Idszondozás

Idszondozás is a Hungarian term for “subsurface probing” or “ground‑penetrating investigation.” It describes the systematic use of geophysical methods to identify and map buried features such as archaeological remains, utilities, or geological structures. Typically the technique relies on generating waves—electromagnetic, seismic, or acoustic—at the surface and recording their reflections or transmissions from subsurface interfaces. The recorded signals are processed to produce images or profiles that reveal the size, shape, depth, and material composition of hidden objects.

The origins of idszondozás in Hungary can be traced to the 1970s when the country’s Ministry of Culture began encouraging non‑destructive survey of historical sites. Early applications combined ground‑penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometry, and by the 1990s the field expanded to include electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and seismic refraction. Today, idszondozás is widely employed by archaeologists, civil engineers, and land surveyors, with protocols regulated by national heritage laws and safety guidelines.

In practice, an idszondozás survey starts with a reconnaissance of site geometry, followed by the selection of appropriate sensors and survey patterns. Data are corrected for environmental noise and then inverted through mathematical models to produce subsurface cross‑sections. Interpretation often requires interdisciplinary collaboration; for example, a geophysicist and an archaeologist jointly evaluate anomalies to differentiate between natural and anthropogenic features.

Scholarly literature on idszondozás includes both peer‑reviewed articles and applied reports. Notable works cover case studies of Roman settlements in the Great Hungarian Plain, the detection of historical mines in the Tapolca Basin, and the assessment of underground utilities in Budapest’s urban infrastructure. The field continues to evolve rapidly as sensor technology improves and computational power enables more sophisticated inversion algorithms.