Archaeomagnetic data are fundamental for our understanding of the evolution of Earth's magnetic field on centennial to millennial timescales. From the earliest studies of the Thelliers, Aitken, Nagata and others in the 1950s and 1960s, archaeomagnetic data have been vital for extending our knowledge of the field to times prior to observational measurements. Today, many thousands of archaeomagnetic data allow us to explore the geomagnetic field in more detail than ever before. Both regional time series of archaeomagnetic data and the inclusion of archaeomagnetic data in time-varying global spherical harmonic field models have revealed a range of newly discovered field behaviour. More sophisticated approaches to developing regional curves and global models have allowed us to resolve the field in certain regions more robustly and with greater resolution than previously possible. In this review we give an overview of the widely used global archaeomagnetic database GEOMAGIA50, discuss the methods used to obtain archaeomagnetic data, their challenges, and explore progress over the past twenty years in developing regional secular variation curves and global spherical harmonic models of the archaeomagnetic field. We end the review by covering what we see as the “grand challenges” in archaeomagnetism, including which regions of the world should be focussed on with regards to data acquisition.

古地磁数据对于我们了解地球磁场在百年到千年时间尺度上的演变至关重要。从 1950 年代和 1960 年代对 Thelliers、Aitken、Nagata 和其他人的最早研究开始，古地磁数据对于将我们对该领域的知识扩展到观测测量之前的时代至关重要。今天，成千上万的古地磁数据使我们能够比以往任何时候都更详细地探索地磁场。古地磁数据的区域时间序列和将古地磁数据包含在随时间变化的全球球谐场模型中，都揭示了一系列新发现的场行为。开发区域曲线和全球模型的更复杂的方法使我们能够比以前更稳健、分辨率更高地解析某些区域的场。在这篇综述中，我们概述了广泛使用的全球古地磁数据库 GEOMAGIA50，讨论了用于获取古地磁数据的方法及其挑战，并探讨了过去二十年在开发古地磁区域长期变化曲线和全球球谐模型方面的进展。场地。我们通过涵盖我们认为的考古地磁学中的“重大挑战”来结束审查，包括在数据采集方面应该关注世界的哪些地区。讨论用于获取古地磁数据的方法及其挑战，并探讨过去二十年在开发古地磁场区域长期变化曲线和全球球谐模型方面的进展。我们通过涵盖我们认为的考古地磁学中的“重大挑战”来结束审查，包括在数据采集方面应该关注世界的哪些地区。讨论用于获取古地磁数据的方法及其挑战，并探讨过去二十年在开发古地磁场区域长期变化曲线和全球球谐模型方面的进展。我们通过涵盖我们认为的考古地磁学中的“重大挑战”来结束审查，包括在数据采集方面应该关注世界的哪些地区。