GEOPHYSICAL IMAGING SURVEY IN THE SOUTH NECROPOLIS AT THE ANCIENT CITY OF PARION (KEMER - BIGA), NORTHWESTERN ANATOLIA, TURKEY: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Abstract

Parion is one of the most important settlements located in the ancient Troas region, in which the city of Troy was the center. Many remarkable and precious archaeological remains have been unearthed so far which point out the city’s importance during the Hellenistic and Roman Age. In this study, a first attempt to obtain high resolution images of the subsurface of Parion to guide the archaeological trenches was made by an initial geophysical survey applying Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) technique. The apparent resistivity data, collected using pole-dipole electrode configuration along 11 transects, were inverted by two- and three-dimensional smoothness-constrained least squares algorithms. Relatively compatible results were obtained from two inversion processes. Parallel transects showed the resistivity distribution in three-dimensional images and thus both the horizontal and vertical extents of the anomalous zones were displayed. Additionally, some high anomaly zones located at the end of the first six transects were backed up by archaeological trenches. Thus, taking into account these findings, the other resistivity anomalies located at the different parts of the surveyed area are thought to be the most promising locations for archaeological excavations.