The Saoura region, a renowned oasis in North Africa with heritage and archaeological significance of both national and universal importance, has witnessed a gradual deterioration over time. This research involves archaeological predictive modelling, aiming to create models capable of predicting the likelihood of discovering archaeological sites, cultural resources or evidence of past landscape use within a specific region. The study specifically focuses on predicting the locations of historical sites in the Sahara Desert, employing the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model and six geo-environmental criteria, including slope, elevation (digital elevation model [DEM]), distance from water, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), fertility and proximity to palm groves. The research is based on data from 58 historical sites and includes an assessment of the model's accuracy. The study highlights the remarkable significance of the fertility variable, which accounts for 94.1% of the predictive influence, making it the most crucial geo-environmental factor in forecasting the location of historical sites in the Sahara. This underscores its pivotal role in shaping settlement patterns and subsistence strategies within the region, followed by the distance variable from the palm cove (3.2%) and the distance variable from the river (2.3%). The MaxEnt model proves to be suitable for predicting historical site positions, with an impressive average area under the ROC curve (AUC) score of 0.859, reflecting its effectiveness. Notably, areas with a high prediction probability are predominantly situated near the Saoura Valley. The study's findings hold the potential to assist planners in safeguarding archaeological sites by avoiding areas where historical sites are likely to be present.
{"title":"Utilizing the MaxEnt machine learning model to forecast urban heritage sites in the desert regions of southwestern Algeria: A case study in the Saoura region","authors":"Guechi Imen, Gherraz Halima, Korichi Ayoub, Alkama Djamel","doi":"10.1002/arp.1923","DOIUrl":"10.1002/arp.1923","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Saoura region, a renowned oasis in North Africa with heritage and archaeological significance of both national and universal importance, has witnessed a gradual deterioration over time. This research involves archaeological predictive modelling, aiming to create models capable of predicting the likelihood of discovering archaeological sites, cultural resources or evidence of past landscape use within a specific region. The study specifically focuses on predicting the locations of historical sites in the Sahara Desert, employing the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model and six geo-environmental criteria, including slope, elevation (digital elevation model [DEM]), distance from water, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), fertility and proximity to palm groves. The research is based on data from 58 historical sites and includes an assessment of the model's accuracy. The study highlights the remarkable significance of the fertility variable, which accounts for 94.1% of the predictive influence, making it the most crucial geo-environmental factor in forecasting the location of historical sites in the Sahara. This underscores its pivotal role in shaping settlement patterns and subsistence strategies within the region, followed by the distance variable from the palm cove (3.2%) and the distance variable from the river (2.3%). The MaxEnt model proves to be suitable for predicting historical site positions, with an impressive average area under the ROC curve (AUC) score of 0.859, reflecting its effectiveness. Notably, areas with a high prediction probability are predominantly situated near the Saoura Valley. The study's findings hold the potential to assist planners in safeguarding archaeological sites by avoiding areas where historical sites are likely to be present.</p>","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138691849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The real-time use of drone-derived orthoimagery and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) facilitate conjunctive ground surveying and aerial visual reference of subterranean features within cemeteries. Geospatially referenced visual outputs allow sympathetic restoration and assist in understanding historical use. Two contrasting case studies demonstrate this: The first is a subterranean wall, built to separate Catholic and Protestant burials in a civic cemetery. The second example is the accurate positioning of unmarked inhumations in an Irish Famine burial ground, which facilitated preservation as a memorial garden in a hospital complex.
