Geoarchaeological evaluation of ground penetrating radar and magnetometry surveys at the Iron Age burial mound Rom in Norway

Abstract

Following magnetometry and ground penetrating radar surveys, a geoarchaeological field evaluation was carried out at the Iron Age burial mound of Rom in Slagendalen, Vestfold County, Norway, in order to assess the accuracy of the geophysical data interpretation and to investigate specific questions that have arisen during data interpretation. The evaluation was conducted within the framework of an archaeological excavation campaign in 2013, which enabled direct access to the subsurface materials. The archaeological stratification was recorded by laser scanning using a three‐dimensional (3D) single‐surface approach, permitting a virtual reconstruction of the excavated part of the mound and facilitating the comparison between excavation and prospection data. Selected sediment sequences were targeted with in situ and laboratory‐based measurements for correlation purposes, including magnetic susceptibility, electrical conductivity and water content measurements. Here we present the methodological approach and the results of the geophysical prospection surveys, followed by a geoarchaeological evaluation and a discussion of the impact on the overall archaeological investigation.

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

“…As is evident from this survey and others elsewhere (e.g., Schneidhofer et al 2016), GPR data can provide valuable information on environmental setting, both past and present, and allows for a broader contextual interpretation of the site. At Furulund, the data shows that the church site is located atop a series of now backfilled palaeochannels and flood deposits in an area that was once more densely forested than it appears today.…”

“…This can largely be attributed to the introduction of the concept of high-resolution surveys, that is, surveys with a crossline resolution of 25 cm or less. Its use has generally been confined to prehistoric grave mounds (Trinks, Gansum & Hinterleitner 2010;Gustavsen 2014: 262-264;Schneidhofer et al 2017), although medieval and later graveyards have also been investigated (e.g., Solli & Stamnes 2013;Davis et al 2000).…”

New historical data on the Teutonic Order crusades in Prussia: geophysical and archaeological research into an earth‐and‐timber stronghold and city of the 1230s at Starogród, northern‐central Poland

“…But they can also record other elements of former industrial infrastructure (Scollar, Tabbagh, Hesse, & Herzog, ; Linford, ; Wroniecki & Jaworski, , 170ff. ; see also Schneidhofer et al, , 426). Used for the first time in archaeological research in Great Britain (Aitken, ; Herbich, ), it was used relatively early in Poland – as early as the 1960s (i.e.…”

Geophysical survey of the Iberian site (seventh–third centuries bc) of Masies de Sant Miquel (Catalonia, Spain). Interpretative challenges of geophysical data of an Iberian town

“…A group of universities and research institutions have led the formation of that corpus and there has also been a remarkable commitment on the part of several private contractors in publishing their research studies (e.g. Benech, ; Dalan & Bevan, ; De Smedt et al, ; Fassbinder, ; Gaffney, Gater, Linford, Gaffney, & White, ; Linford, ; Linford & Canti, ; Meyer, Ullrich, & Barlieb, ; Neal, ; Neubauer & Eder‐Hinterleitner, ; Neubauer, Eder‐Hinterleitner, Seren, & Melichar, ; Nishimura & Goodman, ; Piro, Mauriello, & Cammarano, ; Sala, Principal, Olmos, Tamba, & García, ; Schneidhofer et al, ; Trinks et al, ; Vermeulen, Corsi, & De Dapper, ).…”