Know Before You Dig: Using Comparative Geophysical Exploration and Ground-Truthing for Surgical Excavation

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Multidisciplinary Research at 48PA551: A Middle Archaic (McKean Complex) Site in Northwest Wyoming" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This poster presents the results of geophysical exploration and excavation from new research at 48PA551, a Middle Archaic (McKean Complex) site in the Sunlight Basin of NW Wyoming. In the field season of 2017, total field magnetic survey was conducted at the site to identify and interpret areas that would be candidates for further geophysical investigation and eventual excavation. In the field season of 2018, further geophysical testing occurred using ground penetrating radar (GPR), specifically in the areas in which magnetic survey was conducted. Finally, 50 x 50 cm test units were excavated in areas suspected of containing anomalies of cultural significance. The outcome of this fieldwork model demonstrates the success of multi-technique geophysical exploration which can lead to highly successful excavation and discovery of cultural features. This method also can significantly decrease the amount of time spent conducting exploratory excavation and instead can surgically target valuable areas of cultural significance within archaeological sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Multidisciplinary Research at 48PA551: A Middle Archaic (McKean Complex) Site in Northwest Wyoming   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23611