{"title":"Combined use of drones and geophysics in enhancing cemetery studies: Two case studies in Northern Ireland, UK","authors":"Ruffell Alastair, Rocke Benjamin","doi":"10.1002/arp.1922","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1922","url":null,"abstract":"The real-time use of drone-derived orthoimagery and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) facilitate conjunctive ground surveying and aerial visual reference of subterranean features within cemeteries. Geospatially referenced visual outputs allow sympathetic restoration and assist in understanding historical use. Two contrasting case studies demonstrate this: The first is a subterranean wall, built to separate Catholic and Protestant burials in a civic cemetery. The second example is the accurate positioning of unmarked inhumations in an Irish Famine burial ground, which facilitated preservation as a memorial garden in a hospital complex.","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138631520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
John Wall, DelWayne R. Bohnenstiehl, Norman S. Levine, John K. Millhauser, Dru E. McGill, Karl W. Wegmann, Vincent Melomo
Oberlin Cemetery, located near downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, was founded in 1873 following the American Civil War (1861–1865). This 3.2 ac (~1.29 ha) parcel of land served as the main cemetery for the people of Oberlin Village—the largest freedmen's community in Wake County. Today, descendants of the village founders and other neighbourhood residents, organized as the Friends of Oberlin Village (FOV), are preserving this community landmark and working to have its historical significance recognized. In support of these efforts, terrestrial laser scanning, global-positioning-system-enabled pedestrian and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were conducted during the winter and summer of 2016. We inventoried 276 formal grave markers identifying 221 individuals, 296 elongate depressions without a formal marker interpreted as sunken graves, and 130 fieldstones interpreted as burial markers, resulting in an estimate of 517-to-660 persons interred within the cemetery. The GPR survey supported the interpretation of topographic depressions as sunken graves; however, the undulating topography, as well as the density of trees and shrubs, limited this survey to ~12% of the site. Based on the birth dates listed on monuments, ~23% of these persons were born before the end of the Civil War. Death dates show the community's continued use of the cemetery throughout the early 1970s and less frequent use after that, with the most recent burials in 2009. A comparison with a 2012 inventory of monuments within Oberlin Cemetery suggests that ~3% of the markers were lost or displaced in 4 years, highlighting the importance of survey and preservation efforts. This work contributed to the FOV's successful nomination of the cemetery to the US National Register of Historic Places and was used to support several grants received for its preservation.
{"title":"A geospatial and archaeological investigation of an African–American cemetery in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA","authors":"John Wall, DelWayne R. Bohnenstiehl, Norman S. Levine, John K. Millhauser, Dru E. McGill, Karl W. Wegmann, Vincent Melomo","doi":"10.1002/arp.1921","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1921","url":null,"abstract":"Oberlin Cemetery, located near downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, USA, was founded in 1873 following the American Civil War (1861–1865). This 3.2 ac (~1.29 ha) parcel of land served as the main cemetery for the people of Oberlin Village—the largest freedmen's community in Wake County. Today, descendants of the village founders and other neighbourhood residents, organized as the Friends of Oberlin Village (FOV), are preserving this community landmark and working to have its historical significance recognized. In support of these efforts, terrestrial laser scanning, global-positioning-system-enabled pedestrian and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were conducted during the winter and summer of 2016. We inventoried 276 formal grave markers identifying 221 individuals, 296 elongate depressions without a formal marker interpreted as sunken graves, and 130 fieldstones interpreted as burial markers, resulting in an estimate of 517-to-660 persons interred within the cemetery. The GPR survey supported the interpretation of topographic depressions as sunken graves; however, the undulating topography, as well as the density of trees and shrubs, limited this survey to ~12% of the site. Based on the birth dates listed on monuments, ~23% of these persons were born before the end of the Civil War. Death dates show the community's continued use of the cemetery throughout the early 1970s and less frequent use after that, with the most recent burials in 2009. A comparison with a 2012 inventory of monuments within Oberlin Cemetery suggests that ~3% of the markers were lost or displaced in 4 years, highlighting the importance of survey and preservation efforts. This work contributed to the FOV's successful nomination of the cemetery to the US National Register of Historic Places and was used to support several grants received for its preservation.","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138528841","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Arshavir Hovhannisyan, Arsen Bobokhyan, René Kunze, Jörg W. E. Fassbinder, Sandra E. Hahn, Dmitri Arakelyan, Avetis Grigoryan, Marianna Harutyunyan, Varduhi Siradeghyan
Within the framework of an Armenian–German research project, taking place between 2019 and 2021 on the Artanish Peninsula at Lake Sevan (Armenia), in addition to numerous (geo-) archaeological investigations, methods of geochemical prospection have been carried out. The ancient burial grounds of Artanish 23 and Artanish 29 have served as model sites to successfully test the well-known method of geochemical prospection and evaluation of metal deposits in geology (mineral sector). As a result, a new experimental archaeo-geochemical prospecting and evaluation method has been developed, which has been adapted for the exploration of archaeological monuments. It is planned to use this experimental method (which we consider new and important in archaeogeochemical investigation, but not a conclusive and comprehensive work per se), which has already proven its work capacity, in archaeological research, in the prospective areas of Armenia and other countries. In addition to these investigations, research on the transformations in the landscape of the ancient tombs related to Lake Sevan fluctuations has also been carried out. The anthropogenic impact of humans on the environment (geochemical halos formed in the soil on the surface of the tombs) has been studied, as well as the problem of the impact of geological environment on human life activities, that is, the relocation of the burial grounds to more elevated areas due to the rise in the lake level. Based on the results of geochemical sampling and high-resolution magnetometer surveys, excavations have been performed at the site. Here, we present the results of an experimental study exploring the potential of combined magnetometer prospection and chemical soil analyses to locate and characterize the burial ground of Artanish on Lake Sevan, Armenia. The results have demonstrated the capability of these analyses to detect the sites, outline hotspots and interpret the features identified in the magnetometer results.
{"title":"Geoarchaeological investigations in Artanish Peninsula, Armenia: Testing a new geochemical prospecting method for archaeology","authors":"Arshavir Hovhannisyan, Arsen Bobokhyan, René Kunze, Jörg W. E. Fassbinder, Sandra E. Hahn, Dmitri Arakelyan, Avetis Grigoryan, Marianna Harutyunyan, Varduhi Siradeghyan","doi":"10.1002/arp.1917","DOIUrl":"10.1002/arp.1917","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Within the framework of an Armenian–German research project, taking place between 2019 and 2021 on the Artanish Peninsula at Lake Sevan (Armenia), in addition to numerous (geo-) archaeological investigations, methods of geochemical prospection have been carried out. The ancient burial grounds of Artanish 23 and Artanish 29 have served as model sites to successfully test the well-known method of geochemical prospection and evaluation of metal deposits in geology (mineral sector). As a result, a new experimental archaeo-geochemical prospecting and evaluation method has been developed, which has been adapted for the exploration of archaeological monuments. It is planned to use this experimental method (which we consider new and important in archaeogeochemical investigation, but not a conclusive and comprehensive work per se), which has already proven its work capacity, in archaeological research, in the prospective areas of Armenia and other countries. In addition to these investigations, research on the transformations in the landscape of the ancient tombs related to Lake Sevan fluctuations has also been carried out. The anthropogenic impact of humans on the environment (geochemical halos formed in the soil on the surface of the tombs) has been studied, as well as the problem of the impact of geological environment on human life activities, that is, the relocation of the burial grounds to more elevated areas due to the rise in the lake level. Based on the results of geochemical sampling and high-resolution magnetometer surveys, excavations have been performed at the site. Here, we present the results of an experimental study exploring the potential of combined magnetometer prospection and chemical soil analyses to locate and characterize the burial ground of Artanish on Lake Sevan, Armenia. The results have demonstrated the capability of these analyses to detect the sites, outline hotspots and interpret the features identified in the magnetometer results.</p>","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/arp.1917","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138528843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrew Martindale, William T. D. Wadsworth, Eric Simons, Brian Whiting, Colin Grier
The identification of unmarked graves and burials is one of most common applications of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in archaeology. Despite a high frequency of use and a long history of experimentation, there appears to be considerable variability on what indicates a burial in GPR data—likely a consequence of heterogeneity in geological contexts, age and in burial practices. Although general statements about uncertainty in GPR interpretation may be acceptable in archaeological applications, the interpretative process becomes more complicated when GPR is used to locate unmarked graves in culturally, politically and legally contested locations such as at former Indian Residential Schools (IRSs) in Canada. In this paper, we review international applications of the technique and identify trends and traits between the authors' use of GPR to identify burials. By categorizing the studies based on the GPR reflection signatures identified, our review demonstrates that there is modest consensus across the 77 documents reviewed for what represents a burial. Interrogating these findings, we identify a range of potential contributors to signal heterogeneity and outline potential steps forward to a higher confidence or more statistically robust identification of unmarked graves using GPR.
