CLIENT OBJECTIVE//

Terraprobe was approached by a client who is planning to develop some land belonging to the Xaxlip First Nation. As there is very little historical knowledge about potential burial sites on the land, the client needed to determine whether there was any indication of potential burial sites for further archaeological investigation. Terraprobe used GPR to scan the intended development for anomalies consistent with burial sites.

PROJECT APPLICATION//

To address this complex challenge, Terraprobe used a Leica Stream-DP multi-antenna

array GPR system towed behind a vehicle to collect GPR data on the site, providing near

100% coverage of the 5 acre area. Due to the large size of the land, a manually operated GPR system would take too much time to complete the survey with accuracy.

The client needed to determine if there were any ancient burial sites in the survey area. Development could not take place without the client completing this due diligence. If the GPR survey is not done and excavations uncover a burial location, all work would stop until an investigation is completed. This unplanned stoppage is expensive and much less desirable than a planned location and remediation of burial sites. Having GPR data that either

CONCLUSION//

The Stream-DP is uniquely suited to this type of survey as it may be towed behind a vehicle thus speeding up the data collection process. This data collection method is faster and is less stressful for GPR operators. The near 100% coverage provides better results especially when locating smaller targets that may be missed using traditional GPR grid data collection methods. Due to the thoroughness in our investigation, GPR results provide due diligence and provide the client with the information needed to confidently proceed with land development.