Geophysics (Other Keyword)
1-25 (64 Records)
January 2014 was the 100th anniversary of the loss of the Royal Navy submarine A7, sunk during a training exercise off Plymouth, England. All contemporary salvage attempts failed and the submarine was abandoned on the seabed and forgotten, but the wreck was rediscovered by sports divers in 1981. In 2001, problems with sports divers removing parts of the submarine prompted the UK Ministry of Defence to designate the site under the Protection of Military Remains Act and all diving was banned. In...
Applying Geophysical Survey for Research, Preservation, and Interpretation along the Transcontinental Railroad (2021)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Transitioning from Commemoration to Analysis on the Transcontinental Railroad in Utah: Papers in Honor and Memory of Judge Michael Wei Kwan" , at the 2021 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Geophysical survey techniques offer unique approaches to research, preservation, and interpretation, particularly when subsurface testing is limited or untenable. Historic archaeological excavations are severely limited in Utah, given...
Archaeological Night-Vision: Experiments in Aerial Thermography (2016)
For several decades it has been known that aerial thermography can be used as a geophysical prospecting method. The accidental discovery of an ancient Sinagua agricultural field complex in 1966 prompted a series of experiments throughout the 1970s and 1980s, which confirmed the effectiveness of aerial thermography in archaeological applications. Even so, thermal imaging was rarely utilized in archaeological field research due to the extreme costs and high level of technical expertise demanded by...
Beyond the Basin: Forensic Archaeology in Tennessee (2017)
As professors at Hamilton College, G. Tom Jones and Charlotte Beck taught their students how to engage in research and how to be effective instructors in the classroom. I have used these lessons to build a career in forensic anthropology. My long-term research at the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Tennessee has centered on establishing techniques to best examine burned bones and also on the application of geophysical methods to locate clandestine graves. This research has led...
"The Brandywine Creek has two branches which are very good for crossing" : The search for Trimble’s Ford (2016)
On the morning of 11 September 1777, Hessian Captain Johan Ewald was leading an advance force ahead of the Crown Forces column that outflanked the American position along Brandywine Creek. The precise location of Trimble’s Ford, where the Crown Forces ultimately crossed the west branch of the Brandywine, and the road system that was traveled by the Crown Forces to reach the ford was the subject of a multi-faceted study. Geophysical investigation utilizing ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and...
Changes in Indigenous Occupation Strategies in Eastern Pennsylvania: An Exploration of Changing Land Use at the Red Hole Site (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This poster summarizes the preliminary results of a survey conducted in eastern Pennsylvania exploring land use through time performed as part of a master’s thesis. The Red Hole site is in Schuylkill County’s anthracite region and was identified in 1968 as a multicomponent campsite with occupations ranging from the Archaic to the contact periods. Due to...
Combining Geophysics, Photogrammetry, and Archaeological Testing at the Mississippian Pile Mound Site, Upper Cumberland Plateau, Tennessee (2015)
The Pile Mound survey includes magnetometry paired with targeted ground-penetrating radar (GPR), electromagnetic induction (EMI), low-altitude aerial photogrammetry and test excavations over the ca. 6.5 ha site. The EMI survey focused on the mound proper and several distinct magnetometry anomalies to the south and east. The aerial imagery was used to create a photomosaic and digital elevation model (DEM) of the mound and immediate surroundings, and to topographically correct the GPR data. From...
Determining village extent and layout utilizing geophysical survey and excavation at the Mississippian site of Cane River, North Carolina (2015)
Geophysical techniques can help to clarify the extent of a site and show spatial relationships between structures, therefore guiding research and excavation strategies. When monuments and larger structural elements are absent, feature density can be a reliable proxy for occupation areas and village boundaries. Utilizing a combination of magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar survey at the Cane River site in North Carolina, we were able to locate borrow pits, storage pits, structures, and...