{"title":"The challenges of signal interpretation of burials in ground-penetrating radar","authors":"Andrew Martindale, William T. D. Wadsworth, Eric Simons, Brian Whiting, Colin Grier","doi":"10.1002/arp.1920","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1920","url":null,"abstract":"The identification of unmarked graves and burials is one of most common applications of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in archaeology. Despite a high frequency of use and a long history of experimentation, there appears to be considerable variability on what indicates a burial in GPR data—likely a consequence of heterogeneity in geological contexts, age and in burial practices. Although general statements about uncertainty in GPR interpretation may be acceptable in archaeological applications, the interpretative process becomes more complicated when GPR is used to locate unmarked graves in culturally, politically and legally contested locations such as at former Indian Residential Schools (IRSs) in Canada. In this paper, we review international applications of the technique and identify trends and traits between the authors' use of GPR to identify burials. By categorizing the studies based on the GPR reflection signatures identified, our review demonstrates that there is modest consensus across the 77 documents reviewed for what represents a burial. Interrogating these findings, we identify a range of potential contributors to signal heterogeneity and outline potential steps forward to a higher confidence or more statistically robust identification of unmarked graves using GPR.","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138528826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Claiborne D. Sea, Patricia Kemp, Rachel Cajigas, Elliot H. Blair
This paper serves to highlight the partnership built between the Prewitt Slave Cemetery Association (PSCA) and the University of Alabama (UA) through the work conducted by the UA archaeological field school at the Prewitt Slave Cemetery (PSC) in Fall 2022. During this collaborative project, the field school students geolocated, recorded and photographed more than 700 above-ground grave markers and conducted a multi-method geophysical survey that included magnetic gradiometry, electrical resistance, electromagnetic induction and ground-penetrating radar. Results from this survey aided researchers in identifying the locations of over 800 marked and unmarked graves. The benefits of the partnership between PSCA and UA were mutual and multiple. First, the data recorded by the UA field school helped the PSCA achieve its immediate goal of identifying unmarked graves, allowing the organization to move forward with efforts to preserve and protect the PSC. Second, the UA field school students gained valuable experience related to proper cemetery study techniques, including geophysical survey, and learned to conduct community-based participatory research in collaboration with descendant communities. Additionally, this project allowed for further research related to the use of multiple methods of geophysical instrumentation for identifying unmarked graves beyond ground-penetrating radar.
{"title":"Collaborative multimethod geophysics at the Prewitt Slave Cemetery, Northport, Alabama","authors":"Claiborne D. Sea, Patricia Kemp, Rachel Cajigas, Elliot H. Blair","doi":"10.1002/arp.1919","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1919","url":null,"abstract":"This paper serves to highlight the partnership built between the Prewitt Slave Cemetery Association (PSCA) and the University of Alabama (UA) through the work conducted by the UA archaeological field school at the Prewitt Slave Cemetery (PSC) in Fall 2022. During this collaborative project, the field school students geolocated, recorded and photographed more than 700 above-ground grave markers and conducted a multi-method geophysical survey that included magnetic gradiometry, electrical resistance, electromagnetic induction and ground-penetrating radar. Results from this survey aided researchers in identifying the locations of over 800 marked and unmarked graves. The benefits of the partnership between PSCA and UA were mutual and multiple. First, the data recorded by the UA field school helped the PSCA achieve its immediate goal of identifying unmarked graves, allowing the organization to move forward with efforts to preserve and protect the PSC. Second, the UA field school students gained valuable experience related to proper cemetery study techniques, including geophysical survey, and learned to conduct community-based participatory research in collaboration with descendant communities. Additionally, this project allowed for further research related to the use of multiple methods of geophysical instrumentation for identifying unmarked graves beyond ground-penetrating radar.","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138528823","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
William T. D. Wadsworth, Stephanie Halmhofer, Kisha Supernant
