Ancient city of Gadara

The subject of the geophysical survey in Gadara - for a long time member of the Decapolis city league - was the investigation of the subsoil of a peristyle courtyard as the centre of an unusually elaborate monumental complex from the Roman period (2nd c. AD) and its surroundings. The local Antiquities Department excavated this ensemble in the urban area of ancient Gadara between 2003 and 2009. The survey was initiated by Prof. Dr. Patric-Alexander Kreuz of the Institute of Classics at Kiel University (Germany) and Dr. Brita Jansen of the German Protestant Institute of Archaeology in the Holy Land (DEIAHL) in Amman (Jordan). This was the first time geophysical prospection methods had been used in the intramural area of the ancient city of Gadara. The approximately 1-hectare survey area was highly segmented, so several small sub-areas were surveyed using magnetics and ground-penetrating radar during a 4-day campaign. Interpretation of the geophysical data revealed numerous potential archaeological structures, including sections of walls and foundations, as well as layers of construction debris from the previously unexplored parts of the monumental complex.