New archaeomagnetic secular variation data from Central Europe. I: directions

Elisabeth Schnepp, Daniele Thallner, Patrick Arneitz, Hermann Johann Mauritsch, Robert Scholger, Christian Rolf, Roman Leonhardt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

9 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Archaeomagnetic directions of 141 archaeological structures have been studied from 21 sites in Austria, 31 sites in Germany and one site in Switzerland. Characteristic remanent magnetization directions obtained from alternating field and thermal demagnetizations provided 82 and 78 new or updated (12 and 10 per cent) directions of Austria and Germany, respectively. Nine of the directions are not reliable for certain reasons (e.g. displacement) while three of the features are not well dated. Apart from this some updated age information for the published databases is provided. Rock magnetic experiments revealed magnetite as main magnetic carrier of the remanences. The new data agree well with existing secular variation reference curves. The extended data set covers now the past 3500 yr and a lot of progress were made to cover times BC with data. Here enhanced secular variation is observed manifested in declinations with values up to 70°. The new data will allow for recalculation of archaeomagnetic calibration curves for Central Europe from mid Bronze Age until today.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberggz492
Pages (from-to)1023-1044
Number of pages22
JournalGeophysical journal international
Volume220.2020
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Oct 2019

Keywords

  • Archaeomagnetism
  • Palaeomagnetic secular variation
  • Europe

Cite this