New archeointensity data from Novgorod (North-Western Russia) from between c. 1100 and 1550 AD

Abstract:

We recently sampled fired-clay bricks from old buildings, essentially churches, at Novgorod in North-Western Russia for archeointensity analysis. Novgorod is one of the oldest Russian cities, which was particularly prosperous during the first half of the second millennium AD. Thanks to excavations conducted over the past few years, we have been able to collect a series of eight groups of baked brick fragments dated to between the beginning of the 12th century and the middle of the 16th century AD. Historical and archeological constraints allow a dating precision of better than 10 years. Rock magnetic analyses indicate that the magnetization of the fragments is mainly carried by (titano)magnetite together with a variable fraction of hematite. Archeointensity measurements were performed using the experimental protocol developed for the Triaxe magnetometer. These experiments include an analysis of the cooling rate effect on the studied fragments. We determine several group-mean intensity values that will be presented in light of the archeointensity data already obtained from Western and Eastern Europe and of the available global and regional archeomagnetic field models.