Geophysical prospection of the Roman city of Pollentia, Alcúdia (Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain)

Abstract

We present the results of the geophysical investigation carried out in the Roman city of Pollentia, in the island of Mallorca. The ancient city was identified in the 19th century. Old and new archaeological excavations have helped to uncover a residential area, a theatre, the forum, several necropolises and other remains of the city, but a large unexplored area has still to be investigated. For instance, the limits of the ancient town and the presence of harbour structures are still unknown. The geophysical survey has covered an area of more than 20.000 m2 by integrating magnetic, electromagnetic, electrical and ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods. Many unseen archaeological features were clearly revealed by the interpretation of the resistivity maps and GPR time slices. A new method for the visualisation of the geophysical evidence based on VRML (Virtual Reality Markup Language) 3D data representation provides promising results to drive future excavations. The VRML shows a great potentiality for the digital visualization of the site aimed at its exploitation and usability even without the archaeological excavation.