Revisiting the age of the First Iron Age in the eastern Iberian Peninsula from archeomagnetic dating results

Abstract

Trabajo presentado en la International Conference on Rock Magnetism, celebrada en Utrech (Países Bajos) del 10 al 14 de julio de 2017One of the most important applications of the study of geomagnetic field variations in the recent past is archeomagnetic dating. This method is based on the comparison between well-established regional geomagnetic field secular variation curves or models and the archeomagnetic signal acquired and preserved by well-heated archeological structures. In this work we illustrate how this method can provide a powerful tool to date archeological remains that can not be properly dated by other archeological and geochronological methods. In particular, we present the archeomagnetic study of several archeological kilns sampled in two archeological sites from the Eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula. The studied kilns clearly correspond to the First Iron Age, period that has been classically dated in the Iberian Peninsula between 675 and 575 BC based on ceramic typology studies. However, new archeological evidences challenge this classical view since the impressive number of cultural and technological advances recently discovered in different archeological excavations can be hardly ascribed to this very short interval of time, suggesting that the First Iron Age in this region corresponds probably to a longer period of time. In order to test this hypothesis we apply here the archeomagnetic dating method and present the dating results obtained from both regional secular variation curves and geomagnetic field models.Peer reviewe