Magnetic survey in TEL hermal archaeological site southeast Baghdad, Iraq with applications of GIS analyst tools

Abstract EN

Hermal.

It lies southeast of Baghdad and belongs to ancient Babylonian time (1500 – 2000 B.C).

The area is covered by 2 × 2 m net of magnetic measurements including 3367 readings.

The goal of this work is to delineate the locations and extensions of buried archaeological structures.

The statistical and geostatistical analyst tools involved in ArcGIS Software are utilized in this study.

These include the histogram of data distribution, some statistical parameters and methods of interpolations.

The study shows that the histogram is unimodal, which suggests a unique magnetic background in the site, and of a negative skewness with relatively high standard deviation which may be related to high noise level.

The main noise sources are debris, electrical power lines, fences, and electromagnetic waves of communications.

Accordingly, many magnetic anomalies of archaeological and non archaeological meaning have been identified on the residual map.

Archaeological remains represented by wells and walls are recognized at a depth of 1.2 m at the northeast side of the study area.