argue, through a detailed analysis of the radiometric and TL-datings and by the artefactual evidence, that there was likely another refuge episode connected with the First Jewish Revolt during which people fled to this cave. However, we see no material connection to Qumran and nearby caves. Overall, our study demonstrates the importance of archaeometric studies in cave environments where stratigraphy is veritably absent.
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    Investigations of the relics and altar materials relating to the apostles St James and St Philip at the Basilica dei Santi XII Apostoli in Rome
    (Springer, 2021-01-29) Rasmussen, Kaare Lund; van der Plicht, Johannes; La Nasa, Jacopo; Ribercini, Erika; Colombini, Maria Perla; Delbey, Thomas; Skytte, Lilian; Schiavone, Simone; Kjaer, Ulla; Grinder-Hansen, Poul; Lanzillotta, Lautaro Roig
    Two types of materials were sampled as part of an investigation of the relics of the Holy Catholic Church of the Apostles St Philip and St James in the Basilica dei Santi Apostoli in Rome: bone‑ and mummy‑materials and architectural samples. The analyses encompassed radiocarbon dating, thermoluminescence dating, gas and liquid chromatographic separation with mass spectrometric detection, X‑Ray fluorescence, X‑Ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The results show that the samples were subjected to a number of conservational and exhibition‑related treatments. The alleged femoral bone of St James was dated between AD 214 and 340 (2σ confidence), which shows that this cannot be the bone of St James. An encrustation found in a canal in the reliquary in the high altar construction showed the presence of heavily oxidized rapeseed oil, which was radiocarbon dated between AD 267 and 539 (2σ confidence), and a ceramic shard also found in the high altar construction was TL‑dated to AD 314–746 (2σ confidence). The two latter dates are consistent with a translation of the relics following the erection of the church at the time of Pope Pelagius I in AD 556–561