Geophysical Survey and Remote Sensing at Gast Farm, Southeast Iowa: Hidden Mounds and Middle and Late Woodland Community Plans

Summary

Gast Farm (13LA12), situated on a Mississippi River valley alluvial fan, has been a focus of interdisciplinary study since 1990. Surface collections and excavations documented two Woodland communities and one mound. The Weaver community (Late Woodland, ca. A.D. 400) was determined to have been a circular village with a central plaza, but details of the Havana community (Middle Woodland, ca. A.D. 100) and mound structure were not clear. Aerial imagery seemed to indicate the presence of geometric earthworks. Magnetic survey in 2016 confirmed the circular-plaza layout of the Weaver village and discovered that the Havana community was apparently organized as a ca. 130 x 110-m ring of domestic features surrounding a central plaza. This may be the first complete plan of a Havana village (as opposed to a hamlet) to be documented. The 2016 survey also found no evidence of geometric earthworks but discovered six additional mounds.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21297