Applicability of Ground Penetrating Radar on desert archaeological sites: a case study from the Saqqara necropolis in Egypt

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents the preliminary results of ground penetrating radar sounding applied at the desert archaeological site in Saqqara (Egypt). The survey was carried out in 2012 within a project realized by Institute of Archaeology, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw and the Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw. One of the key aims of the research was testing the application of ground penetrating radar to non-invasive surveys of desert archaeological sites. Radargrams obtained for area of so called the Dry Moat channel surrounding the Step Pyramid complex have shown the geological structure of its filling. It comprises among others debris-sand conglomerate of diluval origin characterized by a significant content of the clay fraction and clay minerals. Such lithological content strongly attenuate the propagation of EM waves, restricting the depth range of the GPR survey. The conducted geophysical prospection west to the Step Pyramid in Saqqara has confirmed the high applicability of the GPR method in non-invasive studies of vast architectural structures, such as the monumental ditch surrounding the Step Pyramid known as the Dry Moat. It should summarised that high horizontal resolution obtained during GPR survey is a result of local geological structure of the searched area, i.e. strong lithological contrast of the sediments filling the Dry Moat, which, depending on their mineralogical composition