Abstract
Different geophysical methods applied at the settlement of Villasviejas del Tamuja (Botija, Spain) have identified robust anomalies located at the same position, but some anomalies are reflected by only one method. Furthermore, analysing the spatial correlation of these anomalies is of fundamental importance for obtaining a correct archaeological interpretation. In this work, we analysed the main results of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic gradiometry methods in a particular area of the archaeological site. In this analysis, we performed graphical and numerical spatial correlation analyses of the anomalies and observed strong agreement among the results provided by each method. Certain anomalies were reflected only in the magnetic and ERT studies. The results highlight the importance of applying several geophysical methods and performing spatial correlational analyses. Furthermore, the methodology that we have applied to evaluate the spatial correlation offers interesting results.
Highlights
The archaeological site of Villasviejas del Tamuja is located in the municipality of Botija (Province of Cáceres, Spain); it is a fortified settlement that was founded at the beginning of the 4th century BC, and it remained active until the 1st century BC
The aim of this paper is to present the results obtained from a detailed study in a particular area of the archaeological site (Figure 2) by applying electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetic gradiometry methods
We analysed the results obtained by applying magnetic, GPR and ERT survey methods over an area with dimensions of 20 × 9 m
Summary
The archaeological site of Villasviejas del Tamuja is located in the municipality of Botija (Province of Cáceres, Spain); it is a fortified settlement that was founded at the beginning of the 4th century BC, and it remained active until the 1st century BC. From a geological point of view, the study area is part of the domain of vertical folds of the Central Iberian Zone of the Iberian Massif [1], where the upper Pre-Cambrian successions occupy extensive outcrops These are metasedimentary series composed of schists and metasandstones, called the Schist–Greywacke Complex (SGC) [2] (Figure 1). From initial observation of this set of profiles, it is evident that many well-defined reflections are present in almost all of them, at different scales of intensity and size The majority of these reflections are located in the soil layer between the surface and a depth of 1.5 m. The common marks across adjacent radargrams reveal some extended reflectors crossed by multiple sections and provide an idea of the lateral distribution of the buried structures These observations are compatible with alignments produced by building remains
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