Applications of GPR to archaeology and geology: the example of the regio III in Pompeii (Naples, Italy)

Abstract

GPR investigations has been collected in Pompeii, in an area of the regio III not yet fully excavated. In this area, as in many other parts of this roman city, large portions of archaeological features are still buried under thick volcanic deposits. The radar survey has been conducted on the top of a long scarp parallel to Nola Street. This site was chosen because some remains are well visible on the front of the scarp, so they can be use to calibrate the radar sections. The results allowed us to reconstruct the subsurface structure of the area, and to locate the main roman ruins buried in the volcanic deposits. Moreover, the analyses of the radar sections highlighted the geometry of the volcanic deposits overlain the roman ruins, and made possible the correlation between the shallow geological stratigraphy and the reflectors sequence shown in the radargrams.