Markradarundersökningar i Rogaland, västra Norge

Abstract

During 2017–2020, the Archaeological Museum, University of Stavanger, has conducted approximately 40 GPR ( Ground penetrating radar ) investigations in Rogaland, Norway. This is done prior to, or during, archaeological excavations and registrations. This article briefly presents the results from six different sites, discussing results, the potential and limitations to the method as we see it so far. Taking into consideration that the subsoil of the county mostly consists of moraine and/or gravel and stony sand, our investigations indicate that the most common archaeological features are avoiding discovery in the radar sheets. If the benefits of GPR include non-intrusive investigations, seeing several metres into the ground, the drawback is that what we identify is still largely an interpretation, needing further investigation to be validated or rejected. It is therefore important to have a firm and extensive archaeological knowledge and geophysical knowledge for interpretation of the results to make them relevant.