Possible impact of the Earths magnetic field on the history
of ancient civilizations

Yves Gallet a,⁎, Agnès Genevey b, Maxime Le Goff a, Frédéric Fluteau a,c,
Safar Ali Eshraghi d

a Equipe de Paléomagnétisme, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France

b Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, UMR CNRS 171, Palais du Louvre, Porte des Lions,
14 quai François Mitterrand, 75001 Paris, France

c UFR des Sciences Physiques de la Terre, Université Denis Diderot Paris 7, 2 Place Jussieu, 75251 Paris cedex 05, France

d Geological Survey of Iran, Azadi sq., Meraj blvd., PO Box 13185-1494 Tehran, Iran
Received 30 November 2005; received in revised form 3 April 2006; accepted 3 April 2006
Available online 19 May 2006
Editor: R.D. van der Hilst

Abstract
We report new archeointensity results from Iranian and Syrian archeological excavations dated from the second millennium BC.
These high-temperature magnetization data were obtained using a laboratory-built triaxial vibrating sample magnetometer.

Together with our previously published archeointensity results from Mesopotamia, we constructed a rather detailed geomagnetic field intensity variation curve for this region from 3000 BC to 0 BC. Four potential geomagnetic events (“archeomagnetic jerks”), marked by strong intensity increases, are observed and appear to be synchronous with cooling episodes in the North Atlantic.

This temporal coincidence strengthens the recent suggestion that the geomagnetic field influences climate change over multi-decadal time scales, possibly through the modulation of cosmic ray flux interacting with the atmosphere. Moreover, the cooling periods in the North Atlantic coincide with episodes of enhanced aridity in the Middle East, when abrupt societal changes occurred in the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia.

Although the coincidences discussed in this paper must be considered with caution, they lead to the possibility that the geomagnetic field impacted the history of ancient civilizations through climatically driven environmental changes, triggering economic, social and political instability.
© 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Mayans: Climate Determinism or Geomagnetic Determinism?

Yves Gallet

Equipe de Paléomagnétisme, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France




Agnès Genevey

Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, Palais du Louvre, France


Abstract

Climatic variations since the end of the last ice age have been large enough to influence the fate of ancient civilizations, and deciphering the exact role of climate in the history of old societies is an active and challenging domain of research. This potential influence, which serves as the foundation of ‘climate determinism,’ can be viewed as the response of natural-resource-dependent, agriculture-based communities to climatically driven environmental changes. In some cases, these could have provoked major damage in economic and social organization of the societies, thus paving the way for political disintegration.


Published 13 March 2007.

Index Terms: 1503 Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism: Archeomagnetism; 1616 Global Change: Climate variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513).