Establishing archeomagnetic dating in Austria

The main goal of the project is to establish in Austria archaeomagnetic dating as a chronological tool based on natural science for archaeological investigations of human settlements of the past 4000 years. The Earth magnetic field vector undergoes changes on time scales within years to 100 000 years which are called geomagnetic secular variation. Human artefacts like pottery, hearths or kilns are able to record the magnetic field vector and to preserve it until today. This feature is called archaeomagnetism and it allows us to reconstruct the history of the Earth`s magnetic field by investigation of well dated archaeological fired structures. If the temporal variation of the magnetic field is already known, such a secular variation curve can serve as a dating tool for archaeology by comparing the obtained field vector from a heated archaeological structure of unknown age with the curve. As well known from historical measurements the secular variation is a regional phenomenon and not predictable. Accordingly such an archaeomagnetic secular variation curves can only be transferred to other places within short distances of less then 1000 km. Very well established archaeomagnetic curves as the one of Bulgaria or France are too far away to provide an accuracy of dating which is desirable for archaeological purposes. On the other hand many well dated archaeological sites have been investigated in the neighbouring countries of Austria and provide already a data set which allows with some extension to establish a secular variation curve for Austria covering the past 2000 years. Furthermore, Austria provides also a very rich cultural heritage extending back to the Bronze age. Excavations of many sites, which is performed by Austrian archaeologists regularly, offer good opportunities to study the archaeomagnetic field in Austria and to establish dating with an archaeomagnetic secular variation curve for Austria for the past 4000 years.