Forensic investigations on 1900 years old brick and mortar samples from Buddhist stupa located at Nalasopara, India

A comprehensive understanding of the materials used and practices adopted during the construction of ancient structures becomes necessary in the realm of forensic civil engineering. In this study, forensic investigations on a 1900 years old Buddhist stupa located at Nalasopara (India) were conducted through comprehensive characterization of bricks and mud mortar samples of the structure. The overall conservation status of the bricks was investigated using a combination of techniques like BET-specific surface area, helium gas pycnometer, XRF, XRD, ATR-FTIR, Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry, SEM-EDX and TG-DTA. Based on the comprehensive (by resorting to physical, chemical, mineralogical, morphological, thermal and porosity) characterization, it has been observed that the stupa was primarily constructed using normal and overfired bricks with firing temperatures varying between 700 and 900 degrees C. Moreover, the lateritic soil sourced to manufacture brick and mud mortar was excavated from the same geological formation.

Automated summary

In this study, forensic investigations were conducted on a 1900 years old Buddhist stupa located in Nalasopara, India, through comprehensive characterization of bricks and mud mortar samples. Various techniques such as BET-specific surface area, helium gas pycnometer, XRF, XRD, ATR-FTIR, Mercury Intrusion Porosimetry, SEM-EDX and TG-DTA were used to investigate the overall conservation status of the bricks. Based on the comprehensive characterization, it was observed that the stupa was primarily constructed using normal and overfired bricks with firing temperatures varying between 700 and 900 degrees C, and the lateritic soil used for making the bricks and mud mortar was excavated from the same geological formation.