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New Archaeointensity Results from the Iron Age in Southern Africa

Allington, Megan LU orcid ; Lindahl, Anders LU ; Nilsson, Andreas LU ; Suttie, Neil LU orcid and Hill, Mimi J. (2023) In LUNDQUA THESIS 96.
Abstract (Swedish)
Abstract
In this study we present new palaeointensity measurements on Iron Age (200 AD – 1840 AD) pottery from the southern Africa region, where there is only limited data available at present. Many sites only produce a single accepted palaeointensity result and we have therefore opted to focus on analysis at sample level as opposed to site level, which is more common in traditional archaeomagnetic investigations. This strategy allows a large number of locations to be included and, as we demonstrate, a chance to evaluate regional and global geomagnetic field model predictions. Some of the initial palaeointensity estimates are anomalously low (< 10 µT), but after adding more strict criteria that relate to direction statistics, the... (More)
Abstract
In this study we present new palaeointensity measurements on Iron Age (200 AD – 1840 AD) pottery from the southern Africa region, where there is only limited data available at present. Many sites only produce a single accepted palaeointensity result and we have therefore opted to focus on analysis at sample level as opposed to site level, which is more common in traditional archaeomagnetic investigations. This strategy allows a large number of locations to be included and, as we demonstrate, a chance to evaluate regional and global geomagnetic field model predictions. Some of the initial palaeointensity estimates are anomalously low (< 10 µT), but after adding more strict criteria that relate to direction statistics, the intensity estimates that are accepted fall into a narrower range consistent with geomagnetic field model predictions. Overall, we find that the new data are consistent with the limited regional data and available secular variation curves. An archaeomagnetic dating example is presented following established procedures adapted for sample level data by considering that the real uncertainty of the palaeointensity estimate is largely unknown. The modified dating approach is applied to a Botswanan site from this
study, which is dated to the mid- to late- Iron Age. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
in
LUNDQUA THESIS
volume
96
pages
21 pages
publisher
Lund University (Media-Tryck)
ISSN
0281-3033
ISBN
978-91-87847-78-3
978-91-87847-79-0
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
In M. Allington, Improving archaeomagnetic dating through new data acquisition and method development. LUNDQUA THESIS 96
id
cf468384-7153-4118-8efe-379820135126
date added to LUP
2023-12-06 17:27:47
date last changed
2023-12-15 11:01:00
@misc{cf468384-7153-4118-8efe-379820135126,
  abstract     = {{Abstract  <br/>In this study we present new palaeointensity measurements on Iron Age (200 AD – 1840 AD) pottery from the southern Africa region, where there is only limited data available at present. Many sites only produce a single accepted palaeointensity result and we have therefore opted to focus on analysis at sample level as opposed to site level, which is more common in traditional archaeomagnetic investigations. This strategy allows a large number of locations to be included and, as we demonstrate, a chance to evaluate regional and global geomagnetic field model predictions. Some of the initial palaeointensity estimates are anomalously low (&lt; 10 µT), but after adding more strict criteria that relate to direction statistics, the intensity estimates that are accepted fall into a narrower range consistent with geomagnetic field model predictions. Overall, we find that the new data are consistent with the limited regional data and available secular variation curves. An archaeomagnetic dating example is presented following established procedures adapted for sample level data by considering that the real uncertainty of the palaeointensity estimate is largely unknown. The modified dating approach is applied to a Botswanan site from this<br/>study, which is dated to the mid- to late- Iron Age.}},
  author       = {{Allington, Megan and Lindahl, Anders and Nilsson, Andreas and Suttie, Neil and Hill, Mimi J.}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-87847-78-3}},
  issn         = {{0281-3033}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  publisher    = {{Lund University (Media-Tryck)}},
  series       = {{LUNDQUA THESIS}},
  title        = {{New Archaeointensity Results from the Iron Age in Southern Africa}},
  volume       = {{96}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}