Archaeology and Geomagnetism: Investigating the Earth's Magnetic Field in Italy during the Neolithic Period. New Data from the Portonovo Archaeological Site (Marche, Italy)

Archaeomagnetic data from ancient baked clays is a precious source of information about the past variations of the Earth's magnetic field. Thanks to archaeomagnetic records from well dated archaeological artefacts it is possible to reconstruct the geomagnetic field variations in the past and better understand its behaviour. On the other hand, once a detailed secular variation path is established for a certain area, reliable archaeomagnetic dating is possible. In order to enrich the Italian reference database and extend it back in time, we present here the results of an archaeomagnetic study carried out on three Neolithic ovens excavated at the archaeological site of Portonovo (Marche, Italy)