Ground-penetrating radar investigations into the construction techniques of the Concordia Temple (Agrigento, Sicily, Italy)

Over the past decade, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has been recognized as being particularly well adapted to the non-destructive survey of archaeological sites. The present work discusses such an application of the GPR to the study of the foundation geometry of the ConcordiaTemple in Agrigento (Sicily, southern Italy). Radar data were collected using a pulse EKKO 1000 unit (Sensors and Software, Inc.) with 225 MHz antennae. The GPR data show a regular sequence of short reflectors alternating with 'signal blanked' areas located at approximately 50 ns in the peristyle and a continuous horizontal reflector at approximately 30 ns within the inner part of the temple (the cell).These results may indicate that the construction technique used in the temple was not a compact and homogeneous retaining wall, consisting of an outside layer of bricks and various grouting materials, as was previously thought. The two-dimensional images indicate, instead, that the Greeks made use of the geomorphology of the surrounding area, which involved exploiting the surrounding landscape to obtain foundations (artificial and natural) capable of supporting such monumental and stately buildings. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates the validity of this technique to investigate the foundation geometry of an ancient temple, where it is undesirable to apply a destructive technique. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.