Ground remote sensing surveys to investigate mounds tombs from Etruscan period. The case of Monte Abatone necropolis (Cerveteri, Italy)

The Monte Abatone Project is based on the employment of different methodologies to reconstruct the limits of the necropolis and the location of all different tombs. In the period between 2018 - 2021, geophysical surveys have been carried out to investigate the unexplored portions of the ancient Necropolis. Ground Penetrating Radar and the Magnetometric methods have been systematically employed to investigate about twelve hectares of the necropolis. GPR systems equipped with a 400 MHz antenna, a dual frequency antenna with 300/800 MHz and the Kontur 3D-Radar Geoscope multichannel stepped frequency system were employed to survey the selected areas. All the GPR profiles were processed with the aim to obtain a 2D visualization (time-slices) of all reflections in the ground. The obtained results clearly show the presence of a network of strong circular or rectangular features, linked with the buried structural elements of the searched chamber or pit tombs