Iron oxide baked into Mesopotamian bricks confirms ancient magnetic field anomaly

[Grim Reaper 6]

Ancient bricks from Mesopotamia have helped confirm a mysterious anomaly in Earth's magnetic field that occurred 3,000 years ago, a new study finds.

Brickmakers baked the bricks, which were imprinted with the names of Mesopotamian kings, between the third and first millennia B.C. Iron oxide grains within the clay recorded changes in Earth's magnetic field when the bricks were heated, enabling scientists to reconstruct changes in the magnetic field over time, the team reported in a study published in the journal PNAS on Monday (Dec. 18). In five of the samples, dating to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (circa 604 to 562 B.C.), the grains indicated that Earth's magnetic field shifted dramatically over the period.

Iron oxide baked into Mesopotamian bricks confirms ancient magnetic field anomaly (msn.com)

 

[+DieChecker]

Very cool. It is amazing some of the new science being used in archeology and paleontology.

[Mark_C]

Quote from the article in Grim Reapers link - " In five of the samples, dating to the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (circa 604 to 562 B.C.), the grains indicated that Earth's magnetic field shifted dramatically over the period. "

 

Quote - " The Neo-Babylonian Empire became the most powerful state in the world after defeating the Assyrians at Nineveh in 612 B.C. "

 

Is it a coincidence that the magnetic field anomaly occurred in what was at the time the most powerful city in the world ? 

 

Quote from the article in Grim Reapers link - "Their research supported evidence for the "Levantine Iron Age geomagnetic Anomaly," a time when the planet's magnetic field was surprisingly strong around what is now Iraq between 1050 and 550 B.C "

 

This also covers the period that Tanis was abandoned / destroyed? as the capital of AE.  

 

Does anyone have any ideas on what might have caused these magnetic anomalies ?

 

 

[Abramelin]

On 8/10/2024 at 1:40 PM, Mark_C said:

Is it a coincidence that the magnetic field anomaly occurred in what was at the time the most powerful city in the world ? 

I think it was a coincidence.

 

On 8/10/2024 at 1:40 PM, Mark_C said:

Does anyone have any ideas on what might have caused these magnetic anomalies ?

No clue at all.

[Mark_C]

Not exactly breaking news, this paper is 3 years old, however this paper discusses other magnetic anomalies in the Central Mediterranean. Geomagnetic field intensity changes in the Central Mediterranean between 1500 BCE and 150 CE: Implications for the Levantine Iron Age Anomaly evolution - ScienceDirect

Here's a quote "   The results reveal the first evidence of a high-intensity peak in Greece between 1070 and 1040 BCE associated to high virtual axial dipole moment (VADM) values of around 140 ZAm2 "

Here's  a snippet from Wikipedia's entry about Mycenaean Greece

" Mycenaean Greece (or the Mycenaean civilization) was the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece, spanning the period from approximately 1750 to 1050 BC.[1] It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland Greece with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art, and writing system "

The magnetic anomaly coincided with the end of a civilization and the beginning of a new one, again.