A Comparative Approach to Characterizing Magnetic Geophysical Anomalies on the Pinson Landscape with Regard to Excavated Features

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Future of Geoarchaeology: Student Research and Insights" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Since the 1990s, geophysical surveys have played an important role in identifying and surveying, planning excavations at, and interpreting archaeological sites in North America. Magnetic differences in soils and sediments have been one near universal advantage to archaeologists who utilize geophysical surveys for a variety of reasons in their research. However, understanding the magnetic response of buried archaeological and natural features requires a close understanding of depositional and formation processes inherent to localized geomorphic landforms. In this poster we compare magnetic values from surveys and excavations at three archaeological sites along the South Fork of the Forked Deer River in West Tennessee associated with Pinson Mounds State Archaeological Park. Our comparative analyses across these sites on similar landforms, comprised of similar soil composition, provide a foundation through which we attempt to characterize archaeological features at the Elijah Bray Site (40CS95). We integrate magnetic values, shape of magnetic response, and excavation data to better discern what certain magnetic signatures might indicate with respect to feature type. Applying this analysis to other magnetic anomalies, and future magnetometer surveys, on the Pinson Landscape could help better inform feature excavation planning and site interpretations.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• The Future of Geoarchaeology: Student Research and Insights

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 54080