New results from a Project of Urban Geophysics. GPR surveys of Palatino's Archaeological Site (Roma, Italy)

The N-E foot of Palatino Hill and Coliseum Valley (Rome) are characterised by a sequence of complex buildings, related to the Roman period between the late Republican and Severo's age (200 AD). To enhance the knowledge of this area, as to the location and conservation of unknown buried Roman structures, a scientific collaboration between Sapienza University at Roma (Department of Archaeology) and the Institute of Technologies Applied to Cultural Heritage (ITABC-CNR), was initiated in 2001 and it is still a very active joint research program today. In this complex site a series of GPR surveys employing different frequencies were carried out between 2001 and 2011. For the field measurements two different GPR SIR Systems (GSSI); one equipped with a 500 MHz bistatic antenna and the other employing a 70 MHz monostatic antenna, were used. Acquisition was made using a high-resolution approach in which parallel profiles were recorded very closely across the site. Signal processing, image processing, and visualization techniques have been used in conjunction with data modelling, elaboration, and interpretation of the recorded subsurface amplitudes. With the aim of obtaining a planimetric image of all possible anomalous bodies, the time-slice visualization technique was applied. All GPR results have been verified through the direct archaeological controls. These archaeological excavations made by the team of Prof. Clementina Panella (Sapienza University of Roma) during the last few years after the geophysical surveys, have confirmed the structures individuated with the GPR method.