GPR Positioning and Imaging of Buried Remnants of a Gallo-Roman Villa in Matagne-la-Petite, Belgium

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) was applied to locate and image buried remnants such as walls or foundations of a Gallo-Roman villa near Matagne-la-Petite (SW Belgium). Archaeological excavations were conducted on the site in 1982-83 and the base of walls the villa was exposed but rapidly backfilled. Rather scarce information about the dig of the villa was published, especially the accurate positioning of the building. Visual inspections permitted to reduce the area of investigation, thanks to the presence of rubbles and tile fragments in the field. The GPR slice-map very clearly reveals the presence of the base of walls recognized during the archeological excavations, with some discrepancies noticed in the central part of the building. Rooms corresponding to hot and cold baths are characterized by strong signals at depth over their whole surface. Several aerial photographs corresponding to different periods had been examined in order to pinpoint the buried structure without success. However, based on the accurate positioning resulting from the GPR survey, a new examination was carried out and we were able to very clearly identify the buried structure on a photo taken in spring 2007.