Techniques

From www.archaeogeophysics.org

The appropriate geophysical techniques that should be employed in an archaeological investigation will vary from location to location. Each technique has strengths and constraints that make it more or less effective in detecting sub-surface features depending on the conditions of the environment associated with the archaeological investigation. The purpose of this section is to explain exactly what each technique measures, the strengths and weaknesses of each technique, and the conditions which allow the technique to be most useful.

• Basic Remote Sensing provides introductory information about remote sensing in archaeology.
• Photogrammetry discusses various forms of remote sensing through aerial photography, such as balloon, satellite, thermal, and radar imagery.
  • Organic Matter
  • Radar and Thermal Systems
• Ideal Conditions for Geophysics include level ground, open fields, short mowed grass, and few impediments to movement (trees, rocks, buildings).
  • Benefits of Surveying Large Contiguous Areas
  • Geophysical Surveying
    • Setting Up a Grid
    • Use of Grids in Geophysical Survey

• Ground-Penetrating Radar produces large scale, high resolution structural information about subsurface deposits.

• Magnetometry generates compositional information about the subsurface and near surface deposits.
  • Proton Magnetometry

• Resistivity measures how strongly the soil opposes the flow of electric current.

• Conductivity is basically the inverse of resistivity. It measures the ability of the soil to conduct electricity.

• Global Positioning System (GPS) is a navigational system that utilizes the position of orbiting satellites in space to calculate the position of a global positioning receiver.

---