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PRELIMINARY REPORT ON GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY AT MAGOULA

BALOMENOU

APOSTOLOS SARRIS, TUNA KALAYCI, MEROPI MANATAKI, NASOS ARGYRIOY, NIKOS NIKAS

GIANLUCA CANTORO & STELIOS EFSTATHIOY

GeoSat ReSeArch Lab, Institute for Mediterranean Studies, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas

(IMS/FORTH)

Abstract

A multi-methodological geophysical approach, including the use of magnetic, EMI, GPR, soil resistance and

aerial techniques, was employed for the mapping of the environs of the EN-LBA settlement of magoula

Balomenou in the area of Chaironia, Boetia. The site, one of the few known prehistoric settlements of Boeotia,

constitutes a man-made tell that was excavated in the beginning of the 20th

ce. The study of the finds of the

excavations provided valuable information about the surrounding natural environment of the settlement, but

now extensive data regarding the extent and type of the habitation. The purpose of the geophysical survey was

to try to map the region around the excavation trench and recognize any kind of features and structural remains

related to the occupancy of the site. The interest of course originated from the fact that with this kind of research

it would be possible to compare the Neolithic/BA occupation between Thessaly (IGEAN-ARISTEIA project)

and Boeotia.

Introduction

Magoula Balomenou lies by the Cephissus/Kifissos River in Boeotia, NE of Chaironeia (Fig.

1). Sotiriadis (1912:266) reports the river overflow, covering the plain with thick silt layer.

This must have been endangering the agricultural production while providing ample water for

the crops. Currently, the area is under heavy cultivation and modern roads and compact

pathways crisscross the area. A heavy duty utility pole is another physical/magnetic

disturbance in the area. Deep irrigation ditches and an abandoned building are additional

impacts to the archaeological landscape.

Magoula/Toumba Balomenou is a settlement mound with 120 meters diameter and 3.5 meters

height, but the height of the site is ca.1.80 from the plain (Sarpaki 1992:283). Tzavella-Evjen

(1988) on the other hand reported a larger and more elliptical shape of the magoula with

dimensions of 155m (N-S) and 140m (E-W) (as mentioned by Farineti 2009: I3. 8). Test

excavations by G. Sotiriadis (1902-1912) date the site from Early Neolithic to the Late

Bronze Age (Sarpaki 1992:281). It might have been also under occupation until Late Helladic

with no other habitation occurring until the Roman times (Buck 1979:6). Two other test

excavations in 1986 and 1989 by Tzavella-Evjen further contributed to the archaeology of the

site. The finds from these campaigns include monochrome wares, early painted and

"rainbow" wares, "Chaeroneia" ware, black burnished and polychrome type. There were also

found numerous figurines, bone and stone tools, pendants, beads, spools, and bullets were

also common (Wright et al. 1987).

A unique find, the model of a Neolithic house provide evidence for the conception of built

environment at the site. The model depicts a single-room house with rounded corners. The

roof has an opening and the door is elevated, possibly related to occasional flooding by the

Cephissus/Kifissos River. According to the results of the study of the plant remains of the

site, and based to the lack of significant architecture and pottery remains, it has been

suggested that magoula Balomenou was a seasonal (during the arid periods) settlement

(Sarpaki 1992: 295). The fertile alluvium basin of the nearby Kopais Lake, surrounded by

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forested areas, together with the availability of water in the proximity of the region may have

constituted ideal factors for such a temporal installation.

It has to be mentioned that the particular site is only one of the few Neolithic sites that are

known in the area of Boeotia (EN: Orchomenos, LN: Prosilio and Psilomata and FN: Enelco)

(Κυριαζή & Φάππας 2015) and as such it is one of the few cases that the results of the survey

can be compared to the ongoing mapping campaign of the Neolithic magoulas of Thessaly

(Sarris et al. 2016, Simon et al. 2015).

Figure 1: The location of Magoula Balomenou and its immediate surrounding from a satellite

image of Google Earth captured on 8 February 2014. The traces of the outline of the magoula

are clearly indicated in the image (see the blue arrow).

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Archaeological Prospection

Remotely Piloted Aerial System (RPAS) Survey

Figure 2: Magoula Balomenou. Orthophoto coverage with regular color camera.

Thirteen (13) hectares around Magoula Balomenou were covered via UAV conventional

camera (Fig. 2). The processed photographs produced a detailed orthophoto and a digital

elevation model. Peg locations, measured with differential GPS, were used to georeference

the orthophoto.

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No particular traces could be identified from the examination of the photo-mosaic or direct

analysis of single frames. The area, ploughed and flattened in the Northern sector and still in

cultivation (alpha-alpha) in the South, presents a general hilly conformation with the highest

point being approximate where the modern concrete building is (lighter color in Figure 3) and

with a lower area (black in Fig. 3) at the center of the Southern field (probably with less

vegetation also because of drainage problems and larger water concentration.

