Applied Sciences (May 2019)

Muon Radiography Method for Non-Invasive Probing an Archaeological Site in the Naryn-Kala Citadel

  • Askerkhan Abiev,
  • Alexander Bagulya,
  • Mikhail Chernyavskiy,
  • Aigerim Dashkina,
  • Alexey Dimitrienko,
  • Alimurad Gadjiev,
  • Murtazali Gadjiev,
  • Vladimir Galkin,
  • Alexey Gippius,
  • Ludmila Goncharova,
  • Victor Grachev,
  • Nina Konovalova,
  • Alexander Managadze,
  • Natalia Okateva,
  • Natalia Polukhina,
  • Tatiana Roganova,
  • Tatiana Shchedrina,
  • Nikolai Starkov,
  • Abdulgamid Teymurov,
  • Valeri Tioukov,
  • Svetlana Vasina,
  • Pavel Zarubin

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/app9102040
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 10
p. 2040

Abstract

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The paper presents the test experiment to investigate one of UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) world heritage objects, an archaeological site in the Naryn-Kala citadel (Derbent, Republic of Dagestan, Russian Federation) hidden under the ground’s surface. The function of the site could be revealed by the muon radiography studies. Several nuclear emulsion detectors were exposed for two months inside the site at a depth about 10 m from the modern surface. The use of nuclear emulsions as probing radiation detectors combined with the potential of modern image analysis methods provides for a uniquely high resolution capacity of recording instrumentation and 3D reconstruction of the internal structure of the investigated object. Here we present the experiment and data analysis details and the first results.

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