GEO PHYSI CAL SUR VEY ( GPR ) IN WEST SAQQARA ( EGYPT ) : PRE LIMI NARY RE MARKS
Ab stract Geo phys i cal in ves ti ga tions in West Saqqara area were part of the ar chae o log i cal field work of the Pol ish-Egyp tian ar chae o log i cal mis sion dur ing the cam paign in 2012. The main pur pose of geo phys i cal prospection us ing the groundpen e trat ing ra dar (GPR) was to de ter mine the lo ca tion of po ten tial un der ground se pul chral struc tures. Dur ing the GPR sur vey, op ti mal depth pen e tra tion was achieved due to dry rocks and mono lithic struc ture of the lime stone pla teau on which the an cient cem e tery was lo cated. Us ing an tenna of 100 MHz, the depth of pen e tra tion was up to 45 m and with an tenna of 250 MHz, up to 15 me ters. Three main groups of ar chae o log i cal struc tures were iden ti fied: sar coph agi and mum mies, burial shafts; mo bile ob jects (solid rock blocks as frag ments of tombs). One of the main goal of the GPR sur vey was to track the route of the west ern part of the Dry Moat, ex pressed by a wide and shal low de pres sion spread ing to wards north-south. The re sults of geo phys i cal in ves ti ga tions sug gest that Saqqara pla teau is an ideal site for us ing GPR sur vey ing tech nol ogy.
Land Streamer Aided Geophysical Studies at Saqqara, Egypt
During December 2002 and January 2003, Montana Tech in collaboration with Ain Shams University, Cairo, collected Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and seismic data at Saqqara, Egypt. The purpose of this study was to see if GPR and seismic methods could detect manmade structures in the subsurface at Saqqara. In particular, land streamer aided, seismic diving-wave tomography was tested as a method to detect archaeological features. Saqqara was one of the principal necropolises of Memphis, an ancient capital of Egypt. The research site was near the 3rd Dynasty pharaoh Djoser’s Step Pyramid—the first monumental structure built entirely of stone. A preliminary GPR study of our site yielded numerous, possibly manmade features in the subsurface with a 4m depth of penetration using 100MHz antennas. A follow-up three-dimensional (3-D) GPR survey over one of the more interesting features showed a broad trench underneath the flat-lying sand that is seen at the surface. This feature is most likely manmade because the ho...
Thorium in monazite sand; separation and determination by precipitation from homogeneous solution
A new method is described which consists of three steps: (1) decomposition of the monazite sand with perchloric acid; (2) separation of thorium and the rare earths by hydrolysis of methyl-oxalate in acid solution; and (3) separation of thorium from the rare earths by hydrolysis of urea in the presence of formic acid. The authors consider the method to be accurate and rapid.