Radiocarbon Dating of the Architectural Parts of the Middle Byzantine Monastery of Hosios Loukas, Boeotia, Greece

Radiocarbon dating reveals that the Monastery of Hosios Loukas, a UNESCO World Heritage Site renowned for its Middle Byzantine art and architecture, was constructed in the early 11th century. Analysis of wooden samples from the church's scaffolding and buttresses indicates that the four buttresses were built in at least two phases, spanning from the 15th to the 19th centuries, while the monastery gate likely dates to the 19th century. The study employed conventional gas-counting radiocarbon dating techniques on 17 wood samples, providing new chronological insights into the development of this significant monastic complex.

Facorellis, Y., & Mourelatos, D. (2017). Radiocarbon Dating of the Architectural Parts of the Middle Byzantine Monastery of Hosios Loukas, Boeotia, Greece. Radiocarbon, 59(5), 1309–1319. https://doi.org/10.1017/rdc.2017.26