Although early experiments in physics are mainly responsible for the development of the physical principles of remote sensing, shallow depth geophysical prospection techniques were adopted by the mainstream of geophysical exploration and later on by archaeological research mainly after the end of World War II. In 1946, R. J. C. Atkinson introduced soil resistance surveys in an archaeological context. In 1957, J. C. Belshij used a proton magnetometer in a reconstructed Roman kiln. The work continued by M. J. Aitken and E. Hall at Oxford University and later on by G. A. Black, E. Lilly and R. Johnson, who carried out the first systematic archaeo-magnetic survey (at Angel site) in North America. The decade 1960s evidenced the development of alkali vapor and fluxgate gradiometers and electromagnetic methods. In the same period (1964) Linnington also tried the first application of micro-gravitometry in an archaeological context. In 1970 Aspinall and Lynam developed the Twin Probe array for resistivity surveying, which is widely used even today due to its simplicity in operation, efficiency in time of survey and its well-defined signal. The first trials of ground penetrating radar (GPR) were carried out in 1975 at Chaco Canyon by R. S. Vickers, L. T. Dolphin, and D. Johnson, followed up by a number of surveys in historical sites by B. W. Bevan and J. Kenyon. Since 1980, a number of systems such as wheeled-driven resistivity arrays, magnetometer, and radar configurations aim toward a faster acquisition of measurements. Evolution of instrumentation continued further and the recent developments of computer hardware and software boosted even more the technological aspects of archaeological surveying.
World History
