Interpreting the Story Old Timber Can Tell: An Example from a ‘Venetian’ Building in Nafplio

ABSTRACT

The current study is a dendroarchaeological/dendroarchitectural investigation of the remains of a historically important multi-phase building, nicknamed ‘Enetiko’, located in Nafplio. Timber was used for the floors, the roof, and timber-framed walls of the building. Timber elements were also embedded in masonry. Particularly important are the architraves; ground storey timber lintels on the southern façade. According to prior research, the earliest phase was thought to date to the early 18^th century with a later 19^th century modification. Therefore, we applied dendrochronology to check whether it represents an early construction phase of the building and to confirm the previously mentioned different phases. Timber examination revealed six tree species and 60% of the 85 samples collected in total were dated. Imported deciduous oaks (Quercus spp.), dated c.1530 or after, represent an early Venetian or Ottoman phase of the building. Turkish origin of oaks suggests Ottoman period. Imported fir, most likely Abies alba, was dated in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Black pine (Pinus nigra) from Greece and juniper (Juniperus sp.) from the East were used in interventions of the late 19^th and 20^th centuries.

KEYWORDS:

• Abies alba
• dendrochronology
• Greece
• Peloponnese
• Quercus spp.
• Venetian architecture

Acknowledgments

The research was partly funded by the National Science Center, Poland (Grant Nr. 2016/22/A/HS3/00285). The study was initiated and conducted within the framework of the two complimentary theses ‘The “Venetian” building in the historic centre of Nafplio’ of A.M. Konidi and P. Makris for the MSc. program ‘Conservation & Restoration of Historic Buildings & Sites’ of the National Technical University of Athens, after the suggestion of El. Tsakanika who was one of the supervisors. We also kindly thank the other supervisors of the theses: Androniki Miltiadou, Eleni Maistrou, and Yannis Kizis; Margarita Skamantzari for the geometric documentation, Niki Mousadakou for the help in translating Turkish, and Stavros Mamaloukos for providing us with the photo published here under Figure 2. Lastly, we would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Center, Poland [2016/22/A/HS3/00285].