Archaeomagnetism in the Levant and Mesopotamia Reveals the Largest Changes in the Geomagnetic Field.

ABSTRACT: Our understanding of geomagnetic field intensity prior to the era of direct instrumental measurements relies on paleointensity analysis of rocks and archaeological materials that serve as magnetic recorders. Only in rare cases are absolute paleointensity data sets continuous over millennial timescales, in sub-centennial resolution, and directly dated using radiocarbon. As a result, fundamental properties of the geomagnetic field, such as its maximum intensity and rate of change have remained a subject of lively discussion. Here, we place firm constraints on these two quantities using Bayesian modeling of well-dated archaeomagnetic intensity data from the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. We report new data from 23 groups of pottery collected from 18 consecutive radiocarbon-dated archaeological

SUBMITTER: Shaar R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10078470 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature