Application of microgravity at archaeological sites in israel: Some estimation derived from 3-D modeling and quantitative analysis of gravity field

Gravity survey is comparatively rarely applied for searching of hidden ancient targets. It is caused mainly by small geometric size of the desired archaeological objects and various noises complicating the observed useful signal. At the same time, development of modern generation of field gravimetric equipment allows to register microGal (10-8 m/s2) anomalies that offer a new challenge in this direction. Correspondingly, an accuracy of gravity variometers (gradientometers) is also sharply increased. Archaeological targets in Israel have been classified by their density/geometrical characteristics in a several groups. It is supposed to apply in archaeological microgravity original methods for terrain relief computing developed earlier for examination of ore deposits under mountainous conditions. A 3-D modeling and advanced analysis of gravity anomalies have been applied for estimation of the desirable gravity anomalies intensity and projected gravimetric grid. Second and third derivatives of gravity potential have been computed for estimation of resolution of derivative graphs from different models. It is underlined that physical measurement of vertical gravity derivatives in archaeological studying has a significant importance and cannot be replaced by any transformation methods. The performed computations indicate that microgravity investigations might be successfully applied at least in 20-25% of archaeological sites in Israel.