The Magnetosusceptibility Event and Cyclostratigraphy (MESC) Method Applied to the Problem of Intra-and Intersite Correlations and Pleistocene/Holocene Paleoclimate for S. Europe

在国家科学基金会的支持下，布鲁克斯埃尔伍德和弗朗西斯哈罗德博士将把磁化率（MS）相关技术应用于南欧的一系列考古遗址。这一技术仍在开发过程中，其依据是气候影响沉积物的磁性。在松散的样品，如那些从考古遗址挖掘MS工程作为一个气候代用品，因为温度和湿度控制沉积物的磁性，主要是成壤作用的结果。在气候相对温暖和潮湿的时期，磁性材料的产量较高，MS相应增加。鉴于这一事实，人们可以采样地层考古剖面，并构建磁性曲线，当受到古生物和氧同位素阶段数据的约束时，可以互相关。在此基础上，研究人员希望建立一个复合参考曲线，然后允许拟合较小的序列从个别网站。在合作，与有关考古学家，埃尔伍德和哈罗德博士将访问一些中，上旧石器时代遗址在西班牙，葡萄牙和法国收集和分析沉积物样品。由此产生的曲线应该证明是有用的约会在西欧和南欧的大部分地区，并将，希望，覆盖约。二十万年这是一个特别重要的时期，因为它见证了尼安德特人被解剖学上的现代人所取代，以及具有与我们相同文化能力的社会的出现。这项研究也很重要，因为它将有助于改进一种在许多考古环境中可能有用的工具。

With National Science Foundation support Drs. Brooks Ellwood and Francis Harrold will apply the technique of magnetosusceptibility (MS) correlation to a series of archaeological sites in Southern Europe. This technique, which is still in the process of development, is based on the fact that climate affects the magnetic properties of sediments. In unconsolidated samples such as those excavated from archaeological sites MS works as a climatic proxy because temperature and moisture control the magnetic properties of deposited sediments, primarily as the result of pedogenesis. There is higher production of magnetic materials with corresponding increases in MS during periods when climate is relatively warm and wet. Given this fact, one can sample stratigraphic archaeological sections and construct magnetic curves which, when constrained by paleontological and oxygen isotope stage data, can be cross correlated. On this basis the investigators hope to establish a composite reference curve which will then permit fitting of smaller sequences from individual sites.In collaboration with the relevant archaeologists, Drs. Ellwood and Harrold will visit a number of Middle and Upper Paleolithic sites in Spain, Portugal and France to collect and analyze sediment samples. The resultant curves should prove useful for dating over a large portion of Western and Southern Europe and will, hopefully, cover ca. 200,000 years. This is a particularly important period because it witnessed the replacement of Neanderthals by anatomically modern humans and the emergence of societies with cultural capabilities equal to our own. This research is also important because it will help to refine a tool potentially useful in many archaeological settings.