Portugal news - The world’s first quantum gravimetry test was carried out in Lisbon under European program “Flagship in Quantum Technologies”.
Quantum gravimetry is an innovative archaeological prospecting method that is used to detect hidden remains without invasive excavations. The non-intrusive technology is capable of mapping the subsoil to detect hidden archaeological remains, and the world’s first experiment was carried out on October 9-11 in Lisbon’s Baixa Pombalina, that has archaeological layers dating back to the Iron Age and to the Phoenician presence in the city.
“The city’s underground is like an archive of archives and, by measuring the weight of different bodies that we do not see, it is possible to make a kind of radiography of what is there”, according to António Marques, from the Lisbon Archaeological Center (CAL).
The first results of the underground prospection of Lisbon will be revealed at the Lisbon EQTC conference — European Quantum Technologies Conference that will be held on November 18-20 and will highlight the potential of quantum gravimetry for urban archaeology.
The Quantum gravimetry project is undertaken in collaboration with the Portuguese Quantum Institute, the Archaeology Center of the Lisbon City Council (CAL), and French company Exail.