The observation was made on clay fired in kilns by the Etruscans and Greeks. The position of the ancient vases during firing is known. They were fired in a standing position, as the flow of the glaze testifies. The magnetic inclination or the magnetic dip of the iron particles in the fired clay indicates which was the nearest magnetic pole, the south or the north.
In 1896 Giuseppe Folgheraiter began his careful studies of Attic (Greek) and Etruscan vases of various centuries, starting with the eighth century before the present era. His conclusion was that in the eighth century the earth's magnetic field was inverted in Italy and Greece. Italy and Greece were closer to the south than to the north magnetic pole.
P.L. Mercanton of Geneva, studying the pots of the Hallstatt age from Bavaria (about the year -1000) and from the Bronze Age caves in the neighborhood of Lake Neuchatel, came to the conclusion that about the tenth century before the present era the direction of the magnetic field differed only a little from its direction today, and yet his material was of an earlier date than the Greek and Etruscan vases examined by Folgheraiter. But checking on the method and the results from Folgheraiter, Mercanton found them perfect.
An ancient vase found by F.A. Forel in Boiron de Morges, on Lake Geneva, was broken and its pieces were scattered and lay in all directions; when assembled, they all showed one and the same magnetic orientation, which proves again that the magnetic field of the earth was unable to change the orientation originally acquired by the clay when fired and cooled in the kiln.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/6396/lightfall053.htm
“All the continents that experience rapid and massive extinctions of animal species (notably the Americas and Siberia) underwent massive changes in their latitudes...
“And coral has been found in Newfoundland, ferns, fossils, coal and fossilized tree-stumps have been found in Antarctica, water lilies and fossilized palm leaves ten and twelve feet long have been found in Spitzbergen, there is evidence that the swamp cypress flourished within 500 miles of the North Pole in the Miocene epoch, and more. The evidence is overwhelming that the Poles have not covered the same parts of the planet for the entire extent of our geological history.
“The consequences of the displacement are monumental. The earth’s crust ripples over its interior and the world is shaken by incredible quakes and floods. They sky appears to fall as continents groan and shift position. Deep in the ocean, earthquakes generate massive tidal waves which crash against the coastlines, flooding them. Some lands shift to warmer climes, while others, propelled into polar zones, suffer the direst of winters. Melting ice caps raise the ocean’s level higher and higher. All living things must adapt, migrate or die ...”