Archaeology

The questions

See before you dig.

Excavation is destructive and expensive. Geophysical prospection says where to dig — and often, what you will find.

What is the real extent of the site?

A settlement's limits almost always exceed what surface survey suggests. Mapping gives the full plan.
Where should excavation effort go?

Targeting identified structures rather than trenching at random transforms the economics of a campaign.
How is the plan organised?

Walls, ditches, enclosures, roads: alignments appear on the map long before the first strip.
Can occupation phases be separated?

Crossing methods often separates structures of different natures and depths — and therefore different periods.

Explorer

Drag the marker down. In archaeology each type of structure has its signature — and its preferred method.

Depth explored

Investigation strategy

Archaeology is where the multi-method approach pays most: each technique sees a class of remains the others miss.

AMP

Magnetometry

Kilns, hearths, backfilled pits, fired structures. Passive, fast, remarkably sensitive to baked earth.
ARP®

Electrical resistivity

Patented by GEOCARTA and originally developed for archaeology. Walls, ditches, roads.
GPR

Ground-penetrating radar

Layered imaging of the shallow subsurface: masonry depth and reading by successive slices.
EMP

Electromagnetics

Conductivity and magnetic susceptibility in a single pass — a fast triage before detailed investigation.

Projects

Plans of detected structures, magnetic maps, prospection versus excavation comparisons.

Content in preparation.

Operators, local authorities, research teams: let's talk extent, context and timing.

Discuss your project Applications