UNDERSTANDING THE EARLY THERMAL HISTORIES OF SMALL BODIES (ASTEROIDS) FORMS AN IMPORTANT PART OF INFERRING THE INITIAL STAGES OF SOLAR SYSTEM EVOLUTION. RECENTLY IT HAS BECOME CLEAR THAT SOME ASTEROIDS - THOSE WHICH UNDERWENT DIFFERENTIATION - ALSO GENERATED EARLY DYNAMOS. THE AIM OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO INVESTIGATE A NOVEL MECHANISM FOR GENERATING ASTEROID DYNAMOS. THIS MECHANISM MAKES PREDICTIONS FOR ASTEROID DYNAMO CHARACTERISTICS WHICH DIFFER FROM PREVIOUS MODELS IN TERMS OF DYNAMO STRENGTH DURATION AND TEMPORAL VARIABILITY. AS SUCH IT IS TESTABLE WITH EXISTING METEORITE SAMPLES AND POTENTIALLY WITH FUTURE SPACECRAFT MISSION OBSERVATIONS (E.G. PSYCHE). WE WILL FOCUS ON ASTEROID PARENT BODIES WHICH ARE PRIMARILY METALLIC AND WHICH AFTER DIFFERENTIATING SOLIDIFIED FROM THE OUTSIDE IN. THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS SITUATION IS THAT THE OUTER SOLID IRON CRUST CAN RECORD MAGNETIC FIELDS WHICH ARE BEING GENERATED BY DYNAMO ACTIVITY IN THE STILL-MOLTEN INTERIOR. ALTHOUGH SEVERAL MODES OF SOLIDIFICATION ARE POSSIBLE WE WILL CONCENTRATE ON THE SITUATION IN WHICH THE DENSE CRUST UNDERGOES DELAMINATION WITH SECTIONS OF THE CRUST SINKING AS DISCRETE BLOBS (DIAPIRS). SUCH A MECHANISM HAS NOT BEEN CONSIDERED HITHERTO. WE WILL CARRY OUT AN ANALYTICAL TREATMENT OF THIS SITUATION. OUR OBJECTIVES ARE TO UNDERSTAND HOW THE MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH AND DURATION DEPTH AND TIME OF ACQUISITION OF MAGNETIZATION AND THE ASSOCIATED CRUSTAL COOLING RATE VARY AS A FUNCTION OF CONTROL PARAMETERS SUCH AS PARENT BODY SIZE INITIAL SULPHUR CONTENT AND THICKNESS OF THE OVERLYING MANTLE. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS WORK IS THAT IT MAKES QUITE DIFFERENT PREDICTIONS TO EXISTING THEORIES: IN PARTICULAR STRONG MAGNETIC FIELDS OF BRIEF DURATION AND RAPID ASTEROID SOLIDIFICATION WITH HIGH COOLING RATES ARE PREDICTED. MEASUREMENTS OF METEORITE CHARACTERISTICS CAN THUS DISCRIMINATE BETWEEN THE THEORIES. FURTHERMORE WE ARGUE THAT FOR ASTEROIDS LACKING A SILICATE MANTLE A CONVENTIONAL THERMALLYDRIVEN DYNAMO IS UNLIKELY TO OPERATE. OUR PROPOSED DELAMINATION MECHANISM PROVIDES ONE POSSIBLE WAY TO EXPLAIN HOW SUCH BODIES STILL ACQUIRED A REMANENT MAGNETIZATION. COOLING SOLIDIFICATION AND ELEMENTAL PARTITIONING WITHIN METEORITE PARENT BODIES IS A CENTRAL ASPECT OF OUR PROPOSED WORK. AS SUCH IT IS RELEVANT TO THE EMERGING WORLDS THEME ``EARLY THERMAL AND CHEMICAL PROCESSES OCCURRING ON SMALL BODIES REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR WHEN THEY DIFFERENTIATED."