HIGH-RESOLUTION ARCHAEOLOGICAL GEOPHYSICS SURVEY USING ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY, MAGNETIC GRADIOMETRY, AND GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR AT A SECOND-CENTURY ROMAN FORT, HUMAYMA, JORDAN

Excavations at Humayma, in southern Jordan, have revealed a multi-phase settlement in the region spanning from the 2nd Century BC through the 8th Century AD. The Roman Fort at the site is historically significant, as it is the earliest Roman fort known in Jordan, dating from 106 to 323 AD and one of the very few principate forts known in the Near East. The basic exterior walls of the fort are exposed at the surface and well documented. Some internal structural features (e.g., building walls, roads, flooring) have been identified through excavation. However, much of the interior structure of the fort—over 90%—remains unknown. In order to minimize the amount of excavations conducted in the future, and to ensure that subsequent excavations prove useful in revealing buried structures, a comprehensive geophysical survey was conducted in the summer of 2002. The interior structures of the fort, along with the vicus (the civilian settlement outside of the fort) were the major focus of the geophysical survey. The three tools that were used in the survey were electrical resistivity, magnetic gradiometry, and ground-penetrating radar (GPR). The survey inside the 150m by 200m fort was completed with 1m line spacing; outside the fort a 2.5m grid was used. The preliminary results of the survey identified numerous buried structures within the fort, having a general trend parallel or perpendicular to the exterior walls of the fort. The survey zones outside the fort revealed many potential areas of settlement, and possibly the Via Nova, the main road leading to the fort.