Abstract In North America, archaeological prospection has recently undergone a surge in popularity, resulting in higher visibility for both scientific and fringe narratives. This has been partially due to increasingly sensationalized media articles that promote the use of technology to locate overgrown and subsurface features in the landscape. The heightened profile of the field and increasingly sensitive contexts in which it is applied (e.g., locating potential unmarked graves) has expanded the discipline beyond its usual settings where typical archaeological prospection rhetoric and narratives are applied. In this paper, we explore how the presentation of archaeological prospection can impact descendant communities and their burial and cultural spaces. We identify rhetoric, discourse and narrative as key considerations that have resulted in the twisting of interpretations to support fringe narratives. We present two case studies: (1) denialism surrounding unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools and (2) the reinterpretation of Indigenous spaces by Graham Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse . We draw upon these seemingly disparate examples as evidence that ambiguity in scholarly communication and ‘certainty’ in fringe communication can both be used to the detriment of Indigenous and other descendant communities in various ways that we term pseudoarchaeological colonialism . Finally, we recommend strategies on how to disseminate results in non‐harmful ways and confront the wrongful usage of archaeological prospection.
{"title":"Saying what we mean, meaning what we say: Managing miscommunication in archaeological prospection","authors":"William T. D. Wadsworth, Stephanie Halmhofer, Kisha Supernant","doi":"10.1002/arp.1915","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1915","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In North America, archaeological prospection has recently undergone a surge in popularity, resulting in higher visibility for both scientific and fringe narratives. This has been partially due to increasingly sensationalized media articles that promote the use of technology to locate overgrown and subsurface features in the landscape. The heightened profile of the field and increasingly sensitive contexts in which it is applied (e.g., locating potential unmarked graves) has expanded the discipline beyond its usual settings where typical archaeological prospection rhetoric and narratives are applied. In this paper, we explore how the presentation of archaeological prospection can impact descendant communities and their burial and cultural spaces. We identify rhetoric, discourse and narrative as key considerations that have resulted in the twisting of interpretations to support fringe narratives. We present two case studies: (1) denialism surrounding unmarked graves at former Indian Residential Schools and (2) the reinterpretation of Indigenous spaces by Graham Hancock's Ancient Apocalypse . We draw upon these seemingly disparate examples as evidence that ambiguity in scholarly communication and ‘certainty’ in fringe communication can both be used to the detriment of Indigenous and other descendant communities in various ways that we term pseudoarchaeological colonialism . Finally, we recommend strategies on how to disseminate results in non‐harmful ways and confront the wrongful usage of archaeological prospection.","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136351544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Keith C. Seramur, Kyle B. Campbell, Joseph B. Anderson, Ellen A. Cowan
Abstract Ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) was used to map anomalies characteristic of unmarked graves on the grounds of the modern Woodland Cemetery on the campus of Clemson University. Hundreds of these anomalies are believed to represent newly discovered unmarked graves belonging to African Americans including enslaved people, convicted laborers, sharecroppers, domestic workers, tenant farmers and wage workers, who contributed to the wealth of the Fort Hill Plantation or to building and maintaining the university. These burials appear to be in an organized arrangement indicating the presence of a burial ground where the graves would have been marked at the time of internment. Analyses of reflections from the bottom of the grave shaft detected horizontal bases as well as possible chambered and vaulted burials, a common vernacular burial type among African Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A fewer number of graves showed hyperbolic reflections that can be produced by graves that contain coffins or a large artefact. This may indicate burial practices that changed over time or the status of the interred individual. The estimated length of the grave shaft in GPR grid data suggests that small adults or adolescents made up most of the burials (58%), then adults (28%) and infants and children (13%). In 1924, Woodland Cemetery was developed on Cemetery Hill, which had its first recorded burial in 1837. Plots were then gifted to prominent University leaders, faculty, staff and their families. The unmarked burials were found juxtaposed among these modern graves requiring modification of the current protocