Archaeomagnetic dating of Dogmersfield Park brick kiln (Southern England)

Archaeomagnetic dating of samples from a brick kiln discovered at Dogmersfield Park has been achieved using both field direction and intensity. Detailed rock-magnetic properties and microwave archaeointensities have already been studied and published elsewhere [Ll. Casas, J. Shaw, M. Gich, J.A. Share, High-quality microwave archaeointensity determinations from an early 18th century brick kiln, Geophys. J. Int. 161 (2005) 653–661]. The archaeomagnetic measurements were assigned time-probability distributions by comparing with predictions from a global model at the sampling site, this procedure suppresses errors arising from relocation to a common central reference location. All three probability distributions consistently indicate the same age (∼AD 1700). Once the probability distributions are combined a narrower probability distribution is obtained, stressing the importance of pursuing combined (directional and intensity) archaeomagnetic analyses. The inferred age is also highly consistent with available historical evidence.