https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-03726-7
Regular Article
A thorough detection of the mortar materials for Buddhist buildings in Bagan, Myanmar
1
Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology, Zhejiang University, 310028, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China
2
Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum Site Museum, 710600, Xian, People’s Republic of China
3
Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, 310027, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China
Received:
8
August
2022
Accepted:
20
January
2023
Published online:
15
February
2023
Bagan is a famous historical city in Myanmar that has many pagodas and temples built in various historical periods. These Buddhist buildings represent Myanmar's ancient architectural arts and valuable cultural heritage. This research examines the typical mortar materials used in several Buddhist buildings built between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries in Bagan, Myanmar, to comprehend the construction technology. Firstly, an investigation of the microstructure and mineralogical compositions of those mortars was performed via a multi-analytical approach, including a multifunctional density tester, SEM–EDS, XRD, TGA and FTIR. Secondly, the chemical analysis method was used to assess the organic additives in the mortar, and the type of protein additives was identified by enzyme-linked immune sorbent assay (ELISA). According to the analysis results, the early Bagan Buddhist building mortar is primarily composed of lime, sand and clay, and frequently mixed with organic additives such as vegetable glue, sticky rice starch, animal glue and egg white, belonging to organic–inorganic composite mortar. This research can provide reference documents on the study of construction techniques for Buddhist building materials in Bagan, and it can also be used as a guide when restoring Buddhist temples.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
