Feasibility study on the use of seismic methods in detecting monumental tombs buried in tumuli

Summarization: A tumulus is a monumental construction erected to cover a tomb. In this paper, we examine the feasibility of the seismic method in detecting buried tombs without destroying the tumulus. In the proposed seismic method, a number of refraction profiles are employed. First, we conduct a seismic refraction survey in order to map the subsurface in the vicinity of the tumulus. Then, we choose the optimum parameters of the seismic refraction survey which is employed for locating the tomb. In this survey, the geophones are spread along a circular profile on the periphery of the tumulus, while the shot is located at its top. Time delays observed on the arrivals of the head waves reveal the position of the tomb. The delays are not caused by the monument itself, but they reflect the position of the ramp which was dug in the undisturbed soil for constructing the tomb. In this paper, we present three case studies from Northern Greece. The feasibility of the proposed seismic method was first established at an already explored tumulus near Toumpa village. The efficiency of the new tool was verified on the second case study, where the tomb in Messiano village tumulus was detected by the proposed seismic refraction technique. This method was also applied in order to search for a second tomb in the Pella tumulus.Presented on: Archaeological Prospectio