Palaeomagnetic work on Etna was begun by the late Professor R. Chevallier (1925). His purpose was to determine the history of the geomagnetic field direction at Etna during the past several centuries, using lavas of known date which had become permanently magnetized at the time of cooling. During the decade 1960 to 1970, Tanguy (Aitken, Fleming, Doell & Tanguy 1968; Tanguy 1970) re-examined the lavas that Chevallier had worked on, plus certain additional lavas. His researches reach in continuous fashion back to the lava of 1381.