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Luminescence dating of brick constructions being part of Songkhla City Wall, Southern Thailand

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Abstract

The Fine Arts Department of Thailand excavated parts of the city walls in the western part of Songkhla city, Southern Thailand. This excavation found additional brick walls covering the top and sides of a rock wall, which according to historical records was built between AD 1836 and 1842. In this paper, we use optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to date the brick attachments in order to understand the construction history of Songkhla City Wall. In total, eight brick samples were collected from the top (five samples) and the side (three samples) of the rock wall. All but one sample have excellent OSL properties and the exception is explained by limited burning of this particular brick during the production process, as also indicated by material properties. The major challenge of this study was the correct reconstruction of the dose rate due to the complex situation onside and the limited documentation. Despite these limitations, our results imply that the rock wall and the bricks attached to its side are contemporaneous. The bricks on top of the rock wall date to AD 1853–1865, a time shortly before a royal visit (King Rama V) to Songkhla in AD 1870. Two samples dating to the latest nineteenth century may imply a later restoration phase.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thanks the archeology team at the Fine Arts Department, Thailand, for the bricks samples and the historical data of Songkhla City Wall. We also thank Associate Prof. Dr. Santi Pailoplee for the discussion of methodological aspects and Dr. Johannes Miocic for carrying quartz samples to Germany.

Funding

Chawchai acknowledges the Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund, part of the “Research Grant for New Lecturer” and DPST Research grant 042/2558.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MESA Research Unit, Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand

    Thanisorn Puttagan, Sakonvan Chawchai & Peerasit Surakiatchai

  2. Fine Arts Department (11th Regional Office), Ministry of Culture, Bangkok, 10200, Thailand

    Sarat Chalorsantisakul

  3. Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Freiburg, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Frank Preusser

Authors
  1. Thanisorn Puttagan
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  2. Sakonvan Chawchai
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  3. Peerasit Surakiatchai
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  4. Sarat Chalorsantisakul
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  5. Frank Preusser
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Correspondence to Sakonvan Chawchai.

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Puttagan, T., Chawchai, S., Surakiatchai, P. et al. Luminescence dating of brick constructions being part of Songkhla City Wall, Southern Thailand. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 11, 5393–5403 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00878-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-019-00878-5

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