Landscape Lines 6: Geophysical Survey Techniques
Landscape Lines 6: Geophysical Survey Techniques. Cultural Landscape Guidance Documents. Landscape Lines 6. NPS Park Cultural Landscapes Program. Washington, D.C.
A guide to Geophysical Survey Techniques, part of the Landscape Lines series from the Park Cultural Landscapes Program. Geophysical survey techniques indirectly measure the presence of resources concealed within the earth's subsurface as a result of geologic processes or human disturbances. These techniques detect subsurface contrasts, including mass-density relationships, ionic or electrical potentials, magnetic susceptibilities, and elemental decay. The surveys can reveal the location of archeological resources and lead to their identification. Geophysical survey equipment is used to investigate buried prehistoric and historic structures and artifacts. The use of this equipment and computer-aided interpretation has increased the accuracy of archeological surveys and helped minimize potentially destructive or random excavations. The remote sensing techniques do not positively identify a buried cultural resource, but they can provide data for interpretation from which strong inferences can be made. There are both active and passive survey techniques used in cultural landscape research. This document identifies the primary survey techniques, their applications, and limitations.
- Type
- Published Report
- Publisher
- NPS Park Cultural Landscapes Program
- Units
- CRPS
- Keywords
- Archeology, CRSS, Electical Resistivity, Electromagnetic Conductivity, excavation, Geologic Process, Geophysical Prospecting Equipment, Gravity survey, ground penetrating radar, magnetic survey, Magnetometry