Archaeological Investigations in Urban Areas through Combined Application of Surface ERT and GPR Techniques

Among the geophysical methods, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) comprise the most promising techniques in resolving buried archaeological structures in urban territories. In this work, two case studies which involve an integrated geophysical survey employing the surface three dimensional (3D) ERT and GPR techniques, in order to archaeologically characterize the investigated areas, are presented. Totally more than 4000 square meters were investigated from the test field sites, which are located at the centre of two of the most populated cities of the island of Crete, in Greece. The ERT and the GPR data were collected along dense and parallel profiles. The subsurface resistivity structure was reconstructed by processing the apparent resistivity data with a 3D inversion algorithm. The GPR sections were processed with a systematic way applying specific filters to the data in order to enhance their information context. Finally, horizontal depth slices representing the 3D variation of the physical properties were created and the geophysical anomalies were interpreted in terms of possible archaeological structures. The subsequent excavations in one of the sites verified the geophysical results, enhancing the applicability of ERT and GPR techniques in the archaeological exploration of urban territories.