Use of instantaneous GPR attribute integration in prospecting for ancient roads at the Han Hangu Pass, Xin’an, China

ABSTRACT

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a non-destructive technique widely used in archaeological prospection. In this study, GPR data (acquired by the RIS-K2 instrument) were applied to the detection and recognition of an ancient road in Han Hangu Frontier Pass dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC to 8 AD). The software tools of GRESWIN2 and MATLAB were programmed for the 2-D profile generation. The programmed codes provide a more flexible tool in the extraction of instantaneous attributes of GPR data. Next, an approach to instantaneous attributes integration (IAI) was developed and exploited for the detection of the ancient road. Compared with classical procedures, IAI is more effective in the anomaly enhancement of radar echoes linked to archaeological features, owing to the integrated merits from instantaneous attributes of amplitude and frequency. Compared with no signature on traditional results, the location as well as the boundary of the ancient road (buried at a depth of 3–5 m deposit) were detected using the proposed IAI approach in the Han Hangu Frontier Pass site, demonstrating its potential in archaeological applications.

Disclosure statement

We declare that there are no conflicts of interest in this research.

Additional information

Funding

This research was jointly supported by funding from the Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences [grant number Y5YR0300QM] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 41771489, 41774002].