Lukas GOLDMANN | Rainer KOMP
(German Archaeological Institute, Berlin, Germany)

Abstract:
Protection of cultural heritage in emerging nations as well as in crisis regions demand for fast registering of endangered monuments. With regard to Cultural Heritage Management geomagnetic prospection offers great potential to discover new sites in order to protect them or to get enhanced knowledge about identified monuments. Knowing at least the spatial dimension of an archaeological site already permits it to be placed under monument protection. Whether construction activities like extended highways resulting in a swath of destruction through whole archaeological landscapes, explicit research questions, further investigation of sites for touristic development or to shape a frame for the inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites – an effective and efficient procedure for large scale examination resulting in precise expertises is given by geomagnetic surveys, a well established standard technology for non invasive archaeological prospection.
The section for Cultural Heritage Management of the German Archaeological Institute, as a response to said challenges, applies a precise vehicle-driven multi-probe gradiometer covering areas up to 25 ha per day at various prominent sites in Europe, the Arabian Peninsula and North America including a broad range of cultures.
Special attention is given to data standards for seamless postprocessing, long-term availability of data and linking with other data sources to knowledge networks. We use modern GIS-Software to combine geomagnetic data with other relevant information like aerial photos, elevation data or excavated structures. We also develop special software tools to categorize structures according to their size, magnetic values or additional data mentioned before. Based on this categorization and comparison with structures known from other surveys and excavations we render these structures according to their assumed dating and archaeological interpretation. The information gained from the survey and analysis can be mapped in various different ways, that allow a better understanding of the data and the site in general.

Keywords: Geomagnetic Survey; Classification; GIS; Data analyses; UNESCO Cultural Heritage