Intensive archaeological survey at Piscina Torta: use of a low-cost RTK portable kit to materialise a UTM grid on the ground

Abstract

We tested the use of a low-cost GPS RTK to set up a grid during the intensive archaeological survey of the Piscina Torta site, in the framework of the Salt and Power project of the University of Groningen. We also suggest not using a local grid but the WGS84 UTM grid and naming the single cells with the coordinates of one of its vertices. This would facilitate the use and exchange of the data (e.g. about the potsherds collected in the cell) among the scientific community.

Low-cost GPS/GNSS Real Time Kinematic receiver to build a cartographic grid on the ground for an archaeological survey at Piscina Torta (Italy)

“…Before the archaeological excavation, we decided to perform a series of non-invasive surveys: magnetometry, laser scanning LiDAR, and surface potsherd collection [8]. When dealing with sites of considerable extent, the implementation of comprehensive non-invasive surveys serves the purpose of mapping anomalies, whether they manifest magnetometrically, altimetrically, or in terms of surface ceramic density.…”