Developing A Minimally Invasive Protocol For Assessing Site Eligibility On The North Training Area, Camp Guernsey, Wyoming (2015)
The North Training Area of Camp Guernsey is located within the Hartville Uplift of eastern Wyoming, an area rich in archaeological resources particularly extensive formations of toolstone quality raw materials. Because of the potential for live training exercises to impact cultural resources, the Wyoming National Guard proposed the development of an experimental testing protocol of selected sites using minimally invasive methodologies that included geophysics and small diameter auger probes. ...
Development of Magnetic Susceptibility Instrumentation and Applications (2015)
A 1997 NCPTT grant to develop a prototype down-hole magnetic susceptibility instrument arose out of frustration with existing technology and a desire to expand archeological field studies of magnetic susceptibility. This instrument allowed high-resolution vertical investigations of susceptibility within a small diameter (ca. 2.5 cm) hole made with a push-tube corer. An NSF grant supported improvement of the prototype via robust laboratory and field testing, resulting in a final engineered...
Digging Dartmouth: Community Archaeology at an 18th Century House Site on the Dartmouth Green (2020)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Public Archaeology in New Hampshire: Museum and University Research" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This paper presents initial results of a campus archaeological project at Dartmouth College, founded in 1769 in Hanover, NH. As part of Dartmouth’s 250th anniversary, we began a historic mapping effort to locate 18th century house sites, and then worked with students enrolled in relevant courses to conduct...
Examining Mandan and Arikara Agricultural Production at Fort Clark in the Fur Trade Era (2017)
The Mandan/Arikara earthlodge village adjacent to the American Fur Company’s Fort Clark in North Dakota is well-documented, appearing in the accounts and depictions of Catlin, Maximilian, and Bodmer, among others. The village was originally constructed in 1822 by the Mandans, who occupied the settlement until the widespread 1837 smallpox epidemic, after which the Arikaras appropriated the village. Historical documents suggest the Mandans and Arikaras traded crucial resources, namely maize, to...
The Fate of Far West: Geophysical Investigations to Locate the Wreck of an Iconic Upper Missouri Mountain Packet Steamboat (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Maritime Transportation, History, and War in the 19th-Century Americas" session, at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Far West is legendary as part of the history of steamboating on the Upper Missouri River. It is especially noteworthy for its association with the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn. In many ways Far West is iconic as a historically well documented steamboat employed in the Missouri River trade and transport. It's...
Finding the Children: Searching for Unmarked Graves at Indian Residential School Sites in Canada (2023)
This is an abstract from the session entitled "Boarding And Residential Schools: Healing, Survivance And Indigenous Persistence", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In May 2021, the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc First Nation in British Columbia, Canada, announced that 215 potential unmarked graves were located near the Kamloops Indian Residential School using ground-penetrating radar conducted by archaeologists. While this was not the first announcement of...
Fusing Multiple Remote-Sensing Technologies to Identify the Elusive Barricade from the 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend (2016)
Horseshoe Bend is the scene of an important and controversial battle that took place during the Creek Wars of 1813-14. Over 800 Creek warriors were killed during the battle, the largest number of American Indian deaths from any battle in United States history. Recent scholarship has shown that this battle and its aftermath were the end of a 60 year struggle for control of the trans-Appalachian interior. These conflicts began with the French and Indian War (1754-63) and continued until the end of...
Geophysical Explorations at a Reservoir Site in Southwestern Oklahoma (2015)
The erosion and subsequent looting of archaeological materials from reservoir sites has long been a cause for concern. The damming of rivers results in the inundation of prehistoric camp and burial sites. Human remains and associated burial goods are a favorite of looters, and are frequently exposed by the rise and fall of reservoir waters. This project employs geospatial analysis of the Lake Altus-Lugert reservoir in southwestern Oklahoma to locate high-risk sites before they are exposed to...
Geophysical Investigation at Fort Motte: Delineating the Fort and Searching for the Sap. (2016)
Investigation of the Revolutionary War site of Fort Motte (38CL1) has been ongoing since 2004. In the 2015 field season volunteers and the summer archaeological field school assisted the work by analyzing 9200 sq meters of the roughly 13 acres of the primary battlefield site by dual gradiometer. Eventually the entire 13 acres will be analyzed. This paper presents the findings to date with special attention to the fortification, plantation house and sap.
