Archaeomagnetic study and rehydroxylation dating of fired-clay ceramics

Archaeomagnetic study and rehydroxylation dating of fired-clay ceramics from Great Britain, Spain, and the Black Sea region is carried out in order to refine the dating of the material from the archaeological monuments used in the archaeomagnetic research for determination of the elements of the main magnetic field during the past few millennia. The archaeomagnetic analysis revealed the factors responsible for deviations of the rehydroxylation dating from the true values. They include the processes of weathering (magnetite transformation into hydroxides) and secondary magnetization (e.g., magnetization in a fire). In order to bring the dating closer to the true values, corrections for the influence of the distorting factors are suggested. The data on the geomagnetic field intensity derived from the magnetization of the studied material are used as independent criteria to validate the dating of the field. When applied to the fired clay material with reliable dating, the rehydroxylation method provides the estimates of the temperature in the region of archaeological monuments during the past.