IDENTIFICATION AND AMS RADIOCARBON DATING OF WOOD FROM A BEAM IN SAINT MARGARET’S CHURCH, KOPČANY, SLOVAKIA

St. Margaret’s Church, the oldest standing stone church in Slovakia, was constructed on the edge of a military settlement during the second half of the 9th Century on a high place, in the flood plain of the Morava River in Kopčany, Slovakia. Residents of the military settlement in Kopčany (Slovakia) patrolled the road to the fortified settlement Mikulčice - Valy, now in the Czech republic (Peter Baxa, personal communication November 5, 2014). Archaeological investigations at the church include radiocarbon dating of various materials. A sample of wood collected from the sixth to eighth rings of a tree trunk that was used as a wooden beam walled into the masonry crown of the church nave was submitted for identification and AMS radiocarbon dating.