Age determination of archeological materials based on the geomagnetic intensity

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24501258
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cultural property science
• Research Institution: Doshisha University
• Principal Investigator: Fukuma Koji 同志社大学, 理工学部, 准教授 (80315291)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): ISOBE Hiroshi 熊本大学, 自然科学研究科, 教授 (80311869) ; SAITO TAKESHI 信州大学, 理学部, 准教授 (80402767)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 考古地磁気学 / 古地磁気強度 / テリエ法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We performed archeointensity studies on archeological materials and volcanic rocks in order to construct the reference curve in Japan. Sekki pottery sherds evacuated from Doshisha University campus in Kyoto have proved to provide faithful records of the geomagnetic field. Jiki potteries whose weak magnetization is still measurable with a high-sensitivity magnetometer are promising targets to retrieve the records of the recent several centuries. Volcanic rocks assigned with document-based ages are most suitable for establishing the reference curve. By using rapidly cooled facies such as clinkers and scorias we observed ideal behaviors during the Thellier experiments. Therefore we did obtain the unparalleled high-quality archeointensity data from the volcanic rocks without any age uncertainties. A fully automated magnetometer, for which the controlling software was developed by ourselves, was quite useful for the Thellier measurements.

Free Research Field

古地磁気学