Muon Radiography Method for Non-Invasive Probing an Archaeological Site in the Naryn-Kala Citadel

Muon radiography emerges as a powerful, non-invasive tool for probing the hidden structures of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. A two-month experiment at Derbent’s Naryn-Kala Citadel, using nuclear emulsion detectors buried 10 meters underground, demonstrated the method’s potential to reconstruct internal archaeological features with unprecedented resolution. By leveraging muon radiography combined with advanced image analysis, researchers achieved a high-resolution 3D reconstruction of subsurface structures, offering a novel approach for studying inaccessible or buried heritage sites without physical intrusion.

Abiev, A., Bagulya, A., Chernyavskiy, M., Dashkina, A., Dimitrienko, A., Gadjiev, A., Gadjiev, M., Galkin, V., Gippius, A., Goncharova, L., Grachev, V., Konovalova, N., Managadze, A., Okateva, N., Polukhina, N., Roganova, T., Shchedrina, T., Starkov, N., Teymurov, A., et al. (2019). Muon Radiography Method for Non-Invasive Probing an Archaeological Site in the Naryn-Kala Citadel. Applied Sciences, 9(10), 2040. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9102040