Archaeological Prospection Archaeol. Prospect. 9, 135 – 156 (2002) Published online 12 April 2002 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/arp.183 Georadar in the Roman Civil Town Carnuntum, Austria: An Approach for Archaeological Interpretation of GPR Data W. NEUBAUER, 1,2 * A. EDER-HINTERLEITNER, 2 S. SEREN 2 AND P. MELICHAR 2 1 Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, University of Vienna, Franz Kleingasse 1/V, A-1190 Vienna, Austria 2 Archeo Prospections, Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics, Department for Geophysics, Hohe Warte 38, A-1190 Vienna, Austria ABSTRACT The case study presented is a prime example of integrated geophysical – archaeological prospection. The aerial photographs available are complemented by non-destructive geomagnetic and geoelectric surveys with a reading distance of 0.5 m or less. To gain depth information and provide higher resolution, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) data are integrated. The GPR data were collected in a 0.5 ð 0.05 m raster and visualized as black-and-white time or depth slices. The developments presented allow us to incorporate GPR into the standardized interpretation process of archaeological prospection based on a geographical information system (Grs). Using GPR and all the other prospection data available as a basis, a detailed three-dimensional interpretation model of the monument detected, the southern part of the forum of the civil town of Roman Carnuntum, is created. Copyright  2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: GPR; integrated archaeological prospection; archaeological interpretation; GIS Introduction Archaeological geophysical prospection Geophysical prospection has become an impor- tant archaeological discipline featuring geomag- netic and geoelectrical methods. Archaeologi- cal applications demand specific measurement devices and configurations for rapid coverage of large areas (>1 ha). Only surveying with the highest resolution measuring devices in small raster (0.5 m) is the guarantee for detect- ing even smallest structures of archaeological * Correspondence to: W. Neubauer, Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science, University of Vienna, Franz Klein- gasse 1/V, A-1190 Vienna, Austria. E-mail: wolfgang.neubauer@univie.ac.at interest (postholes, palisades, etc.). In particular, geomagnetic prospection, using caesium multi- sensor gradiometers, developed into a very fast method of great archaeological interest enabling the survey of more than 4 ha daily in 0.125 ð 0.5m raster with an accuracy of a few picotesla (Becker, 1995; Neubauer et al., 1996, in press). Geomag- netic prospection became a high speed technique (Neubauer, 2001b) giving the opportunity to cover areas 10 times as large as with any other technique in the same time (Table 1). Geoelectri- cal prospection in the way of resistivity mapping, using Geoscan RM15 equipment, seems to have become an archaeological standard (Clark, 1990; Walker, 2000). The large amount of data col- lected in geophysical archaeological prospection can be processed and visualized with specific software. The aim of such processing is to Copyright  2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 1 June 2001 Accepted 19 December 2001