Aerial and magnetic prospection of an eleventh to thirteenth century motte in bavaria

Abstract

Prospection methods are used at the Bavarian State Conservation Office in order to detect and to describe precisely the buried heritage and to offer the state proposals to convert various areas into archaeological parks. Geophysical survey techniques and aerial prospection have been applied on archaeological sites in Bavaria since 1980. Aerial prospection is a method suitable for the investigation of large areas and to locate archaeological sites. Although the aerial photography gives the location, the details of the plan derive from high-resolution magnetic prospection by caesium magnetometer. However, compared with the fluxgate magnetometer the caesium magnetometer is difficult to handle and can be used only by a few specialists.