Integrated geophysical prospection by high-resolution optical satellite images, Synthetic Aperture Radar and magnetometry at the example of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Palmyra (Syria)
Year: 2012
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Palmyra, the famous ancient caravan city in the Syrian dessert, offers unique and ideal conditions for the application of geophysical prospection methods because the archaeological remains are buried only by a thin layer of sand and the limestone walls offer a good physical contrast to the surrounding material. We performed integrated geophysical surveys by magnetometry, resistivity prospection, satellite radar and optical satellite images to get a detailed high-resolution plan of this important UNESCO World Heritage site. Today Palmyra mainly is known by its famous Roman ruins that are preserved still upstanding in wide parts, however in 1997/98 we were able to detect the hitherto unknown Hellenistic part of the city by magnetometry and prove the long time assumption of its location in the southern part of the town. A detailed map of its layout could be drawn after our results. Since 2011 we are surveying the whole city with the most high-resolution spaceborne sensors available at the moment: the optical satellites QuickBird and WorldView-2 and the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X. The recent analysis of these images provided further so far unknown buried archaeological structures.
Source: elib (German Aerospace Center)
Language: English
Subfield: Geophysics
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W205535281