Three archaeomagnetic applications of archaeological interest to the study of burnt anthropogenic cave sediments  A. Carrancho a, * ,  A. Herrej  on Lagunilla b , J.M. Verg  es c, d a  Area de Prehistoria, Dpto. de Ciencias Hist oricas y Geografía, Universidad de Burgos, Edificio IþDþI, Plaza Misael Ba~ nuelos s/n, 09001, Burgos, Spain b Dpto. Física, Universidad de Burgos, Escuela Polit ecnica Superior, Avda. Cantabria s/n, 09006, Burgos, Spain c IPHES, Institut Catal a de Paleoecologia Humana i Evoluci o Social, C/Marcel.lí Domingo s/n, Campus Sescelades (Edifici W3), 43007, Tarragona, Spain d  Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Avinguda de Catalunya, 35, 43002, Tarragona, Spain article info Article history: Available online xxx Keywords: Fumiers Holocene Thermoremanent magnetization Secular variation Ashes Bronze Age abstract Recent archaeomagnetic studies carried out on Mid-to Late Holocene burnt anthropogenic cave sedi- ments have shown that under certain conditions, these materials are suitable geomagnetic field re- corders. Archaeomagnetic analyses carried out on these contexts constitute a rich source of information not only for geophysical purposes -in terms of reconstructing the variation of Earth's magnetic field in the past- but also from the archaeological point of view, for example by archaeomagnetic dating. Here, we report three different archaeomagnetic applications to the study of burnt cave sediments: (i) archaeomagnetic dating; (ii) determining palaeotemperatures and (iii) assessing post-depositional processes. The first case study is a dating attempt carried out on a Late Holocene (Bronze Age) burnt level from El Mirador Cave (Burgos, Spain). Using the directional European secular variation curve, several dating intervals were obtained for the last burning of this combustion feature. Considering the archaeological evidence and the independent radiometric ( 14 C) dating available the possible ages ob- tained are discussed. This is the first archaeomagnetic dating obtained in these contexts so far. The second case study is an application of the method to determine the last heating temperatures reached by the carbonaceous facies of these fires. Stepwise thermal demagnetization of oriented samples can be used to quantitatively estimate heating temperatures. An intermediate normal polarity component interpreted as a partial thermo-remanence (pTRM) with maximum unblocking temperatures of 400 e450  C was systematically identified, revealing the last heating temperatures experienced by this facies. These temperatures were confirmed with partial thermomagnetic curve experiments. Finally, archae- omagnetic analyses on a partially bioturbated burning event were performed in order to evaluate until what spatial extent the burnt sediments were affected by post-depositional mechanical alteration pro- cesses. For each case study, the archaeological implications are discussed highlighting the potential of archaeomagnetic methods to retrieve archaeological information. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Since the pioneering work of Brochier (1983a,b), the study of Holocene burnt anthropogenic cave sediments has experienced considerable progress. A great number of archaeological excava- tions as well as the increasing amount of data provided by disci- plines such as soil micromorphology (Boschian, 1997; Macphail et al., 1997; Angelucci et al., 2009), palaeobotany (Rasmussen, 1993; Delhon et al., 2008; Cabanes et al., 2009) or zooarchaeology (Rowley-Conwy, 1998; Martín et al., 2014) among others, is yielding valuable information about the formation and use of these deposits. Archaeomagnetism has emerged as one of these lines of research. Although it has a long tradition in Earth sciences its application in prehistoric archaeology is still sporadic and its potential to retrieve archaeological information remains underutilized. Broadly speaking, archaeomagnetism deals with the study of the record of the Earth's magnetic field direction and/or intensity changes in the past in burnt archaeological materials. Most archaeological materials contain small amounts of ferromagnetic minerals (s.l.), such as magnetite or haematite. When heated to high temperatures (>500e600  C) and subsequently cooled these * Corresponding author. E-mail address: acarrancho@ubu.es (  A. Carrancho). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.010 1040-6182/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. Quaternary International xxx (2015) 1e14 Please cite this article in press as: Carrancho,  A., et al., Three archaeomagnetic applications of archaeological interest to the study of burnt anthropogenic cave sediments, Quaternary International (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.010