PARIS, FRANCE—Science News reports that archaeologists are among the more than 200 researchers in the Association of Scientists in Service of the Restoration of Notre Dame of Paris, France’s National Center of Scientific Research (CNRS), and the French Ministry of Culture who will examine the twelfth-century cathedral damaged by fire last spring. They will be able to begin analysis of the structure’s wood, stone, lead, and iron components once toxic dust has been removed from the site and all the materials have been sorted and cataloged. Such study could help determine how the cathedral was built, how much heat the fire produced, and how the heat and the water used to extinguish the flames may have weakened the surviving structure. In addition, tree ring analysis of the roof’s burnt oak timbers could offer clues to where the trees grew and what the medieval climate was like. To read about the discovery of mass burials dating to between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries a mile away from Notre Dame, go to "A Parisian Plague."
