3D characterization of archaeological remains buried under obstacles using annular array electric resistivity tomography

Abstract

When archaeological remains are buried under buildings or other obstacles, it is very difficult to detect them by performing the traditional electric resistivity tomography (ERT) which commonly sets out survey lines right above those remains. We presented an annular array ERT method to solve the above problem. All electrodes were arranged around the obstacles in an annular array form. The apparent resistivity data were acquired through a special electrode shifting design. The electrode moved in the same serial number order with the cross diagonal survey of a 3D rectangular array. ERT apparent resistivity data were inverted by a 3D resistivity inversion package named RESINVM3D. The proposed method was tested using a synthetic model and field data. Synthetic results show that the target buried under obstacles can be imaged through the annular array. The result of field case indicates grave chamber buried under grave mound can be characterized using the proposed method. We conclude that the annular array ERT is an effective and valuable scheme for the detection and characterization of archaeological remains buried under obstacles.