High Frequency Ground-Penetrating Radar Survey in the Jamestown Church: Mapping Structural Elements and Human Burial Orientation

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Ongoing investigations at the Jamestown Church include novel implementation of high-frequency (2.3GHz to 2.7GHz) GPR antennas to generate high-resolution and non-invasive subsurface data. The main targets were: 1) a potentially high-status Euro-American burial in a prominent location beneath the original church’s chancel, and 2) the original church’s western foundation wall (presumed destroyed) under the original church tower. GPR data from the burial revealed the orientation of the remains and facilitated an informed excavation strategy. This was also the first documented 3D time-slice imaging of skeletal remains with GPR. Data beneath the church tower floor identified a linear target consistent with a buried wall. Excavation confirmed this interpretation, and comparison with historical drawings showed near-perfect alignment and matching dimensions with the original (1639) church footprint. These and other Jamestown datasets demonstrate that relatively small features can be surveyed in confined spaces previously considered off-limits to GPR equipment.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Excavating the Foundations of Representative Government: A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Historical Archaeology.   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 556