New Results from Archaeogeophysical Investigations in Machu Picchu

The ITACA Mission of the CNR, in collaboration with the University of Warsaw and the PIAISHM from 2017 to 2019, conducted for the first time in Machu Picchu an interdisciplinary survey project aimed at exploring the subsoil for archaeological purposes with remote sensing and geophysics. Excavations carried out by the PIAISHM in 2016 opened new questions to which the geophysical investigations have attempted to provide an answer. This chapter shows and discusses the results mainly based on georadar surveys, integrated in some cases with geomagnetic prospecting, that on the one hand have highlighted the effectiveness of the approach, on the other hand have brought to light information (albeit indirect, being geophysical anomalies) on the presence of potential buried structures, linked to human frequentation phases preceding the architectural evidences. The exploration of the subsoil made it possible to characterize the stratigraphy both for archaeological and geotechnical purposes, as in the case of the Principal temple, providing some useful data to understand the cause-and-effect mechanisms of the structural failure affecting the same temple