Specifics and limitations of geophysical work on archaeological sites near industrial zones and coal mines in northwest Bohemia, Czech Republic
✍ Scribed by Roman Křivánek
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2001
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 520 KB
- Volume
- 8
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1075-2196
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✦ Synopsis
Geophysical work on archaeological sites in northwest Bohemia is dependent on a number of regional and speci®c local conditions and factors. Dif®culties are encountered when conducting archaeological and geophysical work in the heavily industrialized region of Bohemia, in the lowland area along the Bõ Âlina River. A high concentration of brown-coal mines and power stations and the chemical industry have produced electromagnetic disturbances. These disturbances, together with irreversible changes to the landscape produced by industrial development, create conditions that are far from ideal for systematic geophysical surveys. Nevertheless, the results from gradient magnetic surveys veri®ed by subsequent archaeological rescue excavations have shown that a limited, localscale application of archaeogeophysical methods is not only practicable in these adverse conditions, but also bene®cial to archaeology. Entirely different conditions characterize the systematic surveys conducted on abandoned late medieval glass-working sites ( fourteenth and ®fteenth centuries) in the forested highland regions of the Ore Mountains. In areas with a well-preserved original landscape, magnetic surveys have provided clear and detailed data on the sources of magnetic anomalies. The most intensively farmed region in the lowlands along the Ohr Ïe River displayed yet another type of conditions. Magnetic measurements are invariably disturbed by the effects of consistent tilling, particularly deep ploughing, and other related activities of modern or recent origin. The limitations involved in archaeogeophysical work in the region of the Central Bohemian and the Doupov Mountains are all natural. Steep slopes and neovolcanic bedrock played a major part in the choice and effectiveness of geophysical methods used on archaeological sites in the environmentally protected areas of this region.