GWB Category: Archaeology

This project sought to bring together students from all over Southeast Asia to work together to create a self-sustaining geophysics field program by training faculty and students and utilizing geophysical equipment that already exists in Southeast Asia. The field sites selected encompassed groundwater, archeology, and earthquake hazards challenges. Students were introduced to a combination of seismic (reflection, MASW, refraction), ground penetrating radar, electrical, gravity, and magnetic methods that addressed the local geotechnical problems.

The overall goals of this project were to illuminate the beginning of the Holocaust in Kaunas what was then the capital of Lithuania, by providing non-destructive evidence of the mass murders at Fort IX, and a snapshot of a Jewish town at the onset of World War II. Specific objectives of this project included using geophysical methods to identify, describe, and delineate the mass graves at Fort IX in Kaunas and nearby Rumsiskes in Lithuania,

This project resulted in the preservation of the most important Macedonia grave. Underground corridors and cavernous openings were mapped; two early Christian churches uncovered, and the exact location of a tomb located. Greek authorities are still conducting archeological forensics to verify the origin of the findings. In collaboration with the Greek Archaeological Authority, all findings will be donated to the local museum.