The 2011 GPR surveys in the Archaeological site of Hierapolis of Phrygia (Turkey)

Abstract

Hierapolis of Phrygia (Turkey) was one of the most important Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine cities in Asia Minor. The Italian Archaeological Mission in more than 50 years of activity in Hierapolis has brought to light and restored important vestiges of the ancient city, helping to understand the urban layout in the various epochs of its development. In 2011 Ground-penetrating Radar surveys, finalized to support the archaeological excavations and surveys, were performed in some important sample areas by a team of Institute for Archaeological and Monumental Heritage of the Italian National Research Council. The GPR acquisition was performed along a series of closely spaced lines and the processed data were visualized as two-dimensional vertical sections, depth slices, and three dimensional volumes to allow an integrated interpretation of the archaeological results. The analysis of the geophysical data sets revealed a series of anomalies that could be ascribed to the possible archaeological structures, as well as other anomalies of presumable natural origin. The collected data from all areas studied, were georeferenced by using an high-precision GPS, and were entered into the digital archaeological map of Hierapolis.