Monday, July 04, 2016

New technology locates Holocaust tunnel

TECHNOLOGY WATCH: New Device Allows Scientist to Uncover Holocaust Tunnel Without Disturbing Historical Sites (Jamie A., Nature World News).
A new device has helped archaeologists uncover a secret holocaust tunnel without digging on the site.

A team of archaeologists, geophysicists and historians from U.S., Canada, Lithuania and Israel discovered the tunnel using a scanning technology called electrical resistivity tomography, which is the same device used in mineral and oil exploration.

The device allowed the researchers to pinpoint the tunnel's location without digging.

The legendary tunnel, known as Paneriai, is located in the Ponar forest in Lithuania, outside the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. According to the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Jewish prisoners secretly dug out the 112-feet long tunnel using spoons to escape the Nazis during World War II.

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This story is about archaeological verification of a tiny victory in a modern period of horrors, but the technology has much potential for ancient archaeology as well. It is an example of the non-invasive and non-destructive technologies that I keep saying are the way of the future for the study of ancient material culture and architecture.