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·埃尔伍德博士和弗朗西斯·哈罗尔德博士将把磁感应(MS)相关技术应用于南欧的一系列考古遗址。这项仍在开发过程中的技术是基于气候影响沉积物磁性的事实。在松散的样品中，例如从考古遗址挖掘出来的样品，MS可以作为气候指标，因为温度和湿度控制着沉积沉积物的磁性，这主要是土壤作用的结果。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，人们可以对地层考古剖面进行采样，并建立磁性曲线，当受到古生物和氧同位素阶段数据的约束时，这些曲线可以相互对比。在此基础上，研究人员希望建立一个复合参考曲线，然后允许对个别遗址的较小序列进行拟合。埃尔伍德博士和哈罗尔德博士将与相关考古学家合作，访问西班牙、葡萄牙和法国的一些中、晚期旧石器时代遗址，收集和分析沉积物样本。由此产生的曲线将被证明对西欧和南欧的大部分地区进行测年是有用的，并有望覆盖大约20万年。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取代，以及具有与我们一样的文化能力的社会的出现。这项研究也很重要，因为它将有助于提炼出一种可能在许多考古环境中有用的工具。

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.