Geophysical survey (GPR) in West Saqqara (Egypt): preliminary remarks

Geo phys i cal in ves ti ga tions in West Saqqara area were part of the ar chae o log i cal field work of the Pol ish-Egyp tian archae o log i cal mis sion dur ing the cam paign in 2012. The main pur pose of geo phys i cal prospection us ing the groundpene trat ing ra dar (GPR) was to de ter mine the lo ca tion of po ten tial un der ground se pul chral struc tures. Dur ing the GPR sur vey, op ti mal depth pen e tra tion was achieved due to dry rocks and mono lithic struc ture of the lime stone pla teau on which the an cient cem e tery was lo cated. Us ing an tenna of 100 MHz, the depth of pen e tra tion was up to 45 m and with an tenna of 250 MHz, up to 15 meters. Three main groups of archaeological structures were identified: sarcophagi and mum mies, burial shafts; mo bile ob jects (solid rock blocks as frag ments of tombs). One of the main goal of the GPR sur - vey was to track the route of the west ern part of the Dry Moat, ex pressed by a wide and shal low de pres sion spread ing to - wards north-south. The re sults of geo phys i cal in ves ti ga tions sug gest that Saqqara pla teau is an ideal site for us ing GPR survey ing technology