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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2022

Archeomagnetic studies of pottery workshops in France: Dating of kilns and development of a chronological tool for ceramic production

Résumé

Archeomagnetism is one of the dating methods potentially available to archeologists. It applies to artifacts made of baked earth or baked clay, with the dated event being the last heating. However, to be effective, this tool first requires the establishment of reference curves for a given region, typically on the geographical scale of France, of directional and/or intensity variations of the geomagnetic field. In France, archeomagnetic studies carried out over the past 80 years on numerous dated baked structures found in situ, such as pottery kilns or domestic ovens, have progressively allowed us to trace the history of the geomagnetic directional variations for the past 2-3 millennia. While for the first millennium before our era, the variations still need to be better documented, the reference curve available for the past 2000 years that we have recently updated (Le Goff et al. 2020) is more accurate and reliable. It is based on a set of nearly 300 directional data obtained from the study of as many in situ baked structures dated with an age uncertainty of less than ±50 years. For several years now, the integration of archeomagnetism as a dating tool has increased in the field of archeological research in France, particularly for pottery workshops. We will illustrate this application with the archeomagnetic analyses carried out on early medieval pottery kilns unearthed at Saran in the Loiret region (Jesset et al. 2010). Contrary to the direction, studies concerning the geomagnetic intensity have remained more limited in France, but also more generally in Western Europe. However, for the past 20 years, we have been developing research aimed at deciphering the intensity variations in France. Our database now includes 92 results documenting the period from the beginning of the 4th AD to the middle of the 19th century, i.e., until the very first direct (instrumental) intensity measurements (Genevey et al. 2021). Our data are obtained from the analysis of groups of fragments precisely dated, as for the directional data, to ±50 years. These are mainly groups of artifacts found displaced after their last firing, such as fragments of pottery, pavement or architectural bricks. In particular, pottery workshop production appears to be an interesting target for documenting the geomagnetic intensity variations. In this regard, we will highlight the contribution of the analysis of the workshop productions of Saran for the characterization of the intensity variations during the Early Middle Ages in France (Genevey et al. 2016). As with directional variations, geomagnetic intensity fluctuations in France can now be used as a dating tool for the period between 500 and 1850 AD. We will discuss this possibility with the intensity study we conducted for a pottery kiln and its production unearthed near Bourges (Marot 2017).
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Dates et versions

hal-03962470 , version 1 (30-01-2023)

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  • HAL Id : hal-03962470 , version 1

Citer

A. Genevey. Archeomagnetic studies of pottery workshops in France: Dating of kilns and development of a chronological tool for ceramic production. Archéologie de la production céramique et des espaces artisanaux : regards croisés, Dec 2022, Paris, France. ⟨hal-03962470⟩
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