New Archeointensity Data from Late Neolithic Yarim Tepe 1 and 2 Settlements (Northern Iraq) Dated From The Pre-Halaf and Halaf Periods (7TH-6TH Millennia BC)
Abstract
The main objective of this study is to recover the geomagnetic field intensity variations in the Middle East during the 7th and 6th millennia BC, with a particular focus on rapid fluctuations. We will report on new archeointensity data obtained from two ancient Late Neolithic settlements called Yarim Tepe I and II, located today in Northern Iraq, which were excavated by Soviet archeologists in the seventies. Yarim Tepe II, comprising a 7-m thick sequence of cultural deposits divided into nine successive levels, is dated from the Halaf period ( 5950-5300 BC). Yarim Tepe I is dated from the Pre-Halaf period ( 6300-5950 BC), with three recognized cultural phases referred to as Hassuna I, II and III. There, the deposits form a sequence of 6.5 m, which were divided into 12 archeological levels. Most of the archeological artifacts discovered during the excavations, in particular thousands of potsherds, are stored at the repository of Archeological Institute in Moscow, where our sampling was undertaken. We collected 29 groups of potsherds from Yarim Tepe II and 22 groups from Yarim Tepe I from superimposed stratigraphic layers having on average a thickness of about 20 cm. Each group consists of at least 3 (up to 10) fragments. All analyses were carried out using the three-axis vibrating sample magnetometer Triaxe, which allows magnetization measurements of a small sample (< 1 cm3) directly at high temperatures. The experimental protocol developed for the Triaxe magnetometer takes into account both the anisotropy and cooling rate effects on thermoremanent magnetization acquisition. Together with other data previously obtained from Syria and Bulgaria, the new archeointensity results show the occurrence of rapid geomagnetic field fluctuations in the Middle East during the Late Neolithic period, in particular during the 6th millennium BC. The data from Yarim Tepe II indeed confirm the occurrence of a short-lasting intensity peak around 5500 BC, with intensity variation rates as high as 0.35 - 0.15 µT/year over a few decades. We will also show X-ray diffraction data obtained on a set of potsherds from the two archeological sites, which provide interesting new constraints on the heating temperatures reached during the production of the ceramics.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMGP23A1314A
- Keywords:
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- 1503 Archeomagnetism;
- GEOMAGNETISM AND PALEOMAGNETISMDE: 1521 Paleointensity;
- GEOMAGNETISM AND PALEOMAGNETISMDE: 1522 Paleomagnetic secular variation;
- GEOMAGNETISM AND PALEOMAGNETISMDE: 1532 Reference fields: regional;
- global;
- GEOMAGNETISM AND PALEOMAGNETISM