First archaeointensity catalogue and intensity secular variation curve for Iberia spanning the last 3000 years
Abstract
In this work we present the first archaeomagnetic intensity database for the Iberian Peninsula covering the last 3
millennia. In addition to previously published archaeointensities (about 100 data), we present twenty new highquality
archaeointensities. The new data have been obtained following the Thellier and Thellier method including
pTRM-checks and have been corrected for the effect of the anisotropy of thermoremanent magnetization upon
archaeointensity estimates. Importantly, about 50% of the new data obtained correspond to the first millennium
BC, a period for which there was not possible to develop an intensity palaeosecular variation curve before due to
the lack of high-quality archaeointensity data. The different qualities of the data included in the Iberian dataset
have been evaluated following different palaeomagnetic criteria, such as the number of specimens analysed, the
laboratory protocol applied and the kind of material analysed. Finally, we present the first intensity palaeosecular
variation curve for the Iberian Peninsula centred at Madrid for the last 3000 years. In order to obtain the most
reliable secular variation curve, it has been generated using only selected high-quality data from the catalogue