Geophysical Investigations at the Hanna's Town Cemetery, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (2016)
Hanna's Town (36WM203), an 18th century site located in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, was a major settlement that was attacked and destroyed by a force of British and Native Americans in 1782. The town never fully recovered, and the land was repurposed for agricultural use until it was purchased in 1969 by Westmoreland County, who reconstructed the town for tourism purposes. Overlooking the site is the town's cemetery, which has been given little attention in regards to research. The...
The Geophysical Investigations at the Tzib Group in Pacbitun, Belize (2016)
The archaeological site of Pacbitun is one of the ancient sites that was inhabited by the Maya for approximately two thousand years. It is located in the west central side of Belize, near the town of San Antonio. Exploration of the surveyed areas revealed a smaller archaeological site in 2011 known as the Tzib Group, also known as “Mano Mound” due to the significant amounts of mano fragments found on the surface. In the 2014 summer season, geophysical data was collected using an instrument...
Geophysical Investigations of Archaeological Sites in Alaska’s National Parks and Preserves: 2016 Field Season (2017)
Alaska’s National Parks and Preserves have seen increased use of geophysical methods for cultural resource management and archeological research in the past several years. Here we describe the results of geophysical surveys conducted at several of Alaska’s National Parks and Preserves in the summer of 2016 as part of an ongoing effort that has span several field seasons and has now included eight parks and preserves. Examples from 2016 include research at Gates of the Arctic National Park and...
Geophysical Survey and Phase II Archaeological Evaluations of Site 46KA681, Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia (2018)
In mid-2017, CRA personnel conducted a geophysical survey and Phase II archaeological excavations on a tract of land adjacent to the Elk River in Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia. The property is the location of Site 46KA681, which is a multicomponent site that includes evidence of both prehistoric and historic occupations. The prehistoric component consists of a small habitation site of unknown cultural or temporal affiliation, while the historic component dates to as early as the...
Geophysics and Historical Archaeology: A Collaboration Between Two Departments (2016)
In June and July of 2015, Industrial Archaeologists from Michigan Technological University working with MTU's geophyics field school conducted field work that consisted of the use of ground penetrating radar, magnetometry, resistivity testing, and LIDAR, to help identify the location of features associated with the earliest African American pioneers of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This poster details the process and discusses the findings.
GPR Survey of the Brown Mound at Spiro (2017)
This poster presents the results of GPR survey at the Brown Mound, an earthen platform mound at the Spiro site in eastern Oklahoma. The mound was targeted by looters in the 1930s and was subsequently tested in the 1930s and 1980s by professional archaeologists. However, Brown Mound remains poorly understood because, for the most part, these excavations did not extend deeply enough to provide good information on mound stratigraphy or internal features. Our survey obtained nearly 100% coverage of...
GPR, Metal Detection and Archaeological Investigation at the Denton Homesite, Greenfield, NY (2022)
This is a poster submission presented at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. This poster reports the results of ground-penetrating radar (GPR), metal detection, excavation, and artifact analysis of an 18th century farmstead and late 19th century estate at the Denton Home Site in Greenfield, New York. Beginning in 1775, the area was home to Revolutionary War veteran Preston Denton, his wife Esther Deyoe Denton, and their six children. A century later, Henry Hilton...
Ground-Penetrating Radar and Topographic Correction Using Ground-Based Photogrammetry at the Late Archaic Ceremonial Site of Caballete (Fortaleza Valley, Peru) (2016)
Caballete is a Late Archaic (3000-1800 B.C.) ceremonial site located in the Fortaleza Valley of Peru. In 2015, a focused archaeo-geophysical survey was conducted as a pilot effort to determine the utility of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and magnetometry in locating subsurface features at the site. The Caballete survey included approximately 1.5 ha of targeted GPR and a smaller magnetometry survey across the 400 ha site. The site features six platform mounds ranging from approximately 5 to 17 m...