Natural disasters written in historical woods: Floods, a thunderbolt fire and an earthquake

The present paper analyzes different types of natural disasters recorded in the woody elements from reconstruction or repair works in two World Heritage buildings (the Old Mint and the Cathedral) in Segovia (Central Spain). We employed architectural and historical documentation, along with archaeoseismological analysis techniques in order to frame the events and processes. We analyzed several woody elements from the wooden deck of the Old Mint, including beams, planks and support blocks; and for the Cathedral roof the structural elements analyzed were tiebeams, raised aisles, rafter braces, common rafters and roof battens, as well as many planks and soulaces. For the dating, we combined two methodological approaches based upon dendrochronological techniques (dendroarchaeology and dendrogeomorphology) in an integrated study of the tree-rings series obtained. Furthermore, four wood samples (one from the Old Mint and three from the Cathedral) were dated by means of radiocarbon techniques. The results enable us to detect and corroborate the dates of at least two catastrophic flood events that affected the Old Mint (1695 and 1733). Additionally, we establish the unknown effects to date upon the Cathedral roof of the fire caused by the thunderbolt in 1614 and by the Lisbon earthquake in 1755. From the point of view of cultural heritage, these data are of great interest for the history of the reconstruction of the Old Mint and of the Cathedral of Segovia.