Directional archaeomagnetic observations from Egypt

Directional archaeomagnetic data have been obtained from sites in Luxor (500-400 BC), near Aswan (c.1700 BC), and at Giza (c.2300 BC). All samples have been subjected to AF demagnetisation and very high within-site consistency has been found in most sites, enabling the direction of the geomagnetic field to be determined for different times at different locations. The sites as Giza were the least well defined, possibly reflecting chemical changes during, or subsequent to, burial beneath the sand and therefore requiring more extensive sampling in the future. Nonetheless, these directional data provide constraints on geomagnetic directional changes in Egypt and enable an assessment of the extent to which the internal consistency of the Egyptian Calendar can be evaluated and the potential assessed for correlations with, for example, Minoan and Hebrew records.