Abstract

Since the first application of the proton magnetometer to archaeological site prospection, archaeologists have repeatedly attempted to improve their ability to locate subsurface archaeological features on prehistoric and historic sites using magnetic survey techniques. More often than not, such attempts have resulted in questionable benefits or outright failure. Inevitably, the most successful surveys have occurred in conjunction with large archaeological programs blessed with ample budgets and long range research strategies, permitting sufficient time to perform pre-excavation magnetic surveys and enabling sophisticated computer analysis and mapping programs to be applied to raw magnetic data obtained. Though magnetic surveying has in such cases proved to be a profitable exercise, ironically, it is the director of a research project with a limited budget or an archaeological contractor with limited site salvage time who could most benefit from magnetic survey techniques. Recent advances in magnetic survey methodology and data analysis have greatly improved the potential of the proton magnetometer to reliably define subsurface archaeological features in sites formerly considered impossible to assess using remote sensing techniques. In addition, newly developed micro-computer hardware has usurped the traditional role of the often inaccessible institutional and commercial mainframe computer in carrying out complex statistical manipulations and plotting of raw field data. This development has enhanced the effectiveness of magnetic site assessment by increasing interpretation accuracy while decreasing survey time and cost. These technological and methodological advancements can now enable even small research and salvage projects to take advantage of timesaving remote sensing techniques with full expectation of valuable pre-excavation data being retrieved. This paper reviews the current state-of-the-art of archaeological magnetometric assessment, and presents suggestions on how magnetometer surveys can be applied to various archaeological sites with maximum potential of yielding useful results.