Pricking Probe as a Complementary Technique in Archeological Prospecting

We present an original geophysical method, the so-called pricking probe, and demonstrate its usefulness in an archaeological prospecting study. By using this technique, we easily found in the subsurface the remnants of a Paleochristian sepulchral chapel, in spite of dense undergrowth. Later, in the same, already mopped-up area we carried out detailed and systematic pricking probe measurements, and also geoelectric, magnetic and georadar mappings. As we found in the given field experiment, the pricking probe technique is competitive to other methods, considering both its imaging and economic properties. It proved to be the first-second most powerful method. The main advantages of the pricking probe method are as follows. 1. its field procedure and data processing are simple, cheap and quick; 2. the method can be applied even among the most unfavourable field conditions (bad weather, extreme topography, dense undergrowth, etc.), 3. it is nature-friendly (the area has not to be mopped-out), 4. it is effective. Moreover, it provides complementary information to the geoelectric and georadar maps. On the basis of our experiments we recommend a combined application of the pricking probe technique and of one of the relevant standard geophysical method.