Archaeointensity analysis and archaeomagnetic age constraints of Maya pottery from Chichén-Itzá and surrounding sites
Análisis de arqueointensidad y datación arqueomagnética de cerámica maya proveniente de Chichén-Itzá y zonas aledañas
Alejandro Rodríguez-Trejo1,*, Luis Manuel Alva-Valdivia2, †
1 Laboratorio de Paleomagnetismo, Instituto de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Blvd. Juriquilla 3001, Campus UNAM, Juriquilla La Mesa, 76230, Juriquilla, Querétaro.
2 Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Circuito de la Investigación Científica s/n, Ciudad Universitaria, Alcaldía Coyoacán, 04510, Ciudad de México.
Corresponding author: (A. Rodríguez-Trejo) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
How to cite this article:
Rodríguez-Trejo, A., Alva-Valdivia, L.M., 2025, Archaeointensity analysis and archaeomagnetic age constraints of Maya pottery from Chichén-Itzá and surrounding sites: Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, 77(2), A200225. http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2025v77n2a200225
Manuscript received: October 2, 2024; Corrected manuscript received: February 13, 2025; Manuscript accepted: February 20, 2025.
ABSTRACT
The results of archaeointensity and magnetic property analyses are presented for 24 ceramic fragments collected from four archaeological sites in the Maya region: Chichén-Itzá, Flor de Mayo and San Pedro Cholul in Yucatán, Mexico and Busiljá-Chocoljá in Chiapas, Mexico. The samples span various periods of occupation in the Maya area, ranging from the Middle Preclassic to the Early Postclassic. The analysis of magnetic properties identified titanomagnetite, with varying titanium content, as the primary carrier of magnetization. Different magnetic phases were detected, with Curie temperatures ranging from 150 °C to 520 °C, determined through k-T curve experiments. Magnetic hysteresis experiments revealed saturation magnetization values between 150 mT and 300 mT, with coercivity values ranging from 4.2 mT to 9.6 mT. The saturation remanence to saturation magnetization ratio (Mrs/Ms) varied between 0.10 and 0.26, indicating a behavior characteristic of pseudo-single domain (PSD) grains. A total of nine archaeointensity values were obtained at the specimen level, ranging from 32 ± 3.2 μT to 67.6 ± 2.5 μT, with virtual axial dipole moment (VADM) values between 7.37 ZAm² and 14.84 ZAm². Additionally, four representative mean archaeointensity values were determined for the studied sites. The results are consistent with the expected values for the region and the estimated age of the materials, in agreement with available regional and global paleosecular variation models. Furthermore, four archaeomagnetic ages were estimated for the ceramic types analyzed across the different study sites, covering a period from the Middle Preclassic to the Terminal Late Classic. These estimations contribute to refining and constraining the previously assigned ages for each ceramic type based on its archaeological context.
Keywords: archeomagnetism, archaeointensity, Chichén-Itzá, paleomagnetism, geoarcheology, geophysics.
