Constraints of archaeomagnetic dating and field intensity determinations in three ancient tile kilns in Belgium

The aim of this study is to date by the archaeomagnetic method the last heatingcooling cycle of one Roman and two Medieval tile kilns, discovered in Belgium. The investigation demonstrates the limitations when well-documented local directional secular variation curves of the geomagnetic field in the past are used for dating and the difficulties when trying to determine field intensities from “in situ” baked clays from the kilns. The three kilns yielded very well defined ancient field directions but two possible dating solutions for each of them when no a priori time constraints are taken into account, due to field direction recurrence. As an increase of the dating accuracy and reduction of the number of dating solutions can be expected using the full field vector information, also field intensity determinations on burnt clays from the kilns were attempted. Field intensities from samples of the Roman and of one of the Medieval kilns are quite scattered. On the other hand, results obtained applying the Thellier-Thellier method and the modified method developed by Dekkers and Böhnel on sister samples from the Roman kiln agree fairly well. Rock magnetic properties reveal high variance in the kilns that point to varying spatial heating and cooling conditions in the kilns. Even well burnt material from the kilns shows irreversible changes when heated in air in the laboratory. Reliable field intensities on “in situ” baked materials from kilns themselves can therefore only be obtained when measuring sufficient number of samples from different parts of the kiln, taking into account the spatial-temporal conditions during kiln operation and cooling history. More reference intensity data is needed in our regions in order to improve dating based on directional reference data only.