Publication Date:
1986-01-01
Description:
An unusual archeological example of multiple heating leading to superimposed thermoremanent magnetizations (TRM's) is described. The samples involved are roof-tiles which have been incorporated into the floor of a 6th century A. D. kitchen oven at a site near Potenza in southern Italy. Up to 300°C, thermal demagnetization reveals a pattern of diverging great circles which is interpreted as a “cooking” overprint; 100-300°C vector differences yield D=000°, I=+55°, k=81. Above 500°C stable “end-points” are obtained and a statistical argument strongly suggests that these represent a TRM acquired when the tiles were originally kiln-fired. A third, intermediate-temperature, component is present, but its origin is unclear. It cannot be an unresolved mixture of the other two, and it is not spatially organized in any obvious manner—we suggest that it was acquired when the tiles were involved in a fire. Thus it appears that quite complicated magnetic histories can be recorded by, and recovered from, archeological materials. © 1986, Society of Geomagnetism and Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences. All rights reserved.
Print ISSN:
0022-1392
Topics:
Geosciences
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