.

Figure 3: Digital elevation model.

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Geomagnetic Survey

Magoula Balomenou was investigated in three sectors, covering a total of 2.15 hectares (Fig.

4). The survey took place on May 2, 2015. Remnants of an old excavation pit and a modern

construction prohibited data collection on top of the magoula and thus limited information

was obtained related to the built

environment of it.

Sector A is separated from the rest of the

study area by a dirt road and a deep

irrigation channel. Results of the

prospection suggest that past occupation

continues in this sector (Anomaly A1).

Therefore, the modern dirt road, but

especially the deep irrigation channel

must have been heavily disturbed the

archaeological site. There is also

evidence for anthropogenic activity in

the area albeit although it is without any

regular pattern (Anomalies a1-a5).

Main evidence of human occupation

comes from Sector B. In this area, strong

magnetic evidence in the southern

section indicates anthropogenic

activities. Especially, anomalies located

in the area of A2 and A3 represent

evidence of habitation most probably

related to burnt daub made structural

remains and pits. If we take into account

the anomalies from Sector A and Sector

C, The anomalies related to A1, A2, A3 and D1 may describe the locus of habitation at the

top of the magoula. If we also take into account the curvilinear trace F1 at sector C, then we

can suggest that the core of the magoula has an elliptical shape with dimensions 80x65m.

There are a few more high intensity anomalies (amorphous shape) are indicated outside the

core of the magoula(C1, C2 and C3), suggesting anthropogenic activity in the close vicinity

of it.

Of further interest are two linear anomalies (B3 and B4) running in north-northeast – south-

southwest direction. These anomalies appear to be spatially related with the anomalies at A2.

Sector C includes a linear anomaly B1, of about 5m width, running in northeast-southwest

direction, possibly indicating the northern limits of the settlement (related to a ditch or

palaeochannel?). The total extension of its length is indeterminate due to missing data on

either side. Apparent destaggering of its magnetic signature is probably due to the mismatch

with the GPS time-stamp in the SENSYS data acquisition, most likely due to the proximity of

a large electrical utility pole. This GPS error does not show up to the south of the same sector

–away from the pole. The possible linearity of anomaly B1 (for at least ~35-40 meters) may

also suggest that it is not a well-defined pre-built settlement boundary, but part of a large

built space which may or may not have been used as a boundary for the settlement. Finally,

linear anomaly B2 is part of the modern compact dirt road.

Sector A

Sector B

Sector C

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Figure 4: Results and distribution of geomagnetic survey at Balomenou.

Electromagnetic Induction Survey

Electromagnetic induction survey at Balomenou was undertaken using a Geophex GEM-2

instrument collecting in-phase and quadrature data at the frequencies of 4950, 10230, 21030,

43350 and 89430Hz. Data was collected along 1m spaced parallel lines at a rate of 2 samples

per second with positions collected using a differential GPS.

The electromagnetic induction data from Balomenou do not appear to image any

archaeological material arranged in a regular pattern (Fig. 5). There is a series of small

anomalies with strongly elevated magnetic viscosity and magnetic susceptibility values

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compared to background that may reflect archaeological material. Some parallel lines can be

seen in the conductivity and magnetic susceptibility data (as above) but these are not

organized with respect to the settlement mound and they may represent sedimentological

features, such as the remnants of palaeochannels/levee banks left over from channel

migration, associated with the Cephissus/Kifissos River.

To the south of the survey grid, however, there is a significant clustering of high magnetic

susceptibility and high resistivity values. Considering the location and the vaguely defined

curvilinear shape of this cluster, it can be suggested that the particular area represents the

trace of the outline of the site itself. To the east, geomagnetic data revealed the extent of the

settlement also in curvilinear form, matching to the pattern provided by the EMI. Therefore,

it can be stated that the limits of the core of the settlement have been securely defined in the

northern half section of it. Whatever the case, the estimates of the core of the magoula are

much smaller (110x80m) than the dimensions provided by Tzavella-Evjen (1988). Even if

she reported on the total dimensions of the anthopogenic tell, the recent situation where the

intensive cultivation has flattened almost completely the environs of the magoula cannot

provide such an estimate of its original extent.

Figure 5: Results of the EM survey at the site; susceptibility values (right) and conductivity

values (left).

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Survey

For GPR survey, Noggin PLUS GPR system with a smart cart equipped with a 250MHz was

employed scanning the site along parallel transects 0.5m apart with a sampling of 2.5cm

along the transect. The sampling rate along the vertical direction for each trace was set to

0.4ns. The survey at Magoula Balomenou was expanded into sectors A and C covering a total

area of 0.28 hectares (Fig. 6). The collected data were processed accordingly to eliminate

noise and to balance the dispersion and attenuation effect of the signals. Vertical slices with

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increasing depth were also extracted per 10cm depth and the results along with filters and

corrections applied, are presented in Table 1 and 2 for the sectors respectively.

