Testing a hypothesis of technology transfer in the 1100’s between Italy and Denmark

Abstract

A one-hundred-year-old hypothesis regarding the transfer of the brick building technology from Lombardy to Denmark by the mid-1100’s has been tested. Two churches in Denmark and two in Italy have been re-examined by their architectural traits. 305 brick samples have been analysed by TL-dating, magnetic susceptibility, TL-sensitivity, XRD, FTIR, XRF, LA-ICP-MS, and spectrophotometric colour measurements. Mortar samples have been analysed by Py-GC-MS and thin section examination allowed a comparison of the manufacturing technologies. The scarce historical references on the transfer theory have been re-examined in perspective of the archaeometric evidence. Although not decisive by themselves one by one, collectively our results point to a rejection of the direct transfer hypothesis. Considering the results of the present investigation it seems more likely that the diffusion of knowledge about brick building technology followed a more convoluted path from the Cistercian communities in Lombardy towards Denmark with stops underway, likely in Germany.