Description:
<jats:p>Certain limestones remagnetize viscously and noticeably over archaeological time‐intervals, after their reorientation into monuments. The laboratory demagnetization temperatures (T<jats:sub>UB</jats:sub>) for the VRM increase with the installation age; with rates of ∼0.07 C<jats:sup>0</jats:sup>/year for Israel chalk and ∼0.1C<jats:sup>0</jats:sup>/year for English chalk. The empirical relationship may be used to date enigmatic buildings or geomorphological features (e.g., land slips). Such correlations also give some insight into the viscous remagnetization process over time intervals τ ≤ 4000 years, which are unobtainable in laboratory studies. The T<jats:sub>UB</jats:sub>‐age relationship for the viscous remagnetization appears to follow a power law, linearized as log<jats:sub>10</jats:sub>(τ) ≈ <jats:italic>b</jats:italic> log<jats:sub>10</jats:sub> (T<jats:sub>UB</jats:sub>). Different pelagic limestones follow different curves and, whereas conventional regression estimates the power law exponent <jats:italic>b</jats:italic>, the small sample size recommends a Bayesian statistical approach. From sites constructed with pelagic chalk from eastern England, precise prior information (<jats:italic>b</jats:italic> = 0.761) is compared with less precise information for much more ancient sites in northern Israel (<jats:italic>b</jats:italic> = 0.873). The collective posterior correlation shows a generalized power law exponent <jats:italic>b</jats:italic> = 0.849. That regression explains 84.9% of the collective variance in age (r<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> = 0.849). Of course, site‐specific calibration is required for archaeological age determinations.</jats:p>