Magnetometry

The ancient city of Charax Spasinou was situated in southern Iraq near Basra, between the rivers Tigris and Eulaios, at the modern location Jebel Khayaber. It offers the opportunity to study the layout and functionality of a major urban city dating from the Seleucid to the Sasanian period. The city was originally founded by Alexander the Great and given the name Alexandria (Campbell et al. 2019: 215). After its destruction by flooding, it was re-founded in BC 166/165 by the Seleucid king Antiochos IV and re-named Antiochia. This settlement was again destroyed by flooding. It was rebuilt under Hyspaosines and named Charax Spasinou (ancient Greek for ‘palisade of [Hy]spa[o]sines’). Due to its favourable location Charax became a very important harbour in the Persian Gulf area and a major trading point between India and Babylonia, supplying goods further up to the Mediterranean (Campbell et al. 2019). Charax was first identified with Jebel Khayaber in 1965, when distinctive ramparts with an average height of 4m to 6m were documented (Hansman 1967: 39). In 2016 Jane Moon, Robert Killick and Stuart Campbell (University of Manchester), together with Stefan Hauser (University of Konstanz) and the Iraqi State Board for Antiquities & Heritage, started a project to document and protect the ancient city of Charax Spasinou. The aim is to investigate the site through an integration of remote sensing technologies and surface survey as well as limited excavations in order to reconstruct the city layout, its  chronology and to document its state of preservation for purposes of conservation and site management.

The archaeological site of Gumbati is located on the right bank of the Alazani River in the Kakheti region, Georgia. Excavations in the 1990s (Knauß 2000: 119-130) revealed parts of a rectangular building made with mudbrick walls of 2m width on average. Its southern extension is almost 40m in length. Stone column bases, typical of an Achaemenid royal style well-known from ancient Persia were found around the building.
Because of its architectural characteristics, it was interpreted as the remains of one of the administrative complexes controlling the Transcaucasus,

Uruk-Warka, UNESCO-world heritage site together with Ur and Eridu, can be claimed to be the world’s oldest megacity. Here the invention of handwriting and the scene of action of the oldest epic of humankind, the famous “Epic of Gilgamesh”, took place. The inner city covers an area of c. 555ha and was populated by c.40,000 people already in BC 3000. The diameter of the enclosed city is 4-5km; the city wall has a length of c.9km and is up to 8-25m wide. Uruk was inhabited for nearly 5000 years till the 3rd century AD. Its occupation ended when the Euphrates River changed its way towards west and since this time the site remained untouched as a huge heap of adobe mudbricks with a Ziggurat on top. Magnetometer measurements revealed a sophisticated water canal system, which provided access to the different city quarters, but also protected the inhabitants from the danger of annual flooding.

Yeha and the UNESCO world heritage site Aksum, both situated in the Ethiopian highlands, was the centre of the ancient kingdoms of Di’amat and Aksumite. The ruins of these kingdoms spread all over the Tigray
Plateau, show the wealth and influence of these civilisations. Both kingdoms achieved economic and political importance since there were focal points for the trade routes of ancient Egypt, South-Arabia and the Roman Empire to Africa and the Indian Ocean (D’Andrea et al. 2008: 152-154). Yeha is deemed to be the capital of Di’amat formed in the early first millennium BC (Gerlach 2014: 5-7). It shows a strong influence of Sabean culture, which might be connected to their dominance of the Red Sea region. However, the Ethio-Sabaean culture disappeared towards the mid-first millennium BC by unknown cause and was succeeded by the Aksumite kingdom. The area of Yeha has remained inhabited through the millenniums to present day and is today known for its ruins of the monumental structure Grat Be’al Gebri as well as the Great Temple.
The motivation of the geophysical survey was to obtain more information about the existence of surrounding settlement structures and their organisation. The selection of the different prospecting areas was predetermined by the accessibility and the requirement for areal magnetometer prospection. The total Earth’s magnetic field measurements and the subsequent interpretations are complicated by the shallow magnetic inclination of 15°.

The project is an Ethiopian-German cooperation project (ARCCH and TCTB ) and supported and financed by the DFG (DFG-Projekt Yeha).

The ancient settlement area of “Tappe Rivi” is located in a small intermontane river valley, the Samalghan Plain in the NE-Iranian province of North-Khorasan. The plain is embedded in two mountain
ranges, the Gochangochang in the north, and the Allah Dagh in the south. Through two natural corridors the Samalghan Plain opens towards the Atrak river system in the north (the modern Irano-Turkmen
borderline), and towards the Jajarm Plain at the fringes of the Khavir Desert in the SW. After passing the slopes of the Eastern Alborz Mountains, one can further enter the Gorgan Plain. The southern mountains are covered with open tree vegetation and hold the water sources of the apparently fertile valley while the northern slopes are considerably drier. The Samalghan River runs W-E, passing the ancient
site of Tappe Rivi in the NE of the valley, and enters the Maneh Plain through the Darband corridor to flow into the Atrak river.
“Tappe Rivi” or “Riba Tappe” (transl. “hill of the weasel”) was first introduced by E. Neghaban, who recorded three settlement mounds during his survey in the Samalghan Plain. Rivi A with a height of approx. 8 m is located in the south of the ancient occupied area while Rivi B (approx. 5 m in height) is located 600 m to the north. In between lays the
strongly eroded mound of Rivi C with only 2 m preserved height.
The first systematic activities of the Iranian ICHTO/Bojnurd in 2012 resulted in the protection ofthe ancient area with an extent of approximately 110 ha. The actual situation determines four major settlement hills, Tappe Rivi A in the south, Tappe Rivi D and C located next to the tile factories in the center and Tappe Rivi B in the North.

Im September und Oktober 2013 führte das Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Kooperation mit der aserbaidschanischen Akademie der Wissenschaften eine vierwöchige archäologische Geländebegehung in Verbindung mit einer geophysikalischen Prospektion bei der Ortschaft Garajamirli (Şəmkir Rayon, Aserbaidschan) durch. Eine zweiwöchige Aufarbeitungskampagne schloss im August 2014 an. Den Anlass für die Untersuchungen bot die aufsehenerregende Entdeckung und Erforschung einer
achämenidischen Palastanlage auf dem Gurban Tepe bei Karacamirli unter der Leitung von F. Knauss (Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, München). Babaev (Aserbaidschanische Akademie der Wissenschaften) und I. Gagošidze (Georgische Akademie der Wissenschaften). Bereits begleitend zu den Arbeiten auf dem Gurban Tepe waren durch weitere Ausgrabungen auf benachbarten Hügeln (Ideal Tepe, Rizvan Tepe, Ilias Tepe), sowie durch eine erste geophysikalische Prospektion Teile der achämenidischen Residenz und einer nahegelegenen
lokalen Siedlung (in der Flur Darya Yatax) identifiziert worden. Weiterführende Fragen Im September und Oktober 2013 führte das Institut für Vorderasiatische Archäologie der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Kooperation mit der aserbaidschanischen Akademie der Wissen schaften eine vierwöchige archäologische
Geländebegehung in Verbindung mit einer geophysikalischen Prospektion bei der Ortschaft Garajamirli (Şəmkir Rayon, Aserbaidschan) durch. Eine zweiwöchige Aufarbeitungskampagne schloss im August 2014 an. Den Anlass für die Untersuchungen bot die aufsehenerregende Entdeckung und Erforschung einer achämenidischen Palastanlage auf dem Gurban Tepe bei Karacamirli unter der Leitung von F. Knauss (Staatliche Antikensammlungen und Glyptothek, München), I. Babaev (Aserbaidschanische Akademie der Wissenschaften) und I. Gagošidze (Georgische Akademie der Wissenschaften). Bereits begleitend zu den Arbeiten auf dem Gurban Tepe waren durch weitere Ausgrabungen auf benachbarten Hügeln (Ideal Tepe, Rizvan Tepe, Ilias Tepe), sowie durch eine erste geophysikalische Prospektion Teile der achämenidischen Residenz und einer nahegelegenen lokalen Siedlung (in der Flur Darya Yatax) identifiziert worden. Weiterführende Fragen zur Ausgestaltung, räumlichen Organisation und lokalen Einbettung des sicherlich weitläufigen Verwaltungskomplexes sind jedoch vor allem durch eine systematische Aufnahme aller verfügbaren Befundgattungen in der Fläche unter Einsatz einer Bandbreite archäologischer und naturwissenschaftlicher Verfahren zu klären. Auch wenn dem zeitgenössischen Umfeld des Palastes vom Gurban Tepe das unmittelbare Interesse gilt, bezieht das Survey-Projekt notwendigerweise die Besiedlungsgeschichte der Mikroregion in seine Fragestellungen ein.

This article presents the results of a three‐dimensional (3D) stratigraphic analysis of aNeolithic roundel in Bodzów (south‐western Poland) with the application of theAmplitude Data Comparison (ADC) method. The ADC method is based on the com-parison of magnetic amplitude records (in nanoteslas) with corresponding ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) reflection profiles. Thus, it is possible to analyse the 3Daspects of buried features based on GPR images and their composition from magneticreadings. In other words, the ADC method can be used to provide a more completeunderstanding of buried archaeological objects and structures detected by geophysi-cal surveys using GPR and magnetic (gradiometer) methods. The surveys performedin Bodzów have indicated that the Neolithic roundel located there had a multiphasedevelopment and thus is perfectly suitable for a study with the application of theADC method. The performed ADC analysis indicates that there were three gatesleading to the roundel interior. Positions of prehistoric storage and dwelling pits,and other settlement features were also detected and interpreted. Clusters of thesefeatures are located both inside and outside the roundel, which suggests that peoplelived within the site during different periods. In the southern part of the roundel, GPRreflection profiles and associated magnetic readings point to the presence of V‐shaped shallow ditches, which may date back to the early Iron Age, as well as anextensive Pleistocene fluvial channel and associated geological features, which is veryclearly marked on GPR maps

Santa Elena, located on Parris Island along the coast of South Carolina, was the first capital, and northernmost permanent settlement, of Spanish La Florida. Over two decades of occupation (AD 1566-1587), five forts were successively built while by AD 1569 a burgeoning Spanish settlement of over 200 people, complete with artisans, farmers, and Jesuit missionaries, flourished. Here, we articulate the results of recent, full-coverage ground-penetrating radar and magnetic gradiometry surveys with over 40 years of extant archaeological data to elucidate organizational characteristics of the Spanish settlement at Santa Elena. In particular, we use geophysical data to identify the potential locations of buried Spanish wells across the site. We identify roughly 200 potential well locations and compare these locations to the distribution of Spanish artifacts across the site yielded through a full-coverage shovel test survey, the arrangement of Spanish structures known from large-scale block excavations, and the likely position of roadways and house lots. This new data is used to contextualize and refine extant understandings of Santa Elena's town plan while also contributing to a broader research program devoted to exploring Spanish colonial life and settlement in 16 th-century North America (The Santa Elena Landscape Project). As Santa Elena is a National Historic Landmark currently threatened by rising sea levels, this work contributes to an efficient, minimally invasive research program devoted to exploring the Spanish settlement at Santa Elena and to documenting the range of cultural resources present at the site for the purposes of protection and remediation in the context of significant, ongoing shoreline erosion.