Geophysical survey of a Hellenistic Sanctuary in Central Italy, in «Newsletter of the International Society for Archaeological Prospection» 58 (2019), pp. 3-6. (original) (raw)

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCHES IN THE ROMAN VILLA DEL CASALE (PIAZZA ARMERINA, SICILY)

Geophysical project has been conceived to get information on topics connected to the following problems: − Deep failures in the southern part of the “Ambulatory of the Big Game Hunt”; − Presence of underground voids connected to the failure areas; − Reconstruction of natural and artificial (both ancient and recent) buried waterlines; − Recognition of the age and relative extension of various masonry walls and their geophysical characterization

Geophysical prospecting in archaeology: investigations in Santa Venera, south suburb of Poseidonia-Paestum, Campania, southern Italy

Journal of Geophysics and Engineering, 2011

This paper is the result of a joint work between geophysicists and archaeologists in which the authors have used geophysical techniques to investigate the Greek and Roman settlement of Paestum, southern Italy for preventive archaeological research (commonly termed 'rescue archaeology') on an area of the ancient settlement affected by new building work and infrastructure. Starting from a background analysis of the archaeological and geological features of the site, an integrated geophysical approach based on magnetic, GPR and geoelectrical surveys was carried out on the Santa Venera area, a site selected to build a car parking. High-density and high-resolution cross-correlated geophysical surveys were carried out in different parts of the area to better resolve the structures. Systematic excavations confirmed the clues suggested by geophysical prospecting about the presence of archaeological remains such as walls, canals and tombs. By the use of non-destructive geophysical techniques a twofold aim was reached: to properly plan the building of the infrastructure and preserve the ancient artefacts according to the advanced European guidelines on the protection of archaeological heritage.

Geophysical Survey and Archaeological Data at Masseria Grasso (Benevento, Italy)

The use of geophysical methods in metrology is a significant tool within the wide research topic of landscape archaeology context. Since 2011, the Ancient Appia Landscapes Project aims to recognize dynamics, shapes and layout of the ancient settlement located along the Appia road east of Benevento, and cyclical elements and human activities that influenced the choice of landscapes. The integration of geophysical data with an archaeological infra-site analysis allowed us to investigate the area of Masseria Grasso, about 6 km from Benevento (Campania region, Italy). In this framework, an archaeogeophysical approach (Geomagnetic and Ground Penetrating Radar) was adopted for detecting anomalies potentially correlated with buried archaeological evidences. The geomagnetic results have given a wide knowledge of buried features in a large survey highlighting significant anomalies associated with the presence of buildings, roads and open spaces. These geophysi-cal results permitted us to define the first archaeological excavations and, successively, a detailed Ground Penetrating Radar approach has been provided highlighting the rooms and paved spaces. The overlap between archaeological dataset and geophysical surveys has also allowed recognizing the path of the ancient Appia road near the city of Benevento and hypothesize the settlement organization of the investigated area, which has been identified with the ancient Nuceriola.

First geophysical results in the Archeological sites of Θούρια (Péloponnèse, Hellas) and Sibari-Thurii (southern Italy)

Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, 2018

High resolution techniques for data acquisition and processing procedures are increasingly applied in near-surface geophysics for archaeology. In this paper we present the preliminary results of two geophysical measurements campaigns aimed to the investigation of buried remains in the archaeological sites of Θουρία (Péloponnèse, Hellas) and Sibari (Southern Italy). In the first field survey the geophysical approach involved the integrated application of the geoelectrical and magnetic methods and an innovative tomographic analysis for the inversion of both resistivity and magnetic data. In the second case, we carried out high resolution magnetic measurements, interpreted by means of the use of an appropriate filtering procedure. The applied data inversion allows us to provide reliable space patterns of the most probable specific target boundaries, improving the information quality of geophysical methods. The results obtained at this early stage of data processing confirm some archaeo...

Noninvasive geophysical integrated survey at Madonna del Giglio (Sabine necropolis, Magliano Sabina, Latium, Central Italy)

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2020

Nondestructive geophysical methods are increasingly used for the investigation of archaeological sites, where a detailed physical and geometrical reconstruction of structures is required in order to explore and document the presence of subsurface structures related to cultural heritage. The aim of this work was to detect buried features in an unexplored area of the Sabine necropolis (VII-IV century B.C.) called Madonna del Giglio (Latium, Central Italy). For the surveys, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and fluxgate gradiometry methods have been employed. We applied time slice techniques for GPR data and 2D normalized crosscorrelation on magnetic data in order to obtain a planimetric view at different depths of anomalous bodies. The results obtained with GPR were confirmed by those taken employing fluxgate gradiometry. Furthermore, it should be stressed that the anomalies detected by the GPR are positioned almost on the limit of the plateau of Madonna del Giglio and downhill, toward the residential area of Magliano Sabina, where, in 1992, archaeological excavations revealed the presence of the necropolis, highlighting an extremely unclear stratigraphic situation. The integrated noninvasive geophysical proposed in this study was extremely useful for tracing the complex archaeological framework in order to pursuit cultural heritage preservation and valorization.