We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
ARCHAEOMAGNETIC FIELD INTENSITY DURING THE ROMAN PERIOD AT SIWA AND BAHRYN OASIS, EGYPT: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FIDELITY OF EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOMAGNETIC DATA.
- Authors
LEONHARDT, R.; SALEH, A.; FERK, A.
- Abstract
A preliminary survey was conducted in Siwa and Bahryn Oasis to test the possible influence of various rock magnetic and experimental constraints on the fidelity of the Egyptian archaeomagnetic field record. Five potsherds from the Roman era, which lasted from 1981bp to 1555bp, have been investigated. Archaeologists dated the localities to ∼1620bp. Ten ceramic specimens, two of each potsherd, were subjected to archaeointensity determination, including tests for domain state effects, magnetic anisotropy and magnetic cooling rate dependency. Six successful archaeointensity determinations are obtained from three individual cooling units, revealing an average field value of 37.7 μT for the late Roman period in Siwa and Bahryn oasis, which is comparable to the present-day field strength. The error propagation of the individual uncertainties related to all applied experimental techniques results in a maximum uncertainty estimate of 4.4 μT. The obtained field value is significantly smaller than early results and slightly smaller than some more recent determinations of the field intensity in Egypt. The difference is attributed to a combined effect of alteration, magnetic anisotropy and magnetic cooling rate dependencies. Along with other high-quality data from the south-east Mediterranean, our data suggest a field intensity minimum during the Egyptian Roman era.
- Subjects
EGYPT; GEOMAGNETISM; MAGNETIC fields; ADIABATIC demagnetization; ANISOTROPY; FIELD research
- Publication
Archaeometry, 2010, Vol 52, Issue 3, p502
- ISSN
0003-813X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1475-4754.2009.00508.x