Archeomagnetic investigation of textile ceramics from Grishinsky Istok III settlement (Oka Region, Ryazan district, Russia)

The goal of our research is to obtain new data of geomagnetic field intensity in the Eastern Europe in the Bronze Age.  The arhaeomagnetic study of fired ceramic from the Grishinsky Istok III settlement was done. The settlement Grishinsky Istok III is situated in the Oka region of Ryazan district of Russia (54^о41′, 40^о57′). The studied collection of pottery fragments of that archaeological site pertains to the “textile” ceramics of Bronze Age.  The age of pottery fragments corresponds to the ~ 1500-1300 years B.C. The composition of the ferromagnetic fraction of the studied samples has been examined by the thermo-magnetic analysis.   The dependence of the saturation magnetic moment on temperature in the magnetic field and determination of the Curie points were carry out with an analyzer of ferromagnetic fraction. Thus based on the thermo-magnetic analysis one can conclude that the main carrier of the thermo remanent magnetization of the samples is relatively resistant to heat maghemite. The size of grains lies in a pseudo single domain area. The determination of the ancient magnetic field intensity was carried out by modified Thellier method. Fifteen geomagnetic field intensity determinations were obtained. The geomagnetic field intensity varies between 37 and 66 µT with an average value of about 50 µT.  Acquisition of new data about the Earth’s magnetic field during the Bronze Age makes it possible to advance the studies of geomagnetic variations. This work was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project no. 19-55-18006 and the State task of the Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth RAS no. 0144-2019-0006.