Ground penetrating radar (abbreviated GPR) is a remote sensing technique that uses the continuous transmission of high frequency electronic signals into the earth to detect buried features. Subsurface objects or certain soil properties interrupt the signal, and the interruptions are recorded for further investigation.
GPR is useful to a depth of no more than 10 meters, and it is primarily used to map soil layers, depths to bedrock, cavities and voids, rock fractures, ice thickness and buried stream channels. Archaeologists have successfully used GPR to identify lost and abandoned cemeteries and buried stone foundations.
Sources
An excellent source of information is Lawrence Conyers page on Ground Penetrating Radar.
Conyers LB. 2010. Ground-penetrating radar for anthropological research. Antiquity 84(323):175-184.
Davenport, G. C. 2001 Remote sensing applications in forensic investigations. Historical Archaeology 35(1):87-100.
Weinstein-Evron, Mina, Alex Beck, and Michael Ezersky 2003 Geophysical investigations in the service of Mount Carmel (Israel) prehistoric research. Journal of Archaeological Science 30:1331-1341.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology.