Overall, results for both grids did not produce any significant results as they were noisy and

highly attenuated (especially in sector A where the noise caused by the plowing lines couldn’t

be eliminated) mainly due to the high conductivity of the soil, as it is continuously irrigated.

The results from sector C revealed a circular isolated strong anomaly D1 (Fig. 6), also visible

in the magnetics results, that expands from 60cm to 180cm in depth.

Figure 6: Georeferenced GPR slices at 0.9-1.0m depth superimposed on the RPAS

orthophoto image for the two survey grids at Magoula Balomenou that describe the

subsurface reflections caused by contrasts in electrical properties of the soil.

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0cm-10cm 10cm-20cm 20cm-30cm 30cm-40cm 40cm-50cm

50cm-60cm 60cm-70cm 70cm-80cm 80cm-90cm 90cm-100cm

100cm-110cm 110cm-120cm 120cm-130cm 130cm-140cm 140cm-150cm

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150cm-160cm 160cm-170m 170cm-180cm 180cm-190cm 190cm-200cm

Table 1: Resulted GPR depth slices for sector C (GRIDS B5toB7). The slices were extracted

every 10cm depth form the surface and up to 2.0m depth. The processing was performed with

EKKO Project 2 using the following filters and corrections: Trace Reposition, Repick First

Break (20%), Dewow, AGC (WW=1.5 pulse width, Max=4000), Background Removal

(FW=3 m, Type=rectangular), Bandpass Filter (Fc1=120 % Freq, Fp1=160 % Freq, Fp2=200

% Freq, Fc2=240 % Freq).

0-10cm 10-20cm

20-30cm 30-40cm

40cm-50cm 50cm-60cm

60cm-70cm 70cm-80cm

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80cm-90cm 90cm-100cm

100cm-110cm 110cm-120cm

120cm-130cm 130cm-140cm

140cm-150cm 150cm-160cm

160cm-170cm 170cm-180cm

180cm-190cm 190cm-200cm

Table 2: Resulted GPR depth slices for sector A (GRIDS B1toB4). The slices were extracted

every 10cm depth form the surface and up to 2.0m depth. The processing was performed with

EKKO Project 2 using the following filters and corrections: Trace Reposition, Repick First

Break (20%), Dewow, AGC (WW=1 pulse width, Max=5000), Background subtraction

(FW=1.0 m, Type=rectangular), Bandpass filter (Fc1=40 % Freq, Fp1=80 % Freq, Fp2=120

% Freq, Fc2=160 % Freq).

Resistance Survey

In Magoula Balomenou, resistance survey was conducted in six 20m x 20m grids, covering

an area of 0.24 hectares in two sectors. In Sector B, high resistance anomalies appear in the

location of A2 forming a relative circular zone, whereas a few more high resistance

anomalies are located further to the north. In Sector A, there is no clear evidence for a built

environment. Resistance anomalies do not form a cohesive shape. Considering also the

results from Sector C, and the information gathered by the rest of the geophysical methods,

one may suggest that most of the habitation activity of the site was confined within the limits

of the core of the magoula.

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Figure 7: Results of resistance survey in the two different sectors A and B.

Results

Archaeological prospection at Balomenou provided relatively satisfactory results. First, the

combined analysis of geophysical survey results further refines the size of the settlement. The

settlement has an elliptical shape with 110m axis length in ~north-south and 80 meters in

~east-west directions. If the northern anomaly that has been located by the magnetic survey is

related to the foot of the anthropogenic tell or with a manmade ditch, then the longest

diameter of it can extent up to about 130m.

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Geomagnetic data revealed a series of magnetic anomalies some of which indicate possible

pyro-activities (burnt mud made structures?). Very few individual buildings have been

delineated as the core of the magoula seems to be centered where the large past excavation

trench was dug and still remains open. Still, some clustering of built environment is possible

to define. Electromagnetic induction survey revealed similar cluster of anthropogenic

activities, forming a curvilinear shape. This conforms to the results of geomagnetic

prospection. GPR data provided limited information in terms of the use of space in the

settlement due to the high conductivity of the upper layers of the soil, since the particular

fields were continuously irrigated. Akin to the results of the geomagnetic prospection and the

GPR survey, resistance of the soil is far from providing results at the Sector A. Sector B,

however, provided patterns of high resistance in good agreement to the magnetic

measurements. A slight evidence of a palaeochannel or ditch exists to the northern side of the

magoula, whereas no such evidence exists to the south of the magoula.

Acknowledgment This work was conducted in the framework of the POLITEIA research project, Action KRIPIS,

project No MIS- 448300 (2013SE01380035) that was funded by the General Secretariat for Research

and Technology, Ministry of Education, Greece and the European Regional Development Fund

(Sectorial Operational Program: Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship, NSRF 2007-2013)/European

Commission.

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