Archaeological Prospection最新文献

Like many buildings of historical importance, Scotland's royal abbey of Dunfermline, Fife, has undergone frequent changes in its structure from its initial establishment through its growth under royal favour, partial destruction inspired by religious reformation followed by a period of use as a relatively open access site up until the construction of the present Georgian Abbey Church over the footings of the destroyed medieval choir. As a result of the site's chequered history over ten centuries, it was initially thought that Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey would not prove useful in providing an insight into the wealth of missing information from its medieval past. From the perspective of the Abbey's curators, the lack of visible evidence of its rich past could be explained but not illustrated to researchers or other visitors. Further considerations included that it would be impossible to excavate in order to confirm the survey data as the current Abbey Church is in use as a parish church, that space available for survey was limited due to areas of fixed pews, and the possible effects of groundwater and pitch on transmission velocity and signal attenuation. This project used close line spacing and two frequencies of antenna to optimise target definition and detection depth of the extant remains using GPR. These data were then compared with a wide range of historical sources and the known layout of comparable Benedictine abbey choirs. It has proved possible to establish the outline and extent of the medieval choir, to retrieve evidence of some of the elite burials, parts of the interior layout and to partially define which subsurface anomalies are potentially of medieval date. Not every interpretation carries the same degree of certainty, but future historical research may assist with this. The Abbey Church and partner Historic Environment Scotland are making use of the GPR data for illustration of the site's historical importance to its many visitors.

This study presents the results, interpretations and recommendations of close-order magnetometer surveys of the early Spanish Emanuel Point (EP) shipwrecks in Pensacola, Florida. The vessels were a part of the Tristán de Luna expedition and wrecked during a hurricane in 1559. These wrecks were likely salvaged to some extent, and taphonomic processes have reduced their concentrations of iron. When compared with the magnetic anomalies associated with other colonial shipwrecks, the EP shipwrecks have low intensities and extents and exhibit distinct morphologies. Because of these unique characteristics, existing guidelines and recommendations for locating shipwrecks with magnetometers are problematic. Based on the observed data, we present new recommendations for reconnaissance surveys with the intent of locating similar shipwrecks or when similar shipwrecks might be encountered. These recommendations include survey lane spacing of 10 m or less, maintaining the sensor at low altitudes and including multicomponent anomalies in selection criteria for visual identification. Although this study focuses on investigations in North America, it has broader implications for shipwreck reconnaissance around the world.

In this article, we present a newly developed, GIS-integrated, open-source tool for the automatic segmentation, vectorization and statistical analysis of large-scale geomagnetic data (https://github.com/dainst/AnomalyExtractor). We argue that the vectorization of survey results has many benefits in terms of analyses and interpretation. Following the rapid advancements in data generation and processing, the huge datasets created by modern geophysical surveys make attempts of manual vectorization impractical. Based on approaches used in the object-based image analyses of huge satellite- or airborne-generated datasets, the Cultural Heritage Management (CHM) research group of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) has developed a lightweight script, which can be applied to such datasets to allow further analyses and aid interpretation.

This article employs an ethnoarchaeological approach to mobility focusing on pastoral activities in the Andean region of the Northern Calchaquí Valley (Salta, Argentina). Recent research in the area presents archaeological evidence that supports the existence of lifeways based on integrated agropastoral activity strengthening at the start of the Late Period (around 1000 BP). These studies have identified a characteristic spatial pattern of agricultural and pastoral structures. This pattern consists of mixed assemblages of structures in areas near the piedmont and watercourses and monospecific aggregates of corrals on the higher slopes matching areas of naturally suitable grazing pastures. This evidence has generated interest towards understanding how everyday tasks, which involve the movement of people and animals, contributed to shaping this pattern. In providing an analytical framework for the study of the archaeological landscape, this article examines present-day mobility via an ethnographic approach, employing time geography methods for recording and coding pastoral circulation. This approach allowed us to observe how environmental and social variables influenced mobility strategies by which people coordinated their daily tasks involving agricultural and pastoral activities, as well as their seasonal variations. Based in this approach, several variables (environmental factors and restrictors related to land cover, slopes, altitude and hydrology) and parameters (space time requirements for activities) have been defined in order to perform GIS modelling of mobility (circuits and accessibility). Generated models allowed us to observe consistency between the temporal budgets involved in activities and the spatial patterns of related structures. By modelling hypothetical circuits empirically grounded in ethnographic work, the present article contributes to building an analytical framework for studying the archaeological landscape and agropastoral materiality in Andean valley environments of northwestern Argentina over the past millennium.

