Archaeology Reveal buried traces of the past

Even before trenches or excavations open, our geophysics can deliver substantial information on how a site is organised: buried structures, ditches, walls, buildings, roads, developments or traces of successive occupations.

Explore the domain

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Our work

Reveal and map these structures with high-resolution, non-destructive geophysical methods tailored to each site. From a few hundred square metres to several hectares, geophysical survey provides a continuous, spatialised reading of the subsurface, complementary to boreholes, excavation and field observation.

Before / After

From the visible ground to subsurface maps

The site as it appears, then the maps produced after survey: structures and anomalies invisible at the surface.

Same extent after mapping: revealed anomalies and structures.

Before After

Questions

The archaeological questions geophysics helps answer

How can we understand site organisation and guide investigations?

Geophysical survey can map subsurface anomalies that may correspond to archaeological structures: walls, foundations, ditches, pits, roads, buildings or other features. Their distribution can reveal grids, alignments, orientations or coherent ensembles. It can also locate structures invisible at surface, follow their continuation and grasp their organisation at site scale. These results can be compared with historic plans, topographic data, aerial photographs, field observations or borehole results. They can help test an organisational hypothesis, refine a supposed footprint or identify sectors to explore.

Triangulated mesh of georeferenced measurement points across a parcel.

What can the subsurface reveal about the history and environment of the site?

Survey is not limited to sectors where remains are already known. It can also explore poorly documented or undocumented spaces and search for occupation or development traces across a wider footprint. Subsurface variations can also inform the context in which the site developed. Depending on conditions, they may highlight palaeochannels, wetlands, relief breaks or other palaeolandscape and geomorphology elements that help explain where occupations settled and how they evolved.

Soil section showing the electrical current path through the horizons.

Deliverables

Results archaeologists can use directly

Geophysical survey is a tool complementary to boreholes, excavation and other documentary sources. Detected anomalies are interpreted in light of site context and available information, without replacing archaeological interpretation.

Results can be crossed with data archaeologists already hold: historic plans, cadastres, aerial photographs, digital elevation models, topographic data, field observations or borehole and excavation results. The maps help confront geophysical data with archaeological hypotheses, prepare an investigation campaign or place discoveries in a wider view of the site.

Interpreted data and results are delivered in standard formats compatible with mainstream GIS and CAD tools (QGIS, AutoCAD, etc.) and can be viewed on our secure mapping platform GCServer.

An archaeological site to explore?

Let’s discuss your question and define the geophysical strategy suited to your site.

Keywords

programmed archaeology
archaeology
archaeological survey
geophysical survey
geophysical mapping
archaeological geophysics
archaeological remains
buried structures
anthropogenic structures
anthropogenic traces
geophysical anomalies
archaeological diagnosis
archaeological trenches
archaeological excavation
investigation strategy
trench targeting
spatial organisation
site occupation
walls
foundations
ditches
pits
ancient roads
roads
buildings
hydraulic structures
occupation levels
palaeolandscape
palaeoenvironment
ground-penetrating radar
GPR
multi-antenna GPR
magnetometry
electrical resistivity
high resolution
continuous mapping
GIS
QGIS
AutoCAD
GCServer
ancient archaeology
medieval archaeology
modern archaeology
heritage
archaeological research
non-destructive survey
Gallo-Roman villa
oppidum
geomorphology
landscape archaeology