Investigation of a monumental Macedonian tumulus by three‐dimensional seismic tomography

Abstract

Monumental tumuli are important monuments of past human activity, and may contain burial structures of high cultural and historicalvalue. Seismic tomography is used toinvestigate the internal structure of a monumental tumulus.Energy sources and recorders are placed on the periphery at the base of the tumulus.Travel time data are analysed and processed with three-dimensional tomographic inversion in order to construct images of the distribution of seismic velocity in the interiorof the tumulus. Velocity variations are known to correlate well with the lithological character of the earth materials, thus providing important structural and lithological information of the tumulus. A case history from a Macedonian tumulusin northern Greeceispresented.The results are interpretedin terms of evidence for possible man-made buried structures, such as tombs, walls, etc.; three-dimensional modelling is used to assist in the interpretation and evaluation of the significance and reliability of the results.

Integrated seismic tomography and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for the high-resolution study of burial mounds (tumuli)

“…Different strategies are reported such as seismic refraction (Tsokas et al, 1995), crosshole seismic tomography (Louis, 2001) and transmission seismic tomography (Xu and Stewart, 2002;Polymenakos et al, 2004).…”

Geophysical investigation of tumuli by means of surface 3D Electrical Resistivity Tomography

“…The observed time delays on the arrivals of the head waves reflected the position of the ramp which was dug in the undisturbed soil to construct the tomb. Seismic tomography is an alternative method to identify man-made structures inside a tumulus (Polymenakos et al, 2004;Forte and Pipan, 2008).…”

Exploring a prehistoric site for remains of human structures by three‐dimensional seismic tomography

“…As with other recent applications of seismic tomography in similar archaeological environments but quite different in their details, such as the search for burial structures in a monumental tumulus (Polymenakos et al, 2004a) and the investigation of the foundations of a Byzantine church (Polymenakos et al, 2004b), the results of the present work provide evidence that seismic tomography, when used in the particular manner and under the particular conditions described above, can provide detailed and accurate images of the subsurface and thus can be considered as an attractive exploration tool for the investigation of prehistoric and other types of archaeological sites in a non-destructive manner.…”