TY - GEN
T1 - Seismic mapping of archaeological pole structures embedded in sea-floor sediments
AU - Gron, Ole
AU - Boldreel, Lars Ole
AU - Cvikel, Debbie
AU - Galili, Ehud
AU - Hermand, Jean Pierre
AU - Normark, Egon
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2017 IEEE.
PY - 2017/7/2
Y1 - 2017/7/2
N2 - Sub-bottom systems able to distinguish poles less than 10 cm in diameter embedded in the sea-floor sediments have been used since 1994 to map submerged archaeological pole structures, such as harbours and defensive barrages intended to protect against naval attacks, located in relatively shallow water. This approach has proved its worth in providing fast and cheap large-scale information about the horizontal configurations of such structures, making it possible to distinguish and target zones that, with excavation, can elucidate central archaeological problems. For instance, this method has permitted the identification of repeated repair phases in large-scale constructions, which would have been extremely time-consuming and much more expensive to distinguish and map in the conventional way, with an excavation carried out by divers. A precondition for success is precise positioning of the recorded features, allowing a diver subsequently to be directed to them with a real precision (not a statistical one) of a few decimetres. This paper presents some examples of the application of this technique from several central archaeological sites dating from the Iron Age, Viking Age and the Medieval period, such as the harbours at Haithabu, Germany, and Vordingborg and Jungshoved, Denmark, as well as barrages against naval attack located in Haderslev Fjord, Kerteminde Fjord and Jungshoved Vig, Denmark. It discusses cost-effective verification strategies, including collection of samples for radiocarbon dating, dendrochronological dating etc. The science explaining how the poles can be distinguished acoustically is also discussed.
AB - Sub-bottom systems able to distinguish poles less than 10 cm in diameter embedded in the sea-floor sediments have been used since 1994 to map submerged archaeological pole structures, such as harbours and defensive barrages intended to protect against naval attacks, located in relatively shallow water. This approach has proved its worth in providing fast and cheap large-scale information about the horizontal configurations of such structures, making it possible to distinguish and target zones that, with excavation, can elucidate central archaeological problems. For instance, this method has permitted the identification of repeated repair phases in large-scale constructions, which would have been extremely time-consuming and much more expensive to distinguish and map in the conventional way, with an excavation carried out by divers. A precondition for success is precise positioning of the recorded features, allowing a diver subsequently to be directed to them with a real precision (not a statistical one) of a few decimetres. This paper presents some examples of the application of this technique from several central archaeological sites dating from the Iron Age, Viking Age and the Medieval period, such as the harbours at Haithabu, Germany, and Vordingborg and Jungshoved, Denmark, as well as barrages against naval attack located in Haderslev Fjord, Kerteminde Fjord and Jungshoved Vig, Denmark. It discusses cost-effective verification strategies, including collection of samples for radiocarbon dating, dendrochronological dating etc. The science explaining how the poles can be distinguished acoustically is also discussed.
KW - mapping
KW - maritime archaeology
KW - poles
KW - sub-bottom profiling
KW - survey
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85049623559&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1109/RIOAcoustics.2017.8349748
DO - https://doi.org/10.1109/RIOAcoustics.2017.8349748
M3 - Conference contribution
T3 - 2017 IEEE/OES Acoustics in Underwater Geosciences Symposium, RIO Acoustics 2017
SP - 1
EP - 8
BT - 2017 IEEE/OES Acoustics in Underwater Geosciences Symposium, RIO Acoustics 2017
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2017 IEEE/OES Acoustics in Underwater Geosciences Symposium, RIO Acoustics 2017
Y2 - 25 July 2017 through 27 July 2017
ER -