Multi-fold GPR study of archaeological sites in south-eastern Kazakhstan

GPR surveys were carried out in south-eastern Kazakhstan during the 1997 summer in the framework of an international scientific exploration project. Primary objective of the expedition was the investigation of tombs of the Saka period (VIII-II century B.C.) located in the plain to the east of the capital Almaty and in the mountain ranges of the eastern Tien-Shan. The application of noninvasive geophysical techniques on this purpose was planned out to obtain preliminary information about the tombs (kourgans) to be excavated, primarily including position, dimensions and nature of the buried archaeological features. A further target for the surveys to be done in the Tien-Shan area was the possible detection of a shallow soil/permafrost discontinuity, of primary interest in the search for frozen tombs which could guarantee a perfect preservation of human remains and cultural material. More than 15 km of single-fold and multi-fold profiles were collected. A total of 13 kourgans were investigated. Features of possible archaeological interest and reflections probably associated with the inner structure of the kourgans, such as levels of stones, the paleosol at the age of burial, the top/bottom of the burial chamber, could be identified in several investigated sites and locally confirmed in real time by excavations performed by the archaeologists.