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

在美国国家科学基金会的支持下。布鲁克斯·埃尔伍德（Brooks Ellwood）和弗朗西斯·哈罗德（Francis Harrold）将把磁化率（MS）相关技术应用于南欧的一系列考古遗址。这项仍处于发展过程中的技术是基于气候会影响沉积物的磁性这一事实。在未固结的样品中，比如从考古遗址中挖掘出来的样品，质谱可以作为气候的代用物，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。在气候相对温暖湿润的时期，磁性物质的产量较高，MS相应增加。鉴于这一事实，人们可以对地层考古剖面进行取样，并在古生物学和氧同位素阶段数据的约束下构建磁曲线，这些曲线可以交叉相关。在此基础上，研究人员希望建立一个复合参考曲线，然后允许从个别地点拟合较小的序列。在与相关考古学家的合作下。埃尔伍德和哈罗德将访问西班牙、葡萄牙和法国的一些旧石器时代中期和晚期的遗址，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大部分地区的年代测定是有用的，并且有望覆盖大约20万年。这是一个特别重要的时期，因为它见证了解剖学上的现代人取代尼安德特人，并出现了与我们自己的文化能力相当的社会。这项研究也很重要，因为它将有助于改进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.