Aghios Petros in the Sporades Islands is one of the earliest and most thoroughly excavated settlements in the Aegean. It was a permanent settlement of the end of the 6th millennium BC, and a unique cultural centre, with influences from Thessaly, Anatolia and the Balkans. In the present study, the degree of contacts and influence between Aghios Petros and the neighbouring well-known Neolithic settlements of Dimini and Sesklo is examined on the basis of trace element analysis by INAA. Cluster analysis, based on Th, Sc, Cs, Fe, Co and Eu, reveals distinct differences, Aghios Petros sherds forming a quite separate group. There also exist three sub-groups within the Sporades material. This result is substantiated by archaeological evidence and reinforces the view that Aghios Petros is a site of particular cultural interest and of semi-autonomous development, which flourished in the middle of the 5th millennium BC.
Geomagnetic virtual pole positions (VGP's) calculated from archaeomagnetic directional data are compared with three ancient accounts of low latitude observations of the Aurorae boreales, viz. by Aristotle (384-322 BC), Seneca (55 BC-40 AD) and simultaneously by Chinese astronomers in Hangzhou, China and by European observers in Prague in 1138 AD, October 13th.The geomagnetic latitudes of these VGP's ranged from 65" to 70". Inclination and declination values have also been calculated for the regions of interest, assuming dipole field symmetry.The reduced archaeomagnetic results used, comply with those early observations of aurorae, confirming the inclination of the geomagnetic pole towards the observing sites.A critical evaluation of the aurora1 types is given, associated to the low latitude aurora. The latter, is furthermore, discussed in relation to the ancient descriptions of the aurora phenomenon.A critical discussion is also made on severe magnetic storms-related aurora. It has been shown that the appropriate use of relevant VGP's, in our study, is not influenced by discernible non-dipole disturbances.
Statistical analyses on available archaeomagnetic intensity data mainly from the Aegean area and supplemented by some from Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia have revealed the existence of periodicities.The power spectrum analysis showed the existence of periods of 100-120, 200, 250, 540, 800 and 1600 years with an overall significance level of around 95%.Maximum entropy method showed the existence of significant periods of 100&130, 200, 240, 400-450 and 1200+1350 years.Emphasis is given to the 200-year period in relation to similar periods of other solar-terrestrial phenomena as well as to theoretical calculations.
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