A small scale, high resolution magnetic survey at the archaeological site of Birka, Sweden
1999
Wedmark, Mats
A high resolution magnetic survey was carried out at the archaeological site of Birka, situated approximately 20 km west of Stockholm. A new-generation optically pumped cesium magnetometer, G-858 from Geometrics, with a maximum sensitivity of 0.01 nT was used in the survey. An area of totally 504 m2 was covered in three windy days in September 1997 with the cesium magnetometer working in vertical-gradient mode. Remnants of the old houses, some of the oldest ditches and an earlier excavation could be seen in the gradient data after processing. Also a total-field measurement was carried out to search for the oldest defence wall at Birka. The bad positioning that followed with the continuous-scan mode made the data very difficult to process efficiently. Some processing was done in Matlab to eliminate effects that might be caused by the geology, but no substantial archaeological results emerged.This work shows that high resolution magnetic surveys can be efficient in detecting archaeological remains even in a very heterogeneous soil, provided very sensitive equipment and correct choice of method. It also emphasized the importance of good positioning in a survey.
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