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Geophysics is a fundamental tool to detect buried structures of archaeological interest through non-destructive techniques. The Messapian city walls in Ugento (Puglia, southern Italy) are of great archaeological importance, and some sections are still visible. In order to locate a stretch of the city walls, geophysical prospections were performed using the low-frequency electromagnetic method and ground-penetrating radar. The surveys were carried out in a peripheral area of Ugento, near a visible section of the city walls. The analysis and interpretation of the measured data revealed clear anomalies that could be ascribed to the city walls that aligned with an adjacent section of the visible walls. Archaeological excavation campaigns found a part of the walls and some important elements, as identified by the geophysical data interpretation. Full article

The regular application of geophysical survey techniques to evaluate archaeological sites is well established as a method for locating, defining, and mapping buried archaeological materials. However, it is not always feasible to apply a range of different methods over a particular site or landscape due to constraints in time or funding. This paper addresses the integrated application of three geophysical survey methods over an important archaeological site located in south Italy. In particular, it is focused on the results achieved from a past geophysical survey and the ongoing excavations performed by archaeologists in the site of Muro Leccese. Muro Leccese (Lecce) is one of the most important Messapian archaeological sites in southern Italy. The archaeological interest of the site was generated since the discovery of the remains of Messapian walls (late 4th–3rd centuries BC). With the aim of widening the archaeological knowledge of the Messapian settlement, several integrated methods, including magnetometry, ground-penetrating radar, and electrical resistivity tomography were used on site to fulfill a number of different research objectives. Since the most important targets were expected to be located at shallow soil depth, a three-dimensional (3D) ground-penetrating radar (GPR) survey was carried out in two zones, which were labeled respectively as zone 1 and zone 2, and were both quite close to the archaeological excavations. The GPR investigations were integrated with a 3D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey in zone 1 and with a magnetometric, in gradiometry configuration survey in zone 2. The integration of several techniques allowed mapping the structural remains of this area and leading the excavation project. The geophysical results show a good correspondence with the archaeological features that were found after the excavation. Current work on the geophysical survey data using different codes for the processing of the data and merging different datasets using a Geographic Information System allowed achieving a user-friendly visualization that was presented to the archaeologists. Full article