Abstract
WHILST measuring the thermoremanent magnetism (TRM) of ancient pottery to determine the field magnitude at the time of firing, by using a modification of the Thellier thermal remagnetisation technique1, we have observed that the ease with which TRM is acquired is dependent on the angle at which the remagnetising field is applied. As a general rule it seems that the hardest direction is perpendicular to the plane of the pottery and that to a rough approximation there is an ‘easy plane’ lying in the plane of the pottery. The effect is apparently distinct from that due to the demagnetising field associated with sample shape, because the anisotropy effect is observed for sample shapes for which there would be no variation of demagnetising field with change of angle of applied field (such as a cylindrical sample being magnetised at various azimuthal angles in the plane perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder), as well as for samples for which the specific magnetisation is too weak for demagnetising fields to be significant. The anisotropy effect has been observed also in alternating field (750 Hz) measurement of instantaneous susceptibility.
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References
Thellier, E. & Thellier, O. Ann. Géophys. 15, 285 (1959).
Fox, J. M. W., Aitken, M. J. & Gunn, N. Geophys. J.R. astr. Soc. 53, 135 (1978).
Walton, D. Archaeometry 19, 192 (1977).
Walton, D. Nature 277, 643–644 (1979).
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ROGERS, J., Fox, J. & AITKEN, M. Magnetic anisotropy in ancient pottery. Nature 277, 644–646 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/277644a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/277644a0
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