Detection of the Possible Buried Archeological Targets Using the Geophysical Methods of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and Self Potential (SP), Kom Ombo Temple, Aswan Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

Kom Ombo temple is one of temples which were belted over high plateau close to the River Nile, near to Aswan in Egypt in the Greek-Roman period. The expected archaeological remains in the selected area are the hidden tunnels of the mummified crocodiles. The aim of the present work is to detect any of these tunnels by the application of the (GPR) and (SP) methods. The interpretation of the 10 GPR profiles revealed some locations of possible hidden tunnels. These locations show different contrasts and high amplitudes of the reflected signals, compared to the enclosing soil; also the scattering of the signals is higher than the bed layer in these locations, which may reveal the possible buried mummified crocodile tunnels in the study area. The depths of the possible targets range from 2.0 m to 2.5 m. The SP electric map shows that the study area possesses a range of about 135 mV of the potential differences between the measured stations. The positive response of the SP data is mainly concentrated at the central part of the study area. The relatively weak, negative SP anomalies may be related to moisture in the soil. The positive SP anomalies on the SP electric map display possible significant correlation between them and the inferred tunnel locations from the GPR data. The calculated depths from the SP profiles show significant agreement with that estimated from GPR data depths, which indicate that the SP electric method can be used as a successful tool in detecting buried archaeological remains in support of GPR.