Processing Strategies for Archaeology Prospection Using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

The objective of this paper is to study GPR signal reflectance for detecting archaeological features buried beneath underground. By determining the average velocity of signals in GPR radargrams, it can lead to the determination of relative dielectric permittivity of archaeological features. In order to visualize the features beneath the subsurface, archaeological mapping needs to be realised by using 3D visualization technique during processing stage. The root of GPR techniques is based on its ability as prospection tool to position, generate images and produce map of subsurface artefact. Consequently, this paper examined the capability and effectiveness of GPR in processing strategies for archaeological prospective through a case study in Kedah, Malaysia. The study of suspected archaeological reflectance was required to investigate archaeological characteristics in the subsurface. A collection of 2D datasets had undergone post-processing to analyse each reflection traces, determine the specific depth of the suspected archaeological feature of interests, which was within 0.07 m-0.6 m. Velocity analysis gave slight difference on relative dielectric permittivity (RDP) between archaeological features and ground material, though there were strong reflections in image profile for each scan. Post-processed two-dimensional datasets were imported to realize 3D visualization for generating slice maps and iso-surface renderings. This paper can be used as a guideline to evaluate the efficiency of GPR processing to identify buried archaeological artifacts/vestiges for future archaeological prospection.