ABSTRACT
Ground penetrating radar (GPR)is one of the most frequently applied geophysical tools for near-surface applications including archaeology. In fact, there is a book dedicated to this subject. It can yield spectacular results. However, its failure rate is also quite high. There are many reasons for frequent GPR failures and some of these area result of the complexity and subtleties of the method. The only apparent inconsistency between the GPR data and the actual subsurface conditions revealed by excavation is the absence of the quarry block in the GPR data. Radargrams are difficult to interpret, and often features that are manifested in the data are not apparent to an inexperienced practitioner. The ferromagnetic object that appears in the magnetic data and is identified in the radargram as a metal object is correctly identified by the geophysics. However, it is a length of steel cable rather than treasure buried by Jesse James.
