Characterization of historic mortars: techniques used to establish a construction chronology. Case study: “Aragoneses’ Mill” as it belongs to popular architectural heritage

Restoration actions in building construction require complete preliminary studies. It is essential to perform tests for the characterization and identification of materials. In this work, mortars and bricks characterization as a method of dating constructive techniques have been used. A case study for the “House of Aragoneses”, an ancient watermill sited in Monachil, Granada, is presented. According to the building historical studies, there was an oil mill on that place that worked due to the Huenes River waterflow from the 15th to the 16th centuries. It may have disappeared because of the ravages of the Monachil Moorish properties in the riots prior to 1570. But from the documentary information existing in the archives, the construction works from XV to XVI century are not clear. The building underwent changes throughout history but there is not any documentation related to these interventions. By means of different tests and characterization techniques, dating and identification of existing masonry works at the “House of Aragoneses” has been accomplished.