Science: Ancient clay bricks reveal Earth's magnetic field 3,000 years ago

Ancient Bricks with the names of the kings of Mesopotamia They came Important information about a mysterious anomaly in the Earth's magnetic field 3,000 years ago. This is what a new study he conducted revealed Researchers from the University of Californiapublished on Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research describes how changes in the Earth's magnetic field affected people Iron oxide granules Inside ancient clay bricks and shows how scientists were able to reconstruct these changes from the names of kings inscribed on the bricks. The research team hopes so Using this “archaeological magnetism”, Which looks for signatures of the Earth's magnetic field in artifacts, can improve the history of the Earth's magnetic field and help better date artifacts, something they couldn't do before. He said: “We often rely on dating methods such as radiocarbon dating to learn about the chronology in ancient Mesopotamia.” Mark Al-Tawil, from the University of California's Institute of Archaeology And co-author of the study. “But – Al-Tawil added – some of the most common cultural remains, such as bricks and ceramics, cannot easily be classified chronologically because they do not contain organic materials,” Al-Tawil added. Al-Tawil continued: “The work helps establish important basic evidence for determining the timeline of these objects, and thus allows us to benefit from absolute dating through archaeological magnetism.” The Earth's magnetic field weakens and strengthens over time, with changes that leave a distinct imprint on hot metals, which are sensitive to the magnetic field. The team of scientists analyzed the underlying magnetic signature Granules of iron oxide minerals embedded in 32 clay bricksComing from archaeological sites in Mesopotamia, which is known today as modern Iraq. The strength of the planet's magnetic field was imprinted on metals when brickmakers first fired them thousands of years ago.