Geoelectrical Surveys in the First Spanish
Settlement on the Pacific Coast of the
Americas, Panama
En: European Association of Geoscientists &
Engineers (EAGE) Near Surface Geoscience –
18th European Meeting of Environmental and
Engineering Geophysics. Ciudad de París Francia,
Septiembre, 2012
Autores: Alexis Mojica1, Aline Kottmann, Roger
Guérin, Louis Pastor, Nicolas Florsch, Richard
Vanhoeserlande, Christian Camerlynck y Arno
Patzelt
1
Centro Experimental de Ingeniería, Universidad
Tecnológica de Panamá
Contacto: [email protected]
Abstract: results of electrical mapping and
electrical resistivity imaging at the Panama Viejo
archaeological site, Panama (Central America)
are presented; this ancient colonial city was the
first and most important European settlement of
the Pacific coast of the Americas during the
spanish conquest. To understand the use of natural
resources and the lifestyles of the first european
people who settled on the Isthmus of Panama after
the discovery of America, a serie of surveys were
conducted. The results of electrical mapping and
one of the electrical resistivity tomography
reveled a group of resistivity anomalies associated
with pebble floors, colonial roads, stone rubbles
and foundations of historical buildings. Another
set of electrical resistivity tomography was
developed in the Eastern sector of the city, near to
the ocean; the results showed electrical anomalies
linked to bedrock and saline intrusion. These
results give us valuable information about the
boundaries of the ancient city. The information
obtained was validated by the archaeological
survey on the site.
Keywords: archaeological prospecting, electrical
mapping, Geophysics, Isthmus of Panama,
tomography.