Title
Microstructures of Building Materials from Huaca De La Luna, Peru
Date Issued
2020
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Publisher(s)
Taylor and Francis Inc.
Abstract
The microstructures of building materials from the archaeological complex of Huaca de la Luna on the northern coast of Peru is assessed for the first time by a multiscale approach. The multiscale microstructural characterization used laboratory techniques including optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray microtomography, and both gas and powder pycnometry. Optical microscopy revealed the presence of organic matter and shell fragments and X-ray microtomography showed differences in the sizes and connectivity of pores. The BET (N2 gas adsorption) specific surface areas showed greater presence of clayey matrix in the mortars. No significant differences among mortars and brick fragments mineralogy were detected by X-ray diffraction, so the larger amount of fine binding matrix in the mortars suggests that they were produced blending raw material with different grain sizes. The aim of this study is to provide data that can be used for a better understanding of the Moche culture, its construction techniques, and to support conservation strategies of the archaeological heritage.
Start page
256
End page
273
Volume
14
Issue
2
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería de la construcción
Ingeniería arquitectónica
Arqueología
Subjects
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85055321202
Source
International Journal of Architectural Heritage
ISSN of the container
15583058
Sponsor(s)
Liz M. Zanchetta’s work is supported by CAPES and São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP n. 2016/05278-5). Marco Quattrone acknowledges the CNPq–Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Grant 136635/2016-4). The information and views in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FAPESP and/or CNPq. The authors also thank the Laboratório de Caracterização Tecnológica (LCT-USP), especially Dr. Juliana L. Antoniassi for XRD analysis, and Laboratório de Matérias-Primas Prof. Pérsio de Souza Santos (LPSS-USP) for their support. The authors finally acknowledge the kind collaboration of professor Santiago Uceda (past director of Huaca de la Luna, recently passed away) who provided the specimens for the material characterization.
Sources of information:
Directorio de Producción Científica
Scopus