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Ancient bricks from Mesopotamia have helped affirm a mysterious anomaly in Earth ’s magnetized field that come 3,000 yr ago , a new sketch find .
Brickmakers broil the bricks , which were imprint with the names of Mesopotamian kings , between the third and first millennia B.C. Iron oxide grains within the clay show changes in Earth ’s magnetic field when the bricks were heat , enabling scientist to reconstruct change in the magnetic field over meter , the squad report in a study published in the journalPNASon Monday ( Dec. 18 ) .
A brick dating to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (circa 604 to 562 B.C.), according to the inscription. This brick, which was looted and is now housed in the Slemani Museum in Iraq, and others helped researchers confirm an ancient magnetic field anomaly.
The finding may also serve scientists day of the month artifacts in the time to come , the team said .
" We often depend on dating method acting such asradiocarbon datesto get a sense of chronology in ancient Mesopotamia , " subject area co - authorMark Altaweel , a professor of Near East archaeology and archaeological data skill at University College London , enjoin in astatement . " However , some of the most common cultural remains , such as bricks and ceramics , can not typically be easily date because they do n’t contain constitutive material . This work now helps create an authoritative dating baseline . "
To inquire Earth ’s magnetic field — which waxes , wanes and even flip-flop over time — the research worker face at grains of the mineral iron oxide in 32 Henry Clay bricks from ancientMesopotamia , locate largely in what is now Iraq . These minerals are sensitive to the magnetised field of study , and when they are heated — for model when they are fired during brickmaking — they retain a distinct signature from Earth ’s magnetised sphere , the researchers say in the affirmation .
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Each brick was inscribe with the name of one of 12 Mesopotamian kings during each swayer ’s sovereignty , which archaeologists already had date for based on other finding . The team assess the magnetic persuasiveness of the iron oxide grain in each brick by chipping diminutive fragments off the brick ' go bad faces and using a magnetometer to valuate the magnetic field strength of the mineral within . By combining the dates of the kings ' reign with the mensural field strength , the researcher created a timeline usher the ups and downs of Earth ’s magnetic field over time in Mesopotamia .
Their research supported grounds for the " Levantine Iron Age geomagnetic Anomaly , " a time when the major planet ’s magnetic field was amazingly unassailable around what is now Iraq between 1050 and 550 B.C. It ’s indecipherable why this anomaly survive during that period , but evidence for it has been detected as far away asChina , Bulgaria and the Azores in the North Atlantic . Until now , evidence in the Middle East for the anomaly had been sparse , the researchers say .
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In five of the sample distribution , date to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II ( circa 604 to 562 B.C. ) , the grains point that Earth ’s magnetic field shift dramatically over the flow .
" The geomagnetic field is one of the most enigmatic phenomena in earth sciences , " study co - authorLisa Tauxe , a professor of geophysics at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California , enunciate in the program line . " The well - go steady archeologic remains of the plenteous Mesopotamian culture , especially bricks inscribed with names of specific kings , provide an unprecedented opportunity to take changes in the arena strength in mellow time resolution , tracking changes that fall out over several decades or even less . "
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