A palace under the olive trees. Investigating the spatial organization of the Mycenaean palatial center at Ayios Vasileios (Laconia, Greece) through large-scale magnetic gradiometry

The results of a large-scale magnetometry survey are used to investigate two key aspects of the spatial organization of the Mycenaean palatial settlement at Ayios Vasileios (Laconia, Greece): the extent of the site and the existence, or possibly even zoning of distinct functional areas. These include the palatial core, funerary zones, industrial areas, and infrastructure. The unique situation at Ayios Vasileios, which remained relatively undisturbed after its abandonment, provides the possibility to explore the potential, limitations, and challenges of spatial research based on geophysical data of a prehistoric urban context. We do so by engaging different sources of information: geophysical contrasts mapped by our own and previous surveys, information from the excavations of the palatial core and the adjacent North Cemetery, preliminary observations on surface materials, and wider scholarship on Mycenaean palatial settlement. This dialogue between the disciplines enables us to problematize the interpretation of non-invasive geophysical prospection data and to check our implicit assumptions. Taking into account the different resolutions of these interdisciplinary sources, we formulate hypotheses about the layout and organization of the site which we hope to substantiate in the future by comparing against the surface data and the progress of the excavation

Geophysical surveys at the former camp site in Berlin-Blankenfelde

The study investigates a site of a former camp from the time of National Socialism in Berlin (Germany). After the second world war, the study area was also part of the former Berlin Wall complex. Two different radar array systems, an impulse and a step-frequency radar, were applied to the area and compared. Both radar arrays complement each other in their results and allow a differentiated data view. In connection with other sources, the former camp site Blankenfelde could be reconstructed in great detail