Archaeomagnetic record from Modoc Rock Shelter,Illinois, for the time range of 6200–8900 B.P.

The Modoc Rock Shelter is located in Randolph County, Illinois at the base of the Mississippi River bluffs, and is documented as having human occupation from 9000 B.P. to as recently as 800 B.P. Two hundred twenty-eight archaeomagnetic samples were collected from 28 surface hearths in two different excavation areas. Pilot samples from each hearth were A.F. demagnetized to 100 mT to establish the optimum demagnetization level for all samples from a specific hearth. The magnetic directions for individual hearths after appropriate demagnetization have high precision with α-95 values between 2° and 4°. Independent inclination and declination records from the two excavations, which were correlated with conventional radiocarbon dates, overlap in time and show good correlation. The composite record shows a prominent eastward declination swing of 15° from 6500–7800 yr B.P., followed by a westward swing of equal magnitude from 8000–8900 yr B.P. The inclination record is less varied. This secular variation record correlates well with soft sediment records from lakes in the north-central United States and is perhaps the longest and oldest archaeomagnetic secular variation record from a single site in North America. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.