Ground Penetration Radar and Magnetic Surveys for Archaeogeophysical Prospecting at the Seti I Temple at Abydos, Sohag, Egypt

Abstract

This paper presents an archaeogeophysical prospection in Abydos, a rich archaeological site including royal monuments and tombs from multiple periods of Ancient Egypt. Abydos is the most important burial site of ancient Egypt, having a history extending back about 7500 years. Near-surface geophysical techniques, particularly ground magnetic and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys, have been used to discover hidden ancient archaeological objects that will help with the site's long-term development. The main objective of this work was the depth estimation and geometry determination of the buried archaeological objects southwest Seti I temple, such as walls, tombs and other features. A proton-precession magnetometer (G-857) and an SIR-4000 equipment with an antenna of 200 MHz were used as instrumentation for the magnetic and GPR surveys, respectively. A final output is a total magnetic intensity (TMI) anomaly map, which has undergone extensive filtering to separate the residual components related to the shallow objects that could potentially serve as archaeological targets from the regional components of the deeper anomalies. Depth was estimated using source parameter imaging and 3D Euler deconvolution. The qualitative interpretation of the obtained magnetic maps reveals that there are clusters of anomalies that could indicate archaeological remains. On the other hand, the GPR findings reveal the presence of reflection hyperbolae within the measured profiles coinciding with the magnetic anomalies, supporting the probable existence of archaeological buried objects, which need to be confirmed by excavation. The main depths of these objects range approximately between 1 and 3 m. Our results bring new light on yet uninvestigated archaeological features at Abydos, paving the road to renewed archaeological research in this area.