We have compared the normalized archaeomagnetic intensity curves of Finland and Bulgaria during the last 2000 years. The curves reveal similarities in their overall shapes but differences in their amplitudes and phases. The Finnish curve reaches the maximum intensity at AD 500, which is 130 years earlier than in Bulgaria. This discrepancy can be assigned to sparcity in the Finnish data or to dating errors. The Finnish latitude-normalized intensities are systematically much higher than the corresponding Bulgarian ones from 0 BC to AD 1550. We provide evidences that these differences are not caused by methodological problems in determining the ancient field intensity, but rather suggests that the non-dipole sources have enhanced the field at high latitudes (Finland). This enhancing effect of the non-dipole field is demonstrated by the present Earth's magnetic field (IGRF 1990), which shows that considerable amplitude and phase differences can be produced in the latitude-normalized intensity curves by the non-dipole field. However, the content of the non-dipole field during the interval from 0 BC - AD 1550 has been different from the present.