Description

Scientific dating methods are wellestablished as important tools inarchaeological chronology and theirapplication as part of archaeological investigations is now routine.Quite anumber of techniques are available andperhaps the best known and most heavilyutilised are radiocarbon dating anddendrochronology.Howev er,both require the preservation of sufficient quantities of organic materials and,when this is not available,different dating methods arerequired.One such is archaeomagnetic dating which has the attraction that it can directly date fired ceramic and stone materials which frequently occur in archaeological contexts.It is applicable to a more limited class of archaeologicalremains than radiocarbon dating althoughresearch is under way to redress this limitation Fortunately the periods where archaeomagnetic dating has the potential to be most precise coincide with those where radiocarbon dating is problematic, making it a valuable complement to the latter technique.