Delineating an Unmarked Graveyard by High-Resolution GPR and pXRF Prospection: The Medieval Church Site of Furulund in Norway

Abstract

The lack of accurate locational information on abandoned medieval and later graveyards constitutes a considerable challenge to national and local bodies tasked with their protection and management. These sites are increasingly in danger of destruction due to climatic changes, intensified farming schemes or developmental encroachment, and there is an ever-growing need to develop nonintrusive methods to ensure their detection and delineation so that they can be protected. In 2014, the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage received alarming information on the worsening state of the medieval church site at Furulund, in the southeast of the country. A successful, cost-effective campaign using high-resolution, large-scale georadar surveys in conjunction with geochemical mapping using portable XRF was undertaken in order to delineate and characterise the graveyard so that remedial actions could be initiated and the graveyard protected. Whilst the interpretations are unique to the site, the method combination has the potential to effectively resolve detection and protection of other, similar sites in Norway and beyond.

Ground‐penetrating radar investigations of the Asaviec 2 archaeological site, Northern Belarus

“…A close range of frequencies (50–200 MHz) was also applied for a similar purpose to map the underlying relief of the peat body at the North Ballachulish Moss in England (Clarke et al, 1999). In general, 500 MHz is a frequency that is commonly used for archaeological goals (e.g., Armstrong et al, 2019; Koivisto et al, 2018), along with a 400 MHz antenna (e.g., Cannell et al, 2018; Milton, 2018), as archaeological targets are usually located close to the surface. In our case, the 500 MHz antenna could also be appropriate due to the relatively shallow underlying topography of the peat layer (0.7–1.9 m, explained above).…”

Kartlegging av middelalderske kirkesteder i Norge med Georadar:

“…100 m vest for elva Glomma. Flaten utgjør et naturlig dike formet av elvas gang, og undergrunnen består av elveavsetninger av silt og sandholdig silt (Cannell 2015). Kirkestedets alder er usikker, men en klebersteinsdøpefont fra perioden 1175-1250 skal opprinnelig stamme fra Furulund annekskirke.…”

Mapping an archaeological site: Interpreting portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) soil analysis at Boroughgate, Skelton, UK

“…Phosphorus is a minor component of many soil types by human occupation can raise phosphorus concentrations to major component levels over an extensive burial period (Linderholm, 2010;Rapp and Hill, 1999, p. 122). Phosphorus can identify human activity areas and manuring practices (Nielsen and Kristiansen, 2014;Migliavacca et al, 2013), cultural features (Gall, 2012), delimit burial zones in graveyards (Cannell et al, 2018), and show the intensity of previous human activities (Holliday and Gartner, 2007). Some forms of phosphorus also have limited mobility compared to other elements when in acidic soils such as at Boroughgate (Linderholm, 2010), which makes phosphorus essential for spatial archaeological research by delimiting boundaries of several anthropogenic activities.…”