Buried underground archaeological structures investigation with electrical method: diyarbakir Ulu Mosque (Turkey)

Abstract

The study area used as a temple during the pre-Christianity term, Mar Thoma Church after the adoption of Christianity and currently used as The Ulu Mosque. The most important feature of this mosque which has hosted many civilizations is moving the architectural structures belongs to the church term to the present day. In this study, the presence of archaeological structures buried under the Ulu Mosque were investigated with geophysical methods. Magnetic, ground penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical methods were used for this purpose. Due to the distorting surface effects and presence of large underground water mass, the magnetic and ground penetrating radar methods did not give successful results. Despite the study are consist of basalt rocks, successful results have been obtained with the electrical method. The reason for this success can be explained by the buried underground archaeological structure filled with water. It is thought that the structure is to be a water cistern. The source of the water that feeding the cistern is not known. In order to be able to prove the presence of this water historical waterways were investigated. Diyarbakir waterways map were created from the obtained data. The map of the waterways drawn with as a result of historical research and geophysical surveys data obtained from The Ulu Mosque are consistent with each other.