Earth Resistance Survey: A Mature Archaeological Geophysics Method for Archaeology

Abstract

In recent years, there have been important developments of technological applications in the field of geophysics applied to archaeology. New electromagnetic and magnetic equipment currently produce high-quality data in a very short time with a quite accurate geolocalisation thanks to the use of GPS. This recent evolution of geophysics in archaeology is complemented by an improvement in software for data interpretation and public dissemination. Although this current trend is welcomed in the field of archaeology, people tend to forget that all the geophysical methods provide complementary data, and therefore, all the techniques are equally important. In the last few years, resistance surveys have been less fashionable because they are slow to complete and expensive in terms of time and effort compared to other newer methods. Nevertheless, they are still useful in many special conditions such as suburban areas with a lot of metal interferences and as complementary information to other methods. Despite the fact that earth resistance is the oldest geophysical method applied to archaeology, it is still alive and well. It still fulfils a remarkable role in our discipline and may produce excellent results in places where other methods do not work. The present chapter attempts to demonstrate that earth resistance can still be an excellent mature alternative to other methods in archaeological geophysics.