The SERDP

GPR Project

The use of GPR for archaeological study has been analyzed by the University of Denver as part of a SERDP contract. We are continually testing and discovering how GPR operates in different geologic and environmental settings, and how these settings affect the success of locating and mapping archaeological features. The more researchers learn about GPR's applicability to certain sites, the better they can predict how successful a GPR survey will be. The main purpose of this project was to do exactly this: to test GPR under controlled conditions on artificially constructed sites.

To do this, we tested different GPR systems, antenna frequencies, and collection parameters on two artificially constructed sites. We collected radar data at these sites when ground conditions were wet, dry, and when possible, frozen.

In general, we found that:

*Certain features could be mapped while dry, while others could only be mapped while wet.

*Water is THE dominant factor affecting radar energy.

*Small transect spacing and middle to higher-range antenna frequencies are best for mapping archaeological sites.

Research conducted under the instruction of Dr. Lawrence Conyers: http://www.du.edu/~lconyer/
Primarily GPR researchers: Michael Grealy and Tiffany Osburn.

The full article on the SERDP project can be read here. (Note: this is a .pdf file)