Assessing the Subjectivity of Soil Characteristics Using CRM Case Studies

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Various resources are typically consulted to determine soil characteristics prior to and during archaeological excavations, such as USDA’s Web Soil Survey, California Soil Resource Lab’s SoilWeb, and the Munsell Color System. The determination of soil color and texture are often impacted by the education level, work experience, geographic familiarity, and perception of color by the excavators. Multiple Cultural Resource Management surveys conducted in New England by Power Engineers, Inc. will be utilized as case studies evaluating the subjectivity and inconsistencies of reporting soil characteristics during fieldwork in contrast with nationally reported soil data.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53791