G2: Geophysical prospecting, classification and validation of settlement remains in changing environments

Transformations of socio-environmental interactions are often associated with changes in the construction of settlements and/or ritual sites. The major objectives of sub-project G2 are to apply and refine existing geophysical investigation methods to the key locations of the archaeological sub-projects of the CRC.

1. Sketch illustrating how the different working areas of G2 interact. The two different geometrical forms in A represent two classes of archaeological objects that will be investigated for their shape (A) and then the interior buildup of key targets in terms of geophysical soil parameter distribution will be determined (B). Coring and excavation related geophysics, in other words in-situ estimation of these soil parameters and their corresponding soil types will be determined in D. Resolution of B will be enhanced by feedback resulting in a 3D subsurface model of these objects. The derived data inversion and structural knowledge of the key targets will then be applied to non-excavated targets (E).

2. Data examples corresponding to the different working steps and approaches sketched in Figure 1. (A): example of a larger scale magnetic prospection; the inset shows a selected pithouse which was further investigated in B-D. (B): example of multiple geophysical methods (GPR, Seismics, Geoelectrics) applied to the pithouse. (C): possible model of the pithouse (left) derived from geophysics (B), coring and excavation (D) (consisting of structural information and physical soil parameters) and an example of a modeled magnetic dataset based on that model (right).