Magnetic Fabric: A Geophysical Approach for Identifying China's Neolithic Rammed Earth

Abstract Accurate identification of rammed‐earth remains is essential for understanding early social complexity in Neolithic China. However, scientific methods for identifying rammed‐earth materials in Chinese prehistoric archeology remain limited, and identification still rely largely on field observations. Here, we apply anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analysis to Neolithic rammed‐earth remains (walls and platform foundations), cultural‐layer deposits, and natural sediments from the Jiaojia and Chengziya sites at the lower Yellow River region. The results show that rammed earth mainly features well‐clustered K min axes and stable or tilted magnetic foliation planes, reflecting strain‐induced particle reorientation during repeated ramming. In most rammed‐earth samples, K max and K int axes are commonly scattered or partly mixed within the foliation plane. Wall II, however, records a mixed foliation–lineation fabric with a near‐horizontal K max lineation, probably related to horizontal compression or lateral constraint during wall construction and possible later repair. These rammed‐earth fabrics are clearly distinct from the depositional fabrics of natural sediments and the randomized fabrics of cultural‐layer deposits. Rock magnetic results show no major differences in magnetic mineral assemblages among the samples, suggesting that mineralogical variation is unlikely to be the primary cause of the AMS contrasts. These contrasts are therefore more plausibly linked to differences in magnetic‐particle orientation and spatial organization associated with ramming, natural deposition, and anthropogenic disturbance. Together, these results demonstrate that AMS can complement traditional archeological approaches and provide a sensitive method for identifying Chinese Neolithic rammed earth. Future studies should test this method using more sites and experimentally compacted soils.