GPR and Geoelectrical Surveys at a Patagonian Archaeological Site Part I: Data Analysis

LASCANO, EUGENIA; OSELLA, A.,; DE LA VEGA, MATIAS

Río de Janeiro

Congreso; 8th International Congress of the Brazilian Geophysical Society; 2003

Geophysical methods have been used in archaeology for more than 50 years. Nevertheless in Argentina their implementation for archaeology is very recent. In this work we present a geophysical prospection carried out at Floridablanca archaeological site (18th Century) which is located at San Julián Bay (Patagonic Coast), Santa Curz Province, Argentina. Three geophysical methods were jointly applied for the first time in Argentina for archaeological prospection: ground penetrating radar (GPR), the resistivity method, and the electromagnetic induction method (EMI) to detect, characterize and determine the distribution of adobe (clay-brick) walls buried at a very shallow depth (no more than 1 m). The analysis of the data revealed a number of anomalies which, after correlating them with the archaeological excavations and the historical information available, could be associated to adobes or similar raw-material walls. These anomalies presented a periodic behaviour which should indicate that they belong to a main structure divided into substructures, each one separated by narrower walls.