{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,13]],"date-time":"2026-05-13T09:09:20Z","timestamp":1778663360484,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,6]],"date-time":"2017-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1501977600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>One of the major issues in buried archeological sites especially if characterized by intense human activity, complex structures, and several constructive phases, is: to what depth conduct the excavation? The answer depends on a number of factors, among these one of the most important is the a priori and reliable knowledge of what the subsoil can preserve. To this end, geophysics (if used in strong synergy with archaeological research) can help in the planning of time, depth, and modes of excavation also when the physical characteristics of the remains and their matrix are not ideal for archaeo-geophysical applications. This is the case of a great part of the archaeological sites in Henan, the cradle of the most important cultures in China and the seat of several capitals for more than two millennia. There, the high depth of buried remains covered by alluvial deposits and the building materials, mainly made by rammed earth, did not favor the use of geophysics. In this paper, we present and discuss the GPR and ERT prospection we conducted in Kaifeng (Henan, China), nearby a gate of the city walls dated to the Northern Song Dynasty. The integration of GPR and ERT provided useful information for the identification and characterization of archaeological remains buried at different depths. Actually, each geophysical technique, GPR frequency (used for the data acquisition) as well as each way to analyze and visualize the results (from radargrams to time slice) only provided partial information of little use if alone. The integration of the diverse techniques, data processing and visualization enabled us to optimize the penetration capability, the resolution for the detection of archaeological features and their interpretation. Finally, the results obtained from the GPR and ERT surveys were correlated with archaeological stratigraphy, available nearby the investigated area. This enabled us to further improve the interpretation of results from GPR and ERT survey and also to date the anthropogenic layers from Qing to Yuan Dynasty.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs9080809","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,9]],"date-time":"2017-08-09T06:32:14Z","timestamp":1502260334000},"page":"809","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":52,"title":["Towards an Operational Use of Geophysics for Archaeology in Henan (China): Methodological Approach and Results in Kaifeng"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8804-5718","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicola","family":"Masini","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Archaeological and Architectural Heritage, National Research Council C.da Santa Loja, 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 9 Dengzhuang South Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100094, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8594-9455","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luigi","family":"Capozzoli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council C.da Santa Loja, 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Panpan","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Geography, Henan Academy of Sciences, Zhengzhou 450052, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Fulong","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 9 Dengzhuang South Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage under the Auspices of UNESCO, No. 9 Dengzhuang South Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100094, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4547-0690","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gerardo","family":"Romano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Bari, Department of Geoscience and Geoenvironment 70125 Bari, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peng","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Geography, Henan Academy of Sciences, Zhengzhou 450052, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Panpan","family":"Tang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 9 Dengzhuang South Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100094, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Sileo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Archaeological and Architectural Heritage, National Research Council C.da Santa Loja, 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Qifeng","family":"Ge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kaifeng Institute of Archaeology CASS, Henan 475000, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rosa","family":"Lasaponara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis, National Research Council C.da Santa Loja, 85050 Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Goodman, D., and Piro, S. (2013). GPR Remote Sensing in Archaeology, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-31857-3"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Parcak, S. (2009). Satellite Remote Sensing for Archaeology, Routledge Press.","DOI":"10.4324\/9780203881460"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Masini, N., and Soldovieri, F. (2017). Sensing the Past. From Artifact to Historical Site, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-50518-3"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Masini, N., and Soldovieri, F. (2017). Geomagnetometry for Archaeology. Sensing the Past. From Artifact to Historical Site, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-50518-3"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Persico, R. (2014). Introduction to Ground Penetrating Radar: Inverse Scattering and Data Processing, Wiley &Sons.","DOI":"10.1002\/9781118835647"},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Portal, J. (2007). The First Emperor: China\u2019s Terracotta Army, Harvard UP."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Nan, H., Wen, S., Kao, W., Yan, G., and Suo, J. (2012). Archaeology in Henan (Chinese Edition), Elephant Press."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"505","DOI":"10.2307\/281749","article-title":"Coring Archaeological Sites","volume":"51","author":"Stein","year":"1986","journal-title":"Am. Antiq."},{"key":"ref_9","first-page":"452","article-title":"The application of high-density resistivity technique to Archaeometry","volume":"6","author":"Yan","year":"1998","journal-title":"North China Earthq. Sci."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Masini, N., and Soldovieri, F. (2017). Investigating Luoyang by Remote Sensing. Sensing the Past. From Artifact to Historical Site, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-50518-3"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jiang, A., Chen, F., Masini, N., Capozzoli, L., Romano, G., Sileo, M., Yang, R., Tang, P., Cheng, P., and Lasaponara, R. (2016). Archeological crop marks identified from Cosmo-SkyMed timeseries: The case of Han-Wei capital city, Luoyang, China. Int. J. Dig. Earth, 1\u201315.","DOI":"10.1080\/17538947.2016.1254686"},{"key":"ref_12","unstructured":"Cotterell, A. (2008). The Imperial Capitals of China: An Inside View of the Celestial Empire, London."