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Credit: NASA (crew from STS-39)
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Our first meeting was a bit cumbersome. One of us is an archaeologist who examines how past peoples have interacted with their surroundings. Two of us are geophysicists who examine the interactions between solar activity and magnetic field on earth.
When we got together for the first time, we wondered whether our unconventional project, which connects space weather and human behavior, could actually close such a huge disciplinary air. Now, two years later, we believe that the payments – personally, professionally and scientifically – were worth the initial complaints.
Our collaboration, which recently culminated in a paper in the journal Science Advances, began with a single question: What happened to life on Earth when the planet’s magnetic field almost collapsed about 41,000 years ago?
Craziness when the magnetic shield of the earth stalls
This nearkollapse is known as a Laschamps excursion, a short but extreme geomagnetic event, which was named after the volcanic fields in France, where it was identified for the first time. At the time of the excursion of Laschamps, towards the end of the Pleistocene era, the magnetic poles of the earth did not return as they did every hundred thousand years. Instead, they hiked irregularly and quickly over thousands of miles. At the same time, the strength of the magnetic field fell to less than 10% of its modern intensity.
Instead of behaving like a stable beam magnet – a dipole – as usual, the magnetic field of the earth broke into several weak poles on the planet. As a result, the field scientists of the protective force called the magnetosphere were distorted and leaking.
The magnetosphere usually distracts a large part of the sun wind and the harmful ultraviolet radiation, which would otherwise reach the surface of the earth.
During the LASKAMP excursion, when the magnetosphere collapsed, our models indicate a number of nearby effects. While there is still work to characterize these effects, we know that they contain Auroras-Normally, only in the sky near the poles as northern lights or southern lights-to-be equator and significantly higher than magnificent doses of harmful solar radiation.
The Northern Lights are over Bear Lake, Alaska | Credit: United States Air Force Photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang
The sky 41,000 years ago was perhaps both spectacular and threatening. When we recognized this, we wanted to know two geophysicists whether this could be affected at that time.
The archaeologist’s answer was absolutely.
Human reactions to the old space weather
For people at this time, Auroras were perhaps the most immediate and most striking effect that may inspire awe, fear, ritual behavior or something completely different. However, archaeological recording is notoriously limited in its ability to grasp this type of cognitive or emotional reactions.
The researchers are in a firmer soil when it comes to the physiological effects of increased UV radiation. With the weakened magnetic field, more harmful radiation would have reached the surface of the earth and increased the risk of sunburn, eye damage, birth defects and other health problems.
In response to this, people may have taken practical measures: spend more time in caves, generate tailor -made clothing for better coverage or apply mineral pigment “sunscreen” from ocher to their skin. As we describe in our latest work, the frequency of these behaviors in parts of Europe seems to have increased, where the effects of the excursion of lensy lamps have been pronounced and extended.
Neanderthals had dealt with space weather as we do today. | Credit: Athree23 about Wikimedia Commons
At that time both Neanderthals and members of our species, homo sapienslived in Europe, although their geographical distributions probably only overlapped in certain regions. The archaeological records suggest that different populations have different approaches to environmental problems, with some groups possibly more on protection or material culture for protection.
It is important that we do not suggest that space weather has led to an increase in these behaviors or that the Laschampes led to Neanderthals extinct, which is a misinterpretation of our research. But it could have been a contributor – an invisible but powerful force that influenced innovation and adaptability.
Cross-discipline cooperation
Cooperation with such a disciplinary cleat was initially discouraging. But it turned out to be deeply worthwhile.
Archaeologists are used to reconstruct unvisible phenomena such as climate. We cannot measure direct temperatures or precipitation, but they left traces so that we know where and what you look like.
But even archaeologists who have examined the effects of the climate on past behavior and technologies for years may not have taken into account the effects of the geomagnetic field and space weather. These effects are also invisible, powerful and best understood by indirect evidence and modeling. Archaeologists can treat space weather as an important part of the environmental history of the earth and future forecasts.
An infographic that points the effects of space weather on earth and consider various infrastructures for granted. | Credit: ESA/Science Office, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
Likewise, geophysicists who usually work with large data sets, models and simulations may not always be involved in some of the use of space weather. Archeology gives science a human dimension. It reminds us that the effects of space weather on the ionosphere do not stop. They can affect the experiences of people on site and influence their adaptation, creation and survival.
The excursion from Laschampen was not a fluke or a unique. Similar disorders of the magnetic field of the earth have already taken place and will happen again. Understanding how old people have reacted can give an insight into the possibility of future events that could affect our world – and maybe even help us to prepare.
Our unconventional cooperation has shown us how much we can learn how our perspective changes when we cross the disciplinary boundaries. The room may be large, but it connects us all. And sometimes the construction of a bridge between earth and space begins with the smallest things such as ocher, a coat or even sun protection.
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