Josh F. Feinburg (Director of the (National) Institute for Rock Magnetism) will give a talk entitled “New Magnetic Tools for Archaeology and Anthropology” in collaboration with the Archaeomagnetism Laboratory of Yale’s Council on Archaeological Studies on projects in Peru, Egypt, Senegal, and South Africa on Thursday, May 5th at 1 pm in the seminar room of 51 Hillhouse Ave.
Description: The most informative archaeological studies integrate observations from multiple techniques in order to constrain the age of materials discovered at a site and to understand the anthropological and geological processes that have influenced the final material assemblage. Most often these techniques include sedimentological analyses, bio- and chemostratigraphy, and radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence geochronology. Despite a recent resurgence in popularity, magnetic methods remain an underutilized geophysical tool in archaeology. This talk will show how hte magnetic community has moved far beyond standard site surveys to develop decadal-scale archaemagnetic dating, material provenance studies, paleoprecipitation proxies, paleoenvironmnetal magnetic analyses, and more.