EGU25-19529, updated on 15 Mar 2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-19529
EGU General Assembly 2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Archaeomagnetic Dating of Roman Iron Age Kilns
Raquel Bonilla Alba1, Anita Di Chiara1, Luca Alessandri2,3, Luca Cusimano4, Giovanni Alberto Della Sala4, Angelica Fiorillo4, Virginia Gianni4, Caterina Rossi4, Agostino Sotgia3, and Fabio Florindo1
Raquel Bonilla Alba et al.
  • 1Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV), Rome, Italy
  • 2Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy
  • 3University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
  • 4Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy

The geomagnetic field presents continuous changes over time, a phenomenon that provides a valuable tool for dating archaeological materials, particularly those exposed to high temperatures, such as kilns and ceramics. This study focuses on a Iron Age kiln used for salt production in the site of Piscina Torta (Rome), with four oriented hand samples collected and analyzed. Alternating field demagnetization experiments were conducted to determine the paleodirection of the geomagnetic field recorded in the kiln during the last heating event, as well as rock magnetic experiments to determine the magnetic behavior of the samples, which included thermomagnetic curves and hysteresis loops. Using the inclination and declination obtained, the software ‘ArcheoDating’ was employed to estimate the kiln's last heating event. By comparing the direction obtained with the European regional geomagnetic model, the software determined the most probable date range of the kiln studied. The archeomagnetic age is consistent with preliminary radiocarbon and archeological observations.

How to cite: Bonilla Alba, R., Di Chiara, A., Alessandri, L., Cusimano, L., Della Sala, G. A., Fiorillo, A., Gianni, V., Rossi, C., Sotgia, A., and Florindo, F.: Archaeomagnetic Dating of Roman Iron Age Kilns, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-19529, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-19529, 2025.