The dawn of archeomagnetic dating

The use of secular variation in Earth’s magnetic field for dating purposes archeology and volcanology began with the first developments paleomagnetism. This paper traces key contributions Paul-Louis Mercanton, Pierre David, Bernard Brunhes, Raymond Chevallier early 20th century, between seminal works Giuseppe Folgheraiter 1890s Emile Thellier 1930s, all whom expressed a strong interest these applications. These researchers raised issues that are still at forefront present-day research, though archeomagnetists now able to address them modern tools much larger sets data. Surprisingly, 1901, long plea archeomagnetism as tool came not from paleomagnetist but limnologist François-Alphonse Forel.