MVAP 2000 Resistivity Prospection

RESISTIVITY PROSPECTION

Dr. Dario Monna and Dr. Ivo Bruner of Italy's Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Research Council) worked at the site during the fourth week of excavation. Dr. Monna has conducted various geoprospection methodologies since excavation began in 1995: radar, magnetometry, and resistivity. This year, he and Dr. Bruner concentrated their work in the Podere Funghi where the recent harvesting and mowing had made the field accessible for study. Their goal was to see if they could find any traces of foundation walls for a structure to the south of last year's trench, PF 1. The results are being studied at the moment and will help determine next year's excavation strategy in this promising area.

Dr. Dario Monna leads resistivity prospection in the Podere Funghi, 1999.

Ivo Bruner (left) and Dario Monna (right) conducting resistivity prospection in the Podere Funghi.

Report on Resistivity Prospection in the Podere Funghi, July 1999
by Ivo Bruner, Paolo Mauriello, and Dario Monna
Instituto per le Tecnologie Applicate ai Beni Culturali

In the Etruscan settlement of Poggio Colla, the measurements were carried out utilizing current up to 512 Hz with a mobile dipole MN and four fixed current probes AB and A'B' set in the ground along two perpendicular lines. The field technique adopted consists of taking a regular grid of voltage measurements inside a selected area. A drawback of the conventional geoelectric prospecting based on the scalar apparent resistivity definition is that, for 3D investigations, an anomaly pattern is obtained that does not fully conform to the expected body shape. Nevertheless, our system, using a multiple dipole source, allows the calculation of the determinant of the apparent resistivity tensor, which is a very reliable
parameter for detecting buried structures. Moreover, at the frequency range adopted, the skin effect has no influence within the size of the electric field utilized.

Results of resistivity prospection in an area of the Podere Funghi.

Research Projects

Director, P. Gregory Warden gwarden@mail.smu.edu
or during the excavation season: mvap@dada.it

While the team is in Italy during the summer field season, send e-mail to: mvap@dada.it
To email an individual on the team, put that person's name in the subject heading.
Excavation house phone: 055-844-9834, or, when calling from the US: 011-39-55-844-9834.