A Ground Penetrating Radar Investigation of Archaeological Sites in Varniai Regional Park, Northwestern Lithuania

Abstract

The Varniai Regional Park, located in Northwestern Lithuania, is considered a hub of Mesolithic and Neolithic Baltic culture and contains many sites of importance to Lithuanian history. In July of 2016, non-invasive archaeological investigations were conducted at two different sites in the Varniai Regional Park by means of ground penetrating radar (GPR). The two sites share a similar research goal. In prehistoric times, people settled at or near lake shorelines leaving cultural remains behind. As lake levels changed, many of these shorelines became buried under a layer of peat. Due to difficulties in conducting archaeological excavations in this peaty environment, knowing the location of an ancient shoreline is important. Four GPR transects of varying lengths were collected with Sensors and Software PusleEKKO 100 and PusleEKKO 1000 GPR systems at 100, 200, and 225MHz with step sizes of 0.5, 0.05, and 0.05 meters respectively. Topographic da-ta collected with a TopCon laser leveler was used to geometrically correct the GPR data. The resulting transects reveal the truncation of continuous horizontal layers by dip-ping reflections which are interpreted as ancient buried shorelines. GPR data collected from these two sites have proven useful in identifying desired locations for future archaeological excavations.