Ground-penetrating radar exploration for ancient monuments at the Valley of Mummies -Kilo 6, Bahariya Oasis, Egypt Fathy A. Shaaban, Abbas M. Abbas ⁎, Magdy A. Atya, Mahfouz A. Hafez National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics, 11421 Helwan, Egypt abstract article info Article history: Received 6 October 2007 Accepted 10 November 2008 Available online xxxx Keywords: Archaeology GPR Bahariya Oasis Egypt A Valley of Mummies was discovered recently by an Egyptian team at Bahariya Oasis, located about 380 km west of the pyramids. Four tombs were excavated, and inside them were found one hundred and five mummies (105), many of them beautifully gilded. These mummies, many sumptuously decorated with religious scenes, are the very best Roman-Period mummies ever found in Egypt. These remains are around 2000 years old, but they are in remarkable condition. A Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR) had proved successful in detecting the cavities in resistive soil in which the mummies were found. The GPR survey conducted near the earlier-discovered tombs at Kilo-6 El-Bahariya to Farafra Oasis road is the focus of this paper. The GPR survey was conducted using the SIR-2000 attached to a 200 MHz monostatic antenna. The two areas to be surveyed were selected by the archaeologists in situ. Area one was 40 m ×40 m and Area two was 30 m×15 m. A grid pattern survey in one direction; with one- meter profile spacing was done to both areas. In addition, a focusing survey was undertaken over the entire Area one. In addition, twenty long GPR profiles were conducted in an attempt to determine the outer, expected limits of the burial area. After the data acquisition, Reflex software was used for data processing and presentation. The final results of the radar survey: in the form of 2D radar records, time slices and 3D block diagrams; were used to guide the archaeologists during the excavation process. The excavation processes have been completed by the archaeologists, and many tombs and mummies were discovered. It is worthy to mention that, the excavations and location of tombs and cavities matched strongly with the GPR results. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Archaeological excavations are time consuming, and, generally, not a cost-effective method for undertaking “blind” reconnaissance-type site investigations. In many cases, significant savings can be realized if exploratory excavations are sited on the basis of “leads” provided by non-invasive subsurface geophysical imaging technologies (Aitken, 1974; Clark, 1990; Scollar et al., 1990; Gaffney and Gater, 2003). Indeed, geophysical methods in general and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in particular are successfully used in imaging the subsurface at several archeological sites in Egypt (Abdallatif, 1998; Odah et al., 1998; Kamei et al., 2002; Ghazala et al., 2003; Elbassiony, 2001; Ismail, 2003; Khozym, 2003; Shaaban et al., 2003). GPR is a geophysical method that can accurately map the spatial extent of near-surface objects and archaeological features or changes in the matrix of a site and ultimately produce images of those materials. Radar waves are propagated in distinct pulses from a surface antenna, reflected off buried objects, features, bedding contacts, or soil units, and detected back at the source by a receiving antenna (Conyers and Goodman, 1997). Bahariya Oasis is located about 380 km west of the pyramids (Fig.1). Four tombs were excavated, and inside them were found 105 mummies, many of them stunningly gilded. These mummies, many sumptuously decorated with religious scenes, are the very best of Roman-Period mummies ever found in Egypt (Fig. 2). Archaeologists have long puzzled over strategies for locating and mapping buried archaeological features. Often, field researchers have relied on coring, auguring, and shovel testing, which are random search methods at best. Geophysical methods such as magnetometers, resistivity and electro-magnetic conductivity can produce maps of buried features. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) is the only near- surface geophysical tool that can make three-dimensional maps and images of the subsurface at archaeological sites. The technique involves transmitting radar waves from a surface antenna, reflecting them off buried discontinuities and measuring the elapsed time before the reflections are received again at the surface (Daniels, 1996) and Journal of Applied Geophysics xxx (2008) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: dr.abbas.ali@gmail.com (A.M. Abbas). APPGEO-01767; No of Pages 9 0926-9851/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2008.11.009 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Applied Geophysics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jappgeo ARTICLE IN PRESS Please cite this article as: Shaaban, F.A., et al., Ground-penetrating radar exploration for ancient monuments at the Valley of Mummies -Kilo 6, Bahariya Oasis, Egypt, Journal of Applied Geophysics (2008), doi:10.1016/j.jappgeo.2008.11.009