CI P A 2003 XIX 11 ' International Symposium, 30 September - 04 October, 2003, Antalya, Turkey 
archaeological structures are often superimposed. Besides the 
strong signal connected to the anchorages of the vineyard and 
the diffused background noise caused by the presence of sparse 
offending magnetic items rendered the correct visualization of 
the buried archaeological sources more difficult. 
3.3 Santomola (Italy) 
The third magnetic survey was executed in a military zone. 
During some channeling works a few tombs belonging to a 
necropolis of the V-1I century B.C. were revealed. The tombs 
were dug inside a compact and well cemented grainstone and 
some of them have also a counterfosse. The thickness of the 
ground of coverage never overcomes 0.5 m. The archaeologists 
of the Archaeological Superintendence of Apulia had only a 
limited time to access the site and to effect systematic studies. 
Therefore to better define the extension of the necropolis and 
guide some aimed excavations a geophysical investigation was 
undertaken. The total surface of the surveyed area was notably 
influenced by the presence of metallic enclosures and a large 
fuel silo buried in the ground. Notwithstanding all the possible 
precautions, the effect of this last source of intense magnetic 
noise is evident in Figure 6, in the southern part of 
magnetogram 2. 
Figure 6. Surveyed area in Santomola. The strong magnetic 
signal visible in the magnetogram 2 represent the effect of a big 
fuel silo buried in the ground. The spot localized anomalies are 
connected to the presence of the graves. 
Figure 7. The black line in a) and b) represents the limit of the digs executed in the areas 1 and 2 of Figure 6. The recovered tombs 
are well shown in c) and d). The good correspondence between the position of the tombs and the magnetic anomalies appears very 
clear.