Archeometric studies in the Franciscan Convent of "Santo Antônio" (Recife, PE)

The purpose of this paper is to characterize the tiles placed on the walls of the Franciscan convent of "Santo Antônio" (Recife-PE) and to obtain information about the several expansions and structural reforms performed on the convent by dating the bricks. For this purpose, a portable energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) was used to characterize the tiles. The dating of the bricks was performed using the Thermoluminescence (TL) technique. The results of the EDXRF analysis show that the dominant component of the white pigment is lead [2PbCO(3)·Pb(OH)(2)], used since the ancient times until the 20th century, while the dominant element of the blue pigment is cobalt (CoO·Al(2)O(3)), that has been used from 1807 until nowadays. The TL dating of bricks indicate that there were walls with different periods of construction, being one built around 1765, with a deviation of 28 years, whereas other was built later, around 1874, with a deviation of 15 years. These results provide new data towards understanding how and when the Recife Franciscan convent of "Santo Antônio" was designed and built, contributing to other research works presently underway on site.