Abstract
Progress in the past three decades in geophysical data processing and interpretation techniques was particularly focused in the field of aero-geophysics. The present study is to demonstrate the application of some of these techniques, including Analytic Signal, Located Euler Deconvolution, Standard Euler Deconvolution, and 2D inverse modelling, to help in enhancing and interpreting the archeo-magnetic measurements. A high-resolution total magnetic field survey was conducted at the ancient city of Pelusium (name derived from the ancient Pelusiac branch of the Nile, and recently called Tell el-Farama), located in the northwestern corner of the Sinai Peninsula. The historical city had served as a harbour throughout the Egyptian history. Different ruins at the site have been dated back to late Pharaonic, Graeco-Roman, Byzantine, Coptic, and Islamic periods. An area of 10,000 m2, to the west of the famous huge red brick citadel of Pelusium, was surveyed using the magnetic method. The chosen location was recommended by the Egyptian archaeologists, where they suspected the presence of buried foundations of a temple to the gods Zeus and Kasios. The interpretation of the results revealed interesting shallow-buried features, which may represent the Temple’s outer walls. These walls are elongated in the same azimuth as the northern wall of the citadel, which supports the hypothesis of a controlling feature such as a former seacoast or shore of a distributary channel.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Council of Egyptian Antiquities, Dr. Mohammed Abd El-Samie, and Mr. Ahmed El-Taba’i, for facilitating the field surveys. Thank are due to Western Michigan University for providing software and accessibility to computer labs. Dr. Rob Van der Voo, University of Michigan, made his palaeomagnetic laboratory available. We thank Matt Domeier and Dr. Fatim Hankard of that laboratory for valuable assistance in measuring the susceptibility of more than fifty samples, and NRM intensities of ten others.
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Aziz, A.M., Sauck, W.A., Shendi, EA.H. et al. Application of Analytic Signal and Euler Deconvolution in Archaeo-Magnetic Prospection for Buried Ruins at the Ancient City of Pelusium, NW Sinai, Egypt: A Case Study. Surv Geophys 34, 395–411 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-013-9229-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-013-9229-z