>> "Nobody has yet put a spade in the ground to verify the new findings, which were painstakingly gathered by geophysicists and others wielding magnetometers an

>> "Nobody has yet put a spade in the ground to verify the new findings, which were painstakingly gathered by geophysicists and others wielding magnetometers and ground-penetrating radars that scan the ground to detect structures and objects several yards below the surface." No literal groundbreaking involved, just somewhat remote sensing, at least this time. (The Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) will reflect off jumps in eletric permittivity in the ground, which are caused by changes in material, and especially by different water contents, which can also be an indicator for different materials (such as stone in soil, or sand in soil, or soil in different soil - material with smaller pores can retain more water due to capillary effects).)