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

这是一个EAGER项目，旨在测试地球物理勘探方法的可靠性，以确定冰岛埋葬的基督教教堂和墓地。这项研究将使冰岛/美国联合小组能够评估两种地球物理方法在五个已知或疑似早期维京海盗时代教堂墓地上的可靠性，这些墓地处于各种地球物理环境中。目前，探测冰岛维京海盗时代基督教墓地最可靠的地球物理方法是地质雷达。问题是，为了使探地雷达有效，有必要在调查之前剥除草地。这是昂贵的，并可能破坏考古背景。该团队将采用电磁（EM）测量与新的多传感器仪器作为一种替代方法来定位保存的教堂墓地墙壁。从这个独特的机会，以评估这些地球物理应用的积极成果，可以大大扩大我们的知识，早期基督教的做法，维京海盗时代。更广泛地说，许多创新，特别是在识别墓地和绘制坟墓地图方面，在其他考古地区和时期以及其他领域（例如，法医科学）。识别墓地和绘制坟墓分布图以及可能评估骨骼保存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.