Beyond Fort Walls: Geophysical and Archaeological Investigations of Fort Haldimand, Carleton Island, New York

Summary

During the American Revolutionary War, Carleton Island was home to the British naval base Fort Haldimand. Located on the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York, the base served as an important connection between Québec and British interior forts. The Thousand Island Land Trust protects Fort Haldimand, but the area immediately outside the fort is privately owned. During June 2015, archaeologists from Indiana University of Pennsylvania implemented a variety of geophysical and archaeological techniques to determine if intact features existed outside of the fort. The area was surveyed with an electromagnetic profiler, a dual gradiometer system, and ground penetrating radar. Based off of the geophysical results, 13 excavation units were placed in areas showing anomalies. The 1m by 1m units yielded two features, as well as a variety of 18th century artifacts, with the majority of the artifacts being found in units closest to the fort. This poster will highlight how the geophysical techniques helped in planning our archaeological excavation, the artifacts recovered from the site, and their importance in interpreting activities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage