Geoarchaeological Investigation of Abydos Area Using Land Magnetic and GPR Techniques, El-Balyana, Sohag, Egypt

Abstract

Abydos Temple is one of Egypt’s most significant sites which has a long history that dates back to the ancient monarchy and continued until the coming of Islam and also served as one of Egypt’s most significant ancient royal and high-ranking official burial sites. The main objective of this work was discovering more archaeological features buried underground such as ancient walls, monuments, and tombs. This objective was achieved using two near surface sophisticated geophysical techniques, namely ground magnetic survey and ground penetrating radar (GPR). This site was surveyed firstly using ground magnetic survey as reconnaissance stage and the locations which contain potential anomalies were resurveyed using GPR technique for determination the depth and the geometry of this potential targets. This site was divided into four regular grids and GPR model SIR-4000 equipment with 200 MHz central frequency antenna was used in this survey. The output of the magnetic survey is a total magnetic anomaly map which was filtered using High pass (HP) and first vertical derivative (VFD) techniques to extract the residual component of the shallow objects which may be archaeological targets. The results of the magnetic methods showed a group of anomalies which appeared on the residual map and were attributed to archaeological features by comparing them with the current excavated objects in and around the site. Their geometrical shapes and depths were estimated using source parameter imaging (SPI) and analytical signal (AS) techniques in Geosoft Oasis Montag Software. The estimated depth of these objects is between 1–3 m. Several hyperbolic shapes appeared in the radargram sections, indicating the possibility of probable buried archaeological objects. These potential objects can be found at depths of 2 to 4 m below the ground surface. The presence of eight probable targets associated with archaeological features at depths between 1–4 m is therefore the most likely outcome from both magnetic and GPR approaches. Therefore, this site contains potential archaeological targets which need confirmation by excavation. These results will influence domestic and foreign tourism in Egypt, leading to an increase in visitors and a rise in Economy.