EAGER: Assessing the Reliability of the Geophysical identification of Early Christian Churchyards and burials in Northern Iceland

这是一个EAGER项目，旨在测试地球物理侦察方法在冰岛识别被埋葬的基督教教堂墓地和墓地的可靠性。这项研究将允许冰岛和美国的联合团队评估两种地球物理方法在五个已知或怀疑的早期维京时代墓地的可靠性，这些墓地位于各种地球物理环境中。目前，探测冰岛维京时代基督教墓地最可靠的地球物理方法是探地雷达。问题是，为了使探地雷达有效，有必要在调查前剥去草皮。这是昂贵的，并可能破坏考古环境。该团队将采用电磁（EM）测量和新的多传感器仪器作为定位保存完好的教堂墓地墙壁的替代方法。从这个独特的机会来评估这些地球物理应用的积极结果可以极大地扩展我们对维京时代早期基督教实践的了解。更广泛地说，许多创新，特别是在确定墓地和绘制坟墓地图方面，在其他考古区域和时期以及其他领域（例如法医科学）也有应用。识别墓地、绘制坟墓分布图以及可能评估骨骼保存情况的能力，对世界各地的考古调查、遗产管理工作和法医科学家具有明显的价值。

This is an EAGER project to test the reliability of geophysical reconnaissance methods to identify buried Christian churchyards and cemeteries in Iceland. The research will allow the joint Icelandic/US team to evaluate the reliability of two geophysical methods on five known or suspected early Viking Age churchyards that are in a variety of geophysical environments. Currently, the most reliable geophysical method to detect Viking Age Christian cemeteries in Iceland is GPR. The problem is that for GPR to be effective, it is necessary to strip off the grass in advance of survey. This is expensive and potentially destructive to archaeological contexts. The team will employ electromagnetic (EM) surveying with new multi-sensor instrumentation as an alternative method for locating preserved walls of churchyards. Positive results from this unique opportunity to evaluate these geophysical applications could greatly expand our knowledge of early Christian practices of the Viking Age. More broadly, many of the innovations, especially in identifying cemeteries and mapping graves, have applications in other archaeological regions and periods, as well as other fields (e.g., forensic sciences). The ability to identify cemeteries and map the distribution graves and possibly to assess skeletal preservation has obvious value to archaeological investigations, heritage management efforts, and forensic scientists around the world.