Discovery of a New Palatial Complex in Tell el-Dab’a in the Delta: Geophysical Survey and Preliminary Archaeological Verification, in: Z. Hawass, J. Richards, The Archaeology and Art of Ancient Egypt, essays in Honor of David B. O’Connor, Cairo 2006, 119-126 (original) (raw)
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Magnetometer surveys carried out as part of the al-Khashbah Archaeological Project have revealed the plan of two monumental buildings dating to the third millennium BC as well as the surrounding landscape. Evidence from excavations confirms that this complex can be dated to the Hafit period, marking it as an important site for the development of social complexity in the interior of northern Oman. The results of two seasons of magnetometer surveys, conducted in 2015 and 2017, are instructive in two major ways. The fused magnetograms are a record of the prehistoric cultural landscape immediately surrounding Building I and Building XI. The two surveys provide a direct comparison of two different geophysical methods of magnetometer survey: fluxgate gradiometry (2015 survey) and total field magnetometry (2017 survey), which can aid analysis of survey results. The surveys took place near the geomagnetic equator where the shallow inclination of the Earth’s magnetic field can make archaeological interpretation of magnetic anomalies rather complex.
Detailed Magnetic Survey at Dahshour Archeological sites Southwest Cairo, Egypt
NRIAG J. Astronomy and Geophysics (Elsevier), 2, 1, 175-183., 2013
Dahshour area has recently shown a great potential of archeological findings. This was remarkable from the latest discovery of the causeway and the mortuary temple of the Pyramid of Amenemhat III using geophysical data. The main objective of the present work is to locate the buried archeological remains in the area of Dahshour, Southwest Cairo using magnetic survey for shallow investigations. Land magnetic data is acquired using proton magnetometer (two sensors) with a sensor separation of 0.8 m; i.e. gradiometer survey. The study area is located nearby the two known pyramids of Dahshour. The field data is processed and analyzed using Oasis Montaj Geosoftä software.
Magnetic Tracing at Abu Sir (Land of Forgotten Pyramids), Northern Egypt
An integrated magnetic study was conducted at Abu Sir, a locality in northern Egypt also known as the " Land of the Forgotten Pyramids. " Two magnetic tools were applied over an area of 25,600 m 2 in order to trace and detect hidden archaeological features near the Temple of the Sun. The acquisition of the magnetic data was initiated by measuring the magnetic susceptibility of the topsoil samples collected within the entire study area. This was followed by a gradiometer survey to measure the vertical gradient of the geomagnetic field over a restricted area of 14,400 m 2. The magnetic susceptibility results are characterized by high values in the middle of the study area and a small extension of high values to the southwest. This pattern may indicate the presence of ritual monuments. The magnetic susceptibility measurements identified regions of interest to be targeted during the gradiometer survey. The gradiometer results revealed the existence of numerous archaeological features of different shapes and sizes composed of mud bricks. These features may represent tombs, burial rooms, and dissected walls, and all of them probably belong to the 5th Dynasty of pharaohs. The depth of the expected buried archaeological features was estimated from the gradiometer results and is about 1.2 m for deep features and 0.42 m for shallow features.
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bāt al-Khutm and al-Ayn in Oman (fig. 1) represents one of the most complete and well preserved ensembles of settlements and necropolises from the 3rd millennium BC with the two main periods: Hafi t (ca. 3100–2700 BC) and Umm an-Nar (ca. 2700–2000 BC). Started with the Hafi t period settled agricultural villages occurred in this arid climate with farming, irrigation systems, metallurgy, ceramics and necropolises (tombs and towers). Exploring the site of Bāt by excavations commenced in the 1970s (e.g. Frifelt 1976, 57–76). In 2004, a German team started the “Bāt Research & Restoration Project” in Bāt and al-Ayn (Böhme et al. 2008). Current studies on the Early Bronze Age archaeology have a broad regional focus in which the relationships between sites and landscape regions are of key interest (projects to name like one by C. P. Thornton & C. Schmidt (Thornton, Schmidt 2015, 155–163) or by C. Schmidt (Schmidt, Döpper 2017b, 121–122). The applied methods for landscape archaeology concentrate mainly on analyzing satellite images, field work, limited size excavations (e. g. for tombs, house structures), and use of GIS technologies. A recent geoarchaeological study of the Wadi Sharsah valley in Bāt combined the work of geomorphologists, micromorphologists, archaeobotanists and malacologists (Desruelles et al. 2016, 52). One rarely applied prospection method in Oman is caesium magnetometry in duo-sensor-confi guration, which is in particular suited for palaegeographic and geoarchaeological modelling. In our opinion this method could substantially contribute to solve archaeological questions and should be more consistently applied. This will be illustrated by two examples, the magnetometry from 2006 at Bāt and from 2017 at Al-Khashbah.
GEOPHYSICAL INVESTIGATION AT TELL EL-DABAA ʺAVARISʺ ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE
A. I. Taha, G. El - Qady, M. A. Metwaly, U. Massoud, 2011
Tell El-Dabaa is one of the important archaeological sites in the Eastern part of the Nile Delta. It is located at about 7 km north of Faqous city, Sharqiya governorate, Egypt. The ancient name of El-Dabaa area was Avaris, which had been considered as the main capital of Hyksos (Dynasty XV) from 1650 to 1542 B.C. The whole area was covered by the deltaic deposits during the successive flood events along Nile Delta. Geomagnetic and geoelectric surveys have been carried out in order to outline the subsurface archaeological remains in this area. The target area, which is about 10000 m 2 , was surveyed in grid pattern each of 20x 10 m for magnetic survey and 20 × 20 m for geoelectri-cal resistance survey. Integrated results of the magnetic and geoelectric data analysis have succeeded in delineating a clear subsurface picture of archaeological remains. The results show many linear anomalies, which may represent buried walls, as well as some small archaeological remains detached from the main walls. Also, we could notice some rectangular features with different sizes, which might be described as remains of different archaeological buildings. Besides, some circular structures with small size obtained and could be interpreted as columns foundations.