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Tracing High‐temperature Crafts: Magnetometry on the Island of Gotland, Sweden
Author(s) -
Gustafsson Ny Björn,
Viberg Andreas
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
archaeological prospection
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.785
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1099-0763
pISSN - 1075-2196
DOI - 10.1002/arp.1428
Subject(s) - bedrock , magnetometer , magnetic survey , geology , prehistory , archaeology , excavation , gradiometer , craft , population , magnetic anomaly , geophysics , geomorphology , geography , paleontology , magnetic field , physics , demography , quantum mechanics , sociology
Gradiometer surveys have been carried at three Iron Age and early medieval sites on the island of Gotland, Sweden. Previous experiences of poorly executed magnetic surveys combined with a misconception among archaeologists that the Gotlandic sedimentary bedrock would preclude the success of any magnetic investigations on the island have, until now, prevented the extended use of the method within archaeological projects. The purpose of the present study was to test this presumption while searching for in situ buried remains of high‐temperature crafts, such as metal and glass working. The location of the survey grids was guided by concentrations of previously recovered high‐temperature craft finds from metal detector surveys and excavations. The results indicate that the magnetometer is a valuable tool for detecting the presence of preserved high‐temperature craft structures in the Gotlandic soil. An additional result indicates that in this area the magnetometer can easily identify remains of ploughed‐over Iron Age stone foundation houses and stone boundary walls. This is possible because of the prehistoric population's preference of using glacially deposited, igneous rocks in such constructions. It can thus be concluded that the uniformly non‐magnetic character of the Gotlandic bedrock provides excellent conditions for conducting magnetic surveys. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.