Archeomagnetic Age of Ceramic Fragments from the Archeological Multilayered Monument Ivanovskoe III

Abstract

Based on an archeomagnetic study of four ceramic fragments from two cultural layers of the multilayer archeological site Ivanovskoe III, the age of the ceramics is proposed based on the correlation with the VADM reference curve for the central part of the Russian Plain. For two ceramic fragments from the first cultural layer, the age of the Late Bronze Age, determined typologically and by the radiocarbon method, is consistent with the age determined by correlation with the VADM reference archeomagnetic data. Radiocarbon dates from undecomposed wood found in the peat layer beneath the second cultural layer have a wide range of values. Comparison with the graph of the VADM dependence on age for the central part of the Russian Plain allows us to state that one of the ceramic fragments found in the second cultural layer has a Neolithic age. For the second ceramic fragment from the second cultural layer, low VADM values were obtained, uncharacteristic of either the Late Bronze Age or the Developed Neolithic. A distinctive feature of samples with low VADM determinations is that they contain thermally unstable maghemite. The age of the second ceramic fragment may correspond to the Early Neolithic as a result of mixing of layers due to the economic activity of people who repeatedly inhabited this area.