SAMPLE TYPES

CUBES

Cubes are the traditional archaeomagnetic sample. The are made by exposing a thumb-sized portion of material and then placing a mold around it that is filled with plaster. This makes a hard, straight-edged object that can be easily oriented to the Earth's field.

BULK

Bulk samples are much preferred if your material can survive transport. To take these samples, pour some plaster on top of your material, level the plaster with a piece of glass, and then mark north on the plaster. When hardened, you can break off a whole chunk of material to process in the lab. Similarly, geological cores can be cut into cylinders.

POWDER

The AGM and the Susceptibility meter can measure even minuscule chips or powdered samples.