Magnetic data inversion excels in identifying surface magnetic anomalies, yet it lacks crucial depth information. On the other hand, direct current resistivity (DC resistivity) measurements can provide more detailed depth information with high vertical resolution. This study focuses on the joint inversion DC resistivity and magnetic data, which combines complementary information to establish a more robust geological model. This method addresses the inconsistencies inherent in separate inversions, thereby enhancing the resolution, stability and interpretability of geological features. We develop a novel joint inversion cost function for DC resistivity and magnetic data. This cost function leverages a model parameter transformation function to bridge the significant discrepancies between resistivity and magnetic susceptibility, thereby offering practical advantages in enhancing the inversion model's accuracy. By incorporating cross-gradient and fuzzy C-means (FCM) clustering, we enhance the coupling between inversion parameters and further improve the efficacy of joint inversion. Theoretical and field data inversion results demonstrate that the hybrid constraints, combining cross-gradient and FCM clustering, notably enhance the inversion performance of the magnetic susceptibility model. This method is capable of effectively recovering boundary anomalies and physical property values, which also resolves the inconsistencies that are often encountered in separate inversions.

This article focuses on the geophysical survey results from the Mariano Miró site (Chapaleufú, La Pampa, Argentina). In 1901, a settlement composed of tenant settlers existed at this location. Although the town was ephemeral, it had basic services such as blacksmiths, warehouses, hotels, hairdressers and a population of approximately 500 inhabitants. Post-abandonment, which began in 1911, the remains of the settlement were buried. Nowadays, the field under the site is used for soybean cultivation. Archaeological research at the site began in 2011, applying a fieldwork method focusing on large areas, taphonomic analysis and spatial distribution of archaeological materials. However, the detection of possible below-surface constructions remained pending. Therefore, two combined geophysical methods were employed to optimize the identification of anomalous sectors with possible buried remains. The OhmMapper technique generated a soil map by contrasting electrical resistivity, while we employed a Gradiometer to measure remnant magnetism in subsurface materials. OhmMapper measurements revealed resistive anomalies ranging from 410 to 6000 Ω. They were found in the central and western sectors of the site and possibly corresponded to the remains of construction materials. Magnetic prospecting indicated very weak anomalies, between −1 and 1.3 nT, which could be linked to accumulations of thermoaltered materials in which the signal was enhanced (tiles, bricks or pottery remains). Distributional data from the archaeological record and resistivity and magnetic anomalies were positively correlated. However, in other sectors of the site, a direct correlation between the geophysical and archaeological data has not yet been verified in the field, given the differences in accuracy between the GPS navigator and the differential GPS, used to identify the topographic points and the sectors to be excavated.

The archaeological research carried out at Irulegi, a hilltop site on the namesake mountain (Aranguren Valley, Navarre, Spain), has revealed one of the most important examples of fortified protohistoric settlements in the western Pyrenees, characterized by its long evolution and the exceptional preservation of its remains. This site has been systematically explored using a range of methods, both geophysical and direct, including GPR, ERT and magnetic prospection, geoarchaeological coring, chemostratigraphic analysis and verification test pits, which have finally indicated the most suitable areas for excavations. The surveys carried out suggest that the settlement was initially established for defensive purposes and to exert control over the surrounding territory during the Middle to Late Bronze Age, approximately between the 15th and 11th centuries bc. The site remained occupied throughout the Iron Age until the first third of the 1st century bc, when it was abandoned following an assault by Roman forces in the context of the Sertorian Wars. The continuity of the archaeological record observed in the direct prospection, coupled with the remarkable quality and preservation of the architectural and archaeological evidence observed in the geophysical survey, outlines Irulegi as a key site for understanding the socioeconomic development of protohistoric populations in this region and could also offer insights applicable to other fortified Iron Age settlements in this or other regions of southwestern Europe.