Commodore Barney and the Flying Magnetometers

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Needle, Meet Haystack: The Role of Magnetometers in Underwater Archaeological Research and the Evolution of Interpreting Magnetic Data for Cultural Resource Investigations", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Commodore Joshua Barney’s Chesapeake Flotilla was composed of a collection of shallow drafted gunboats and barges designed to stave off British invasions into the Chesapeake during the American-British War of 1812. The vessels were ultimately scuttled to block the river and prevent British capture, and were swiftly buried under river sediment. The Navy excavated the suspected wreck of Barney’s flagship in 2010-11, and is now searching for the remaining scuttled vessels in the Patuxent River, employing magnetometers to find the buried wrecks. One area of interest, a large marshland, has necessitated the use of aerial magnetometers. This presentation details the methods and observations from the past few years of surveying with a drone and suspended magnetometer over difficult terrain in which marine magnetometers cannot be deployed. It also discusses the challenges of acquiring consistent data and plans for future applications and methodological refinement.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Needle, Meet Haystack: The Role of Magnetometers in Underwater Archaeological Research and the Evolution of Interpreting Magnetic Data for Cultural Resource Investigations

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow