GPR Mapping of an Inca Village in NW-Argentina

OSELLA, ANA; BONOMO, NÉSTOR; RATTO, NORMA

París

Congreso; 18th European Meeting of Environmental and Engineering Geophysics of the Near Surface Geoscience Division of EAGE; 2012

EAGE

We present the results of a GPR prospection carried out at the archaeological site of Batungasta, located in NW- Argentina. This site was established by the Incas during the 14th century and was later occupied during the Spaniard conquest between 15th and 16th centuries. The environmental history of the zone together with results from radiocarbon analysis led us to postulate that part of the Inca architectural arrangements were seriously damaged and buried by successive flows of a nearby river, without surface visibility and that some Inca foundations were used by the Spaniards to build adobe enclosures over previous stone foundations. In order to investigate the existence of buried remains and provide further evidences of the architectural characteristics of the possible successive occupations, seven sectors were surveyed using a constant-offset GPR configuration, with 500 Mhz antennas. These sectors were covered in orthogonal directions following grids with 0.5 m x 0.5 m cells. The analysis of the data allowed recognizing electromagnetic patterns which could be associated to the presence of walls. In six of the seven sectors, enclosures formed by probable earth and rock walls were detected and mapped. Different archaeological features and structures that completed observations on surface could be detected.