Magnetic prospecting of burial grounds is still a great challenge in the field of archaeological geophysics. Some graves appear as positive anomalies, whereas others do not generate any traces or even show up by negative anomalies. This study involves ground magnetic survey, rock magnetic and magnetic mineralogy examinations of soils to determine factors responsible for the formation of magnetic anomalies on Late Roman time burial grounds of Chernyakhiv–Sântana de Mureş archaeological culture located in the forest-steppe of Ukraine. We surveyed these sites by a total magnetic field caesium magnetometer in order to target the archaeological excavations. We sampled infill from graves excavated under positive anomalies and profiles of background soils to analyse the enhancement of induced and remanent magnetization. In the laboratory, we examined magnetic mineralogy and measured various magnetic parameters and ratios characterizing concentration and granulometry of ferrimagnetic phase of soils. For further explanations of the magnetic anomalies, we created 3D synthetic magnetic models of the studied objects and compared the calculated total field anomalies with field measurements by their intensity and size. Here, we show how positive magnetic anomalies of destroyed burials are generated when a destruction pit remains open and later topsoil material gradually refilled it with aid of precipitation water. In this case, the infill layers acquire detrital remanence of the same intensity as the topsoil. Such burials are the best targets for magnetic survey. However, archaeological excavations revealed both intact and destroyed inhumations that caused no magnetic disturbance. Obviously, they were refilled immediately after digging/destruction, so that natural remanence of the infill remains mechanically destroyed. The study of this specific category of archaeological monuments brought us closer in the understanding the formation of magnetic anomalies in soil-filled features and showed the potential and limitations of magnetic prospection.

中文翻译：

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墓地充填岩磁学研究是了解墓地磁异常的关键

墓地磁法勘探仍是考古地球物理领域的一大挑战。一些坟墓显示为正异常，而另一些则不产生任何痕迹，甚至显示为负异常。本研究涉及地面磁测量、岩石磁学和土壤磁矿物学检查，以确定导致位于乌克兰森林草原的 Chernyakhiv–Sântana de Mureş 考古文化晚期罗马时代墓地形成磁异常的因素。我们通过总磁场铯磁强计对这些遗址进行了调查，以瞄准考古发掘。我们从在正异常和背景土壤剖面下挖掘的坟墓中取样，以分析感应和剩磁的增强。在实验室里，我们检查了磁性矿物学并测量了表征土壤亚铁磁相浓度和粒度的各种磁性参数和比率。为了进一步解释磁异常，我们创建了研究对象的 3D 合成磁模型，并将计算的总场异常与场测量的强度和大小进行了比较。在这里，我们展示了当破坏坑保持开放并且后来表土材料在降水的帮助下逐渐重新填充它时，如何产生被破坏墓葬的正磁异常。在这种情况下，填充层获得与表土强度相同的碎屑剩磁。这样的墓葬是磁测的最佳目标。然而，考古发掘揭示了完整和被破坏的墓葬，没有造成磁干扰。显然，它们在挖掘/破坏后立即被重新填充，因此填充物的自然剩磁仍然被机械破坏。对这一特定类别的考古遗迹的研究使我们更深入地了解了填土特征中磁异常的形成，并展示了磁勘探的潜力和局限性。