RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Magnetic micro-archaeology: a method for conducting rock magnetic microfacies analysis on archaeological soil micromorphology samples, with a case study from El Salt, Alcoy, Spain
A1 Dinçkal, Ada
A1 Carrancho Alonso, Ángel
A1 Hernández Gómez, Cristo M.
A1 Mallol, Carolina
K1 Archaeomagnetism
K1 Micromorphology
K1 Microarchaeology
K1 Geoarchaeology
K1 Neanderthals
K1 Archaeological sciences
K1 Archaeological methodology
K1 Paleomagnetismo
K1 Paleomagnetism
K1 Paleontología
K1 Paleontology
K1 Magnetismo
K1 Magnetism
K1 Arqueología
K1 Archaeology
AB For geoarchaeologists the use of multiproxy and multimethod integrative approaches has become common for studying the sedimentary context of archaeological materials. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach that combines rock magnetic analysis with micromorphological analysis. We first conduct a brief examination of the magnetic properties of organic resins used in micromorphology to understand the potential impact of the resin and manufacturing process on the magnetic signature. It is crucial to understand the original production of the samples to ensure that endothermic reactions do not compromise the magnetic data. We illustrate the advantages of this approach through a case study of a pit hearth from the Neanderthal archaeological site of El Salt in Alcoi, Spain. This study utilises archived micromorphological samples of a pit hearth (combustion structure H77) initially described by Leierer et al. (J Archaeol Sci 123:105237, 2020). Rock magnetic analysis of multiple magnetic parameters—including magnetic susceptibility, natural remanent magnetization, and progressive isothermal remanent magnetization—reveals that each microfacies type exhibits a unique magnetic pattern, even if there is overlapping in signatures across some magnetic parameters. The interpretation of the magnetic data aligns with the results and microfacies descriptions previously provided by Leierer et al. (J Archaeol Sci 123:105237, 2020), further supporting the interpretation of the combustion feature as being in situ with a history of repeated use. The approach presented here offers an enhanced tool for micromorphologists to better understand the magnetic characteristics of microfacies units in higher resolution and establish direct connections to the micromorphological results.
PB Springer Nature
SN 1866-9557
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10259/10165
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10259/10165
LA eng
NO Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was supported by the Municipality of Alcoy, Spanish Government project HAR2015-68321-P (MINECO FEDER/UE), and a Spanish Government FPI predoctoral grant to A.D. A.C acknowledges the project PID2019105796GB-I00 of the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and Junta de Castilla y León (project BU037P23) and the European Research and Development Fund (ERDF).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos
RD 17-mar-2025