On August 4, the Supreme Court of India directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to conduct a detailed non-invasive survey of the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh to determine if the mosque was built atop a temple. As the matter has significant political implications, it is important to understand the working principles of the scientific methods used in such surveys, their abilities, and their limitations.
Archaeology has, due to the ever-increasing social and legal complexities that it found itself confronting, embraced modern scientific methods, including from physics, molecular biology, geology, and anthropology. Archaeological investigations are normally performed in open spaces, along with excavation, where scientists have the option to use both ground and airborne systems to identify and test targets.