},{"key":"ref_13","unstructured":"John, T. (1973). Chinese Archaeology. An Introduction to Chinese Civilization, D.C. Heath."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Ge, Q. (2016). Report of archaeological stratigraphy."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0926-9851(02)00229-X","article-title":"Semiquantitative evaluation of massive rock quality using ground penetrating radar","volume":"52","author":"Orlando","year":"2003","journal-title":"J. Appl. Geophys."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Masini, N., and Soldovieri, F. (2017). Integrated monitoring at a modern architectural masterpiece: The case of Viaduct Basento in Potenza. Sensing the Past. From Artifact to Historical Site, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-50518-3_25"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16","DOI":"10.1029\/2006GL026975","article-title":"Sinkhole structure imaging in covered karst terrain","volume":"33","author":"Kruse","year":"2006","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"634","DOI":"10.1190\/1.1497315","article-title":"3D GPR reveals complex internal structure of Pleistocene","volume":"7","author":"Grasmueck","year":"2002","journal-title":"Lead. Edge"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"B197","DOI":"10.1190\/1.3223312","article-title":"Mapping contaminant-transport structures in karst bedrock with ground-penetrating radar","volume":"74","author":"Hughes","year":"2009","journal-title":"Geophysics"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"423","DOI":"10.3997\/1873-0604.2010012","article-title":"Integrated Techniques for Analysis and Monitoring of Historical Monuments: The case of S. Giovanni al Sepolcro in Brindisi (Southern Italy)","volume":"8","author":"Masini","year":"2010","journal-title":"Near Surf. Geophys."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"76","DOI":"10.1088\/1742-2132\/8\/3\/S08","article-title":"GPR and sonic tomography for structural restoration: the case of the cathedral of Tricarico","volume":"8","author":"Leucci","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Eng."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"287","DOI":"10.3997\/1873-0604.2007010","article-title":"GPR investigations for the study and the restoration of the Rose Window of Troia Cathedral (Southern Italy)","volume":"5","author":"Masini","year":"2007","journal-title":"Near Surf. Geophys."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Conyers, L.B. (2000). The use of ground-penetrating radar in archaeology. Radiation in Art and Archeometry, Elsevier.","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-044450487-6\/50047-X"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1558\/jmea.v13i1.29907","article-title":"Geophysical and related techniques applied to archaeological survey in the Mediterranean: A review","volume":"13","author":"Jones","year":"2000","journal-title":"J. Mediterr. Archaeol."},{"key":"ref_25","unstructured":"Nishimura, Y., and Kamei, H. (1990, January 2\u20136). A study in the application of geophysical survey. Proceedings of the Archaeometry\u201990 Conference, Heidelberg, Germany."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"107","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jappgeo.2013.04.010","article-title":"Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) attribute analysis for archaeological prospection","volume":"97","author":"Zhao","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Appl. Geophys."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1007\/1-4020-3102-5_5","article-title":"DC resistivity and induced polarization methods","volume":"Volume 50","author":"Yuram","year":"2005","journal-title":"Hydrogeophysics Water and Science Technology Library"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"617","DOI":"10.1007\/s10040-011-0819-x","article-title":"Review: Some low-frequency electrical methods for subsurface characterization and monitoring in hydrogeology","volume":"20","author":"Revil","year":"2012","journal-title":"Hydrogeol. J."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"851","DOI":"10.1016\/j.scitotenv.2015.03.113","article-title":"Soil-plant interaction monitoring: Small scale example of an apple orchard in Trentino, North-Eastern Italy","volume":"543","author":"Cassiani","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sci. Total Environ."},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"77","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jappgeo.2013.11.003","article-title":"Comparison of measuring strategies for the 3-D electrical resistivity imaging of tumuli","volume":"101","author":"Tsourlos","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Appl. Geophys."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2478.2004.00423.x","article-title":"A numerical comparison of 2D resistivity imaging with 10 electrode arrays","volume":"52","author":"Dahlin","year":"2004","journal-title":"Geophys. Prospect."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Sandmeier, K.J. (2017, June 20). REFLEXW: Version 4.0 Instruction Manual. Zipser Stra\u00dfe 1, D-76227 Karlsruhe, Germany, 2006. Available online: http:\/\/www.sandmeier-geo.de."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Conyers, L.B., and Goodman, D. (1997). Ground-Penetrating Radar: An Introduction for Archaeologists, AltaMira Press (Sage Publications)."},{"key":"ref_34","first-page":"406","article-title":"3D-ERT geophysical prospecting for the investigation of two terraces of an archaeological site northeast of Tlaxcala state, Mexico","volume":"8","year":"2016","journal-title":"J. Archaeol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"131","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2478.1996.tb00142.x","article-title":"Rapid least-squares inversion of apparent resistivity pseudo-sections using quasi-Newton method","volume":"4","author":"Loke","year":"1996","journal-title":"Geophys. Prospect."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"324","DOI":"10.1002\/gea.21411","article-title":"The Alluvial Geoarchaeology of the Sanyangzhuang Site on the Yellow River Floodplain, Henan Province, China","volume":"27","author":"Kidder","year":"2012","journal-title":"Geoarchaeology"}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/9\/8\/809\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T18:41:34Z","timestamp":1760208094000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/9\/8\/809"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,6]]},"references-count":36,"journal-issue":{"issue":"8","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2017,8]]}},"alternative-id":["rs9080809"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs9080809","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2017,8,6]]}}}