GPR prospection in ancient Ephesos

Urban area of ancient Ephesos (present Turkey) is too large to be fully exc avated, so geophysical prospection and mapping can help with the investigat ion. Georadar is one of the most effective tools for it. Two different task s solved by georadar are presented. The first problem was the interconnecti on between the city and the temple of Artemis. By historical records, it wa s made by two sacred procession roads, which had character of Graeco-Roman stoa, i.e., a roofed road. Only small parts of these roads were discovered in ruins or excavated. Some hundreds of metres from total length of a few k ilometres became known, but the questions above were not solved. Then, the area was prospected by georadar. Series of GPR lines were scanned gradually from the last known points and evaluated right on the spot. As a result, a plan of georadar indications could be drawn. These indications created two lines tracing unknown parts of both roads joining together and then contin uing till the entry of the temple. The results were confirmed by two boreho les. The second task was mapping of Hellenistic level of Tetragonos agora. At present, it is under the Roman level, and is visible only in some excava tion pits. About a half the square was covered by detailed georadar survey. Numerous anomalies indicated presence of underground objects. Compared wit h the results of excavations, they were interpreted as ancient remains in s everal levels. Then plans of these indications were compiled for separated levels. Hellenistic buildings remains were mapped, forming an older agora, smaller and slightly different by its shape from the Roman building plan. B esides it, uncovered parts of Roman ruins were detected, as well as some re mains of Classic and Archaic settlement levels. Some traces of even older h uman presence were found under them. Georadar results will serve as a guide line for future excavations. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.