J. Barkal Geophysics Report 2023 (original) (raw)
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Archaeological Research in Asia, 2018
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey was conducted along 31 profiles in the ancient city of Ur. The results revealed a considerable number of anomalies interpreted as walls, both intact and demolished. These walls have a range of dimensions, varying from 0.75-7 m, and begin approximately 0.2 to 0.5 m below surface and continue down to various depths. The most important anomalies that have been distinguished are the arched gate and a grave at depths of about 0.3 m and 3.6 m respectively. The final processing of the results help to establish 3D models, which reveal the extensions and dimensions of subsurface archaeological features. Most of the walls have regular structure, effecting shapes such as rectangles and squares. These features can be related to a system of architecture that might include housing, civic buildings, and temples. In the future, these results may help to guide archaeologists and geophysicists to excavate and understand new portions of Ur, as well as other unexplored locations in Iraq and surrounding areas.
Studia Quaternaria, 2014
This paper presents the preliminary results of ground penetrating radar sounding applied at the desert archaeological site in Saqqara (Egypt). The survey was carried out in 2012 within a project realized by Institute of Archaeology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw and the Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw. One of the key aims of the research was testing the application of ground penetrating radar to non-invasive surveys of desert archaeological sites. Radargrams obtained for area of so called the Dry Moat channel surrounding the Step Pyramid complex have shown the geological structure of its filling. It comprises among others debris-sand conglomerate of diluval origin characterized by a significant content of the clay fraction and clay minerals. Such lithological content strongly attenuate the propagation of EM waves, restricting the depth range of the GPR survey. The conducted geophysical prospection west to the Step Pyramid in Saqqara has confirmed the high a...
This pa per pres ents the pre lim i nary re sults of ground pen e trat ing ra dar sound ing ap plied at the desert ar chae o log i cal site in Saqqara (Egypt). The sur vey was car ried out in 2012 within a pro ject re al ized by In sti tute of Ar chae ol ogy, Cardi nal Stefan Wyszyñski Uni ver sity in War saw and the Fac ulty of Ge ol ogy, Uni ver sity of War saw. One of the key aims of the re search was test ing the ap pli ca tion of ground pen e trat ing ra dar to non-in va sive sur veys of desert ar chae o log i cal sites. Radargrams ob tained for area of so called the Dry Moat chan nel sur round ing the Step Pyr a mid com plex have shown the geo log i cal struc ture of its fill ing. It com prises among oth ers de bris-sand con glom er ate of diluval or i gin char ac ter ized by a sig nif i cant con tent of the clay frac tion and clay min er als. Such lithological con tent strongly at ten uate the prop a ga tion of EM waves, re strict ing the depth range of the GPR sur vey. The con ducted geo phys i cal prospection west to the Step Pyr a mid in Saqqara has con firmed the high ap pli ca bil ity of the GPR method in non-in va sive stud ies of vast ar chi tec tural struc tures, such as the mon u men tal ditch sur round ing the
Journal of Applied Geophysics, 2009
A Valley of Mummies was discovered recently by an Egyptian team at Bahariya Oasis, located about 380 km west of the pyramids. Four tombs were excavated, and inside them were found one hundred and five mummies (105), many of them beautifully gilded. These mummies, many sumptuously decorated with religious scenes, are the very best Roman-Period mummies ever found in Egypt. These remains are around 2000 years old, but they are in remarkable condition. A Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) had proved successful in detecting the cavities in resistive soil in which the mummies were found. The GPR survey conducted near the earlier-discovered tombs at Kilo-6 El-Bahariya to Farafra Oasis road is the focus of this paper. The GPR survey was conducted using the SIR-2000 attached to a 200 MHz monostatic antenna. The two areas to be surveyed were selected by the archaeologists in situ. Area one was 40 m × 40 m and Area two was 30 m × 15 m. A grid pattern survey in one direction; with onemeter profile spacing was done to both areas. In addition, a focusing survey was undertaken over the entire Area one. In addition, twenty long GPR profiles were conducted in an attempt to determine the outer, expected limits of the burial area. After the data acquisition, Reflex software was used for data processing and presentation. The final results of the radar survey: in the form of 2D radar records, time slices and 3D block diagrams; were used to guide the archaeologists during the excavation process. The excavation processes have been completed by the archaeologists, and many tombs and mummies were discovered. It is worthy to mention that, the excavations and location of tombs and cavities matched strongly with the GPR results.
2002
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is the only near-surface geophysical tool that can make three-dimensional maps and images of the subsurface at archaeological sites. The technique involves transmitting radar waves from a surface antenna, reflecting them off buried discontinuities and measuring the elapsed time before the reflections are received again at the surface. When many linear transects of reflections are collected in a grid, with many reflections recorded every second, a three-dimensional "cube" of reflections derived from buried features and related stratigraphy are visible. At the Petra Garden site in Jordan, GPR maps and images were used as a guide to excavations. A number of buried buildings were discovered, as well as stratigraphic horizons that were later found to contain evidence of ancient gardens. Archaeological information from the test trenches whose locations were chosen using GPR maps was then used to calibrate the GPR reflections, effectively testing the accuracy of the method, which proved to be excellent. The GPR data were not only successful in guiding excavation strategy, but when integrated with information from the excavations, will be used to make detailed maps of many areas of the site that will likely remained buried.
Integrated Archaeological Modeling Based on Geomatics Techniques and Ground-Penetrating Radar
Remote Sensing
Archaeological sites have been subjected to preservation efforts due to their significant historical and cultural value, as well as their vulnerability. Several advanced digital imageries and modeling technologies have been proposed in the literature and adopted in practice to obtain accurate data required to manage and restore archaeological sites. This study proposes an integrated data collection and analysis methodology combining aerial and close-range photogrammetry, geographic information systems (GIS), and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technologies to capture essential geospatial and geophysical information for preserving archaeological sites. The integrated methodology was applied and demonstrated with data and information collected from the important archaeological site of Qaser Amra, which is an ancient castle located in the desert in Jordan. The proposed methodology generated various levels of details, including a 2.5-dimensional geo-reference model, a GIS vector site lay...
Springer Nature, 2023
Aswan is one of Egypt’s most attractive cities, with numerous of historical monuments. The current work in the Aghakhan archaeological site, is primarily focused on the acquisition, processing, and interpretation of the obtained geophysical data, for delineating any possible buried archaeological relics or tombs. For achieving this goal, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW) have been applied with minimal time, effort, and expense. First of all, GPR measurements were conducted over the archaeological sites with 26 profiles running from south to north and 16 profiles extend from west to east direction with profiles interval 2 m. This study provides a broad overview of the subsurface archaeological features. In additions, GPR data in the form of time-slice maps reveal several notable anomalies buried in Aghakhan site. Sequentially, to validate the results, the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave (MASW) technique is applied; eight profiles were conducted in the same location of the GPR’s profiles. Indeed, the integration and comparison between the GPR’s and MASW’s profiles is commonly utilized to complete the image, and it revealed successfully a range of probable archaeological features and structures buried at a depth of around 2–3 m, which may be interpreted as tombs and ancient structure walls.
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013
a b s t r a c t ALOS/PALSAR L-band full polarimetric data have been used to detect and characterize a well-defined geometric target hidden under sand deposits in the Western Desert of Egypt. This buried object is rectangular in shape with very straight boundaries and encloses an area of 500 m 2 . Inside the rectangular area there is a perfectly circular feature of approximately 53 m 2 area. High and medium resolution optical satellite images (WorldView-2, ALOS/AVNIR-2) and field investigation confirm that the topography of the study area is relatively flat and completely covered by dry sand. The electromagnetic wave scattering behavior of the detected buried object was measured by decomposing the scattering matrix of ALOS/ PALSAR full polarimetric data into Entropy-Alpha (H/a) and Freeman and Durden decompositions. Furthermore, a combination of unsupervised classification algorithms and Constant False-Alarm Rate (CFAR) edge detection was performed on the polarimetric data which revealed a well-defined geometric shape with straight borders. These borders have high a angles with low entropy, which physically means double bounce scattering mechanism with low randomness and is very similar to that of an urban scatterer, indicating that the detected target might be a buried wall-like foundation of a man-made structure. Moreover, 28 ground penetrating radar (GPR) profiles were acquired using a 270 MHz shielded antenna to validate the satellite radar remote sensing results. The GPR profiles reveal very clear hyperbolic shapes at 1.5 m depth with one of them showing a large hyperbolic shape-like structure, which might indicate the presence of a buried foundation. Thus the site might have significance to archaeological studies of the Western Desert, particularly previous human occupation and the sources of water for such habitation.
University of Baghdad, 2020
Iraq is one of the countries that contain many important archaeological sites and manifestations of varied cultural heritage belonging to ancient civilizations. Several archaeological sites and cultural heritage are disappeared as a result of neglect, climate influences and manufactured interventions. In this study, two different radar data were used to image the subsurface with different scales, namely synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image and ground penetrating radar (GPR) data. SAR image was used to extract information regarding potential archaeological remains in Ukhaidir site, southwest of Karbala city. ALOS PALSAR (L-band) image was used to identify and detect the ground anomalies due to the presence of near-surface archaeological structures. Advanced image processing and classification were applied depending on the intensity bands (HH and HV) including texture analysis by application of the Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrices (GLCM) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to nominate potential archaeological sites. The results led to identifying 15 sites, eight of them were excluded because they were not covered and clearly visible in the recent high-resolution image and in the field observation, which appears as hills containing scattered stone remains and brick walls. Seven sites (namely P1 to P7) nominated as potential archaeological remains, which were completely covered with loose sand, and its areas are ranging between 873-3774 km2 approximately. Potentially, they might be represented remains of structures for dwelling house or rooms were used by communities living near the fortress. 2D GPR survey were conducted at two sites (sites A and B) near the fortress using a 250 MHz shielded antenna to verify the results of ALOS imagery and historical information, and to characterize and depict the potential subsurface of the buried objects. Site A was in front of the fortress by a few meters included two parallel profiles with a distance of five meters separates between the profiles and 100 m length of each profile. While site B (Site P2) located about 155 m northeast, the fortress included nine parallel GPR profiles with 42.5 m length of each profile and one-meter distance between the profiles, which already covered an area of 8 x 42.5 m (340 m2). The results of 2D GPR profiles in site A showed four anomalies in the shallow part caused by energy attenuation. Three of them are probably associated with demolished walls of archaeological structures. While the greater anomalies probably associated with Karez (water canal). The results of 2D GPR profiles in site B revealed a number of anomalies interpreted as demolished walls appeared on shallow depths begin approximately 0.15 to 0.3 m below surface, continue down to various depths, and have a width ranging from 0.5-5 m. One of the important anomalies that have been distinguished is the fence (external wall) at a depth of about 0.2 m and around 7 m width. GPR attribute analysis were used including the instantaneous phase, RMS amplitude, and sweetness attributes to improve the interpretation and achieve the best results. The results led to the identification of a number of anomalies; six were interpreted to be ancient walls, while the others were associated with Karez and fence. RMS amplitude and sweetness attributes successfully determined the boundaries and the horizontal continuity of the ancient walls, but RMS amplitude was more accurate. While the instantaneous phase highlighted the high contrast features of the buried structures and failed to specify the targets that have an angle equal or close to the soil phase angle. The anomalies in the site A appeared with high amplitudes than the anomalies of site B. This is due to the expected archaeological structures in the site A probably constructed from stone, while the structures of site B was built with clay brick.