Geophysical prospection at Floridablanca archaeological site, San Julian Bay, Argentina

Abstract

We present the application of three geophysical methodsöground-penetrating radar, resistivity and electromagnetic inductionöto the Floridablanca archaeological site at San Julia¤ n Bay, Argentina. The objective of the prospection was to detect buried archaeological structuresömostly adobe wallsöto delimit these structures, tofindtheircharacteristicsandto study thepresence oftilesattributable to roof collapse within the zone of interest. Profiles were carried out in this zone and outside it to compare results. A periodic distribution of low-contrast shallow anomalies was found that indicated the presence of different types of buried walls within the zone. Also the absence of tile accumulations could be determined. These results provided the archaeologists with useful information to design a more efficient excavation plan

Ground-penetrating radar and geo-electrical simulations of data from the Floridablanca archaeological site

“…In both cases, the blocks have a relative permittivity equal to 2 and conductivity equal to 0.003 S m À1 . The values of the conductivities correspond to those of Lascano et al (2003) and the values of the permitivities can be found in Daniels (1996) and Perez Gracia et al (2000).…”

“…The model is obtained from the information provided by the inversion of the geoelectrical profiles (Lascano et al, 2003): a sedimentary layer of 85 cm thickness, formed by clayed sand with relative permittivity equal to 4 and conductivity equal to 0.02 S m À1 , and below it, a layer of wet clay with relative permittivity equal to 10 and conductivity equal to 0.1 S m À1 . The adobe walls are embedded in the sedimentary layer at a depth of 12 cm and the height of these walls is 60 cm.…”

“…Our study focused on two sectors of the site: North Wing I (NWI) and South Wing II (SWII; see Lascano et al (2003), figure 3 and table 1 for a map of the site). According to the historical investigations, these sectors should correspond to settlers houses, but there is no information about the internal organization of the houses and their occupation before the abandonment of the colony (Senatore, 2000).…”

3-D high-resolution multi-channel radar investigation of a Roman village in Northern Italy

“…The increasing use of GPR in archaeology over the last decades has been widely documented (Carcione, 1996;Conyers and Goodman, 1997;Pérez Gracia et al, 2000;Lascano et al, 2003;Conyers, 2004). A good overview was given by Owen (1995).…”

GPR prospecting in a prehispanic village, NW Argentina

“…Although the geophysical methods have been applied systematically in archaeology during the last decades, their implementation in Argentina is relatively new, having started at the end of the 1990s (e.g., Lascano et al, 2003;De la Vega et al, 2005;Osella et al, 2005). In 2004 we have began an archaeo-geophysical study in Palo Blanco site, NW Argentina.…”