Archaeological Geophysics in China – A Historical Perspective

Geophysical methods can efficiently identify and map archaeological features or changes in the matrix of a site. They have been extensively used in Chinese archaeological prospection since the survey for the Mausoleum of the Emperor Wanli of Ming Dynasty in mid-1950s. The evolution of archaeo-geophysics in China is closely linked to advances in emerging geophysical technology, the needs of non-destructive detection from the archaeological community and Chinese fast-growing economy. Throughout the past 70 years, researchers and practitioners witnessed the rapid development of geophysics in the field of Chinese Archaeology. In this chapter, we introduce some key archaeo-geophysical events, for example, a multi-geophysical project was performed by China Geological Survey (CGS), to evaluate the applicability and the effectiveness for archaeological characterisation at the Mausoleum of Qinshihuang, i.e. the first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, during 2002 and 2003, the scale of which has been the largest in Chinese archaeo-geophysics so far. Besides, we divide these events into four periods, i.e. embryonic stage (1950s–1980), initial stage (1980–2000), development stage (2000–2010), and internationalisation stage (2010–present). Moreover, we also provide some significant case studies, namely ancient city sites and ancillary building remains, ancient tombs, cultural heritage protection, urban underground remains, and underwater archaeology. In a word, the development has paved the way to regular use of geophysical methods in almost all types of potential archaeological interests in China.