Archaeointensity results spanning the past 6 kiloyears from eastern China and implications for extreme behaviors of the geomagnetic field

Significance The geomagnetic field is an intriguing fundamental physical property of the Earth. Its evolution has significant implications for issues such as geodynamics, evolution of the life on the Earth, and archaeomagnetic dating. Here, we present 21 archaeointensity data points from China and establish the first archaeointensity reference curve for eastern Asia. Our results record rarely captured extreme behaviors of the geomagnetic field, with an exceptionally low intensity around ∼2200 BCE (hitherto the lowest value observed for the Holocene) and a “spike” intensity value dated at ∼1300 ± 300 BCE (either a precursor to or the same event as the Levantine spikes). These anomalous features of the geomagnetic field revealed by our data will shed light on understanding geomagnetic field during the Holocene.