Handbook of Geophysics and Archaeology

Geophysics is used in dealing with problems from academic to practical interest. Applications can include, an understanding the structure of the Earth, resource exploration, environmental and construction concerns, as well as archaeology, palaeontology, law enforcement, and counter-terrorism. The nature of this science make inaccessible to all but those with rigorous training in mathematics and physics. While there are a great many publications in geophysics at various levels, none has been directed towards those that have a professional need to know about the geophysical techniques or are simply curious. This book was written with that particular audience in mind. Although its fundamental focus is on archaeological applications, it is sufficiently broad to be useful as a reference to support other applications and is sufficiently self-contained to serve as an introductory text. With the numerous application of geophysics comes a multiplicity of geophysical techniques that support each application. This book addresses geophysical techniques that are most commonly employed in near-surface application; those used in probing the underground to a depth of about ten meters.
Each technique is covered at multiple levels beginning with elementary discussions that call upon every-day intuitive insights, with subtleties explored in greater depth. For each method considered, there are a number of case studies that serve to illustrate, the range of applicability of the technique and how this type of data is interpreted. In addition, these case studies have been selected to be of popular interest. One aspect stressed in this book is that, for a given application, there is not necessarily a single geophysical technique that can completely characterize the Earth’s shallow subsurface. The synergism of multiple geophysical methods is emphasized by the inclusion of an integrated case study that continues from chapter to chapter demonstrating the increased understanding associated with addition of information from each newly presented technique.

Author Biography

Alan J. Witten, who died in 2005, was a professor of geophysics at the University of Oklahoma. He specialized in the development of techniques for imaging the shallow underground and worked at sites of archaeological, historical, and political interest and was featured in a number of television documentaries.