Link: Data from Ness hearths suggests shift in magnetic field around 3000BC

Archaeomagnetic data from hearths at the Ness of Brodgar suggests a major change in the planet’s magnetic field over two centuries around 3000BC.

This is the conclusion of a new paper, Exceptional secular variation recorded in Neolithic hearths, Orkney and Swedish lake sediments, co-authored by site director Nick Card, and published yesterday.

According to the authors, the magnetic directions recorded in the Ness hearths are best explained by an extremely rapid – but perhaps regional – event with the magnetic declination swinging sharply to east and back over 200 years. This correlates with data from Sweden from the same time period.

The paper was published in the journal Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors and is available online here.