Detailed magnetic survey at Dahshour archeological sites Southwest Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Dahshour area has recently shown a great potential of archeological findings. This was remarkable from the latest discovery of the causeway and the mortuary temple of the Pyramid of Amenemhat III using geophysical data. The main objective of the present work is to locate the buried archeological remains in the area of Dahshour, Southwest Cairo using magnetic survey for shallow investigations. Land magnetic data is acquired using proton magnetometer (two sensors) with a sensor separation of 0.8m; i.e. gradiometer survey. The study area is located nearby the two known pyramids of Dahshour. The field data is processed and analyzed using Oasis Montaj Geosoft™ software.The processed data is presented in order to delineate the hidden artifacts causing the magnetic anomalies. The results indicated a distribution of the buried archeological features within the study area. These archeological features are detected according to the magnetic contrast between the magnetic archeological sources (such as mud bricks, basalt and granite) and the surroundings; mainly sandy soil. The delineated archeological features at Dahshour are probably dated back to the old kingdom having a depth reach up to 3.0m. Consequently it is highly recommended to carry out excavation to precisely classify them and high light their nature and value.