Picturing monuments and cultural heritages with ground penetrating radar method including its half bird's eye view visualization

Abstract

The aim of this study is to show applications of the ground penetrating radar (GPR) method to the monuments and the cultural heritages in order to maintain and evaluate the progress of treatments. In this framework, we involved transparent 3D half bird's eye view visualization of the GPR data. Our study area was on the Midas Monument remained a Phrygia civilization, lived between the 9th and 7th centuries BC in the Eskisehir region of Central Anatolia-Turkey. The monument has covered with miscellaneous geometric designs and hyerogliphics. During the Phrygian period religious ceremonies used to be held here. The Midas Monument has taken the shape of a giant rock-cut facade measuring over 16.5 meters in width and some 17 meters in height. The rock of the facade is nature rock heightened from surface. There are a lot of rock cut chambers seems as a multi-storey apartment in the North of the monument. We used the GPR method to evaluate the existence of internal discontinuities such as micro fractures and cavities of Midas Monument in order to control stability condition. 800 MHz shielded antenna was used to acquire GPR data on parallel profiles on the monument and 250 MHz shielded antenna was used on parallel profiles spaced 1m apart to research stability conditions around the monument and rock cut grave chambers. We obtained 2D/3D image of the GPR with half bird's eye view visualization of depth slices and their transparent 3D sub-volumes and pictured fractures on the Midas Monument and buried cavities representing rock cut tombs between monuments and the rock cut necropolis.