Multi-temporal geophysical survey of a Roman bath complex in Montegrotto Terme (Padova, northern Italy)

Between 2000 and 2005, severalgeophysicalsurveyswere carriedout by the staffof the Department ofGeosciences,UniversityofPadova, onthesite oftheTermeNeronianeinMontegrotto, near Padova, coveringawhole complexof Roman spa buildings.Thiswork representedagood opportunity to compare the effectiveness of various techniques (ground-penetrating radar, magnetic gradiometry and electrical resistivity tomography) and to seek the reasons for differing results. Depth, contrast between composition of the geological background and building materials, good state of structural preservation, and the lack of settlement following the Roman age supported experimental results. Oldandmorerecentexcavations, conductedinparallelwiththeUniversityofPadovasurveys, enabled continual comparisons between geophysicalmodels and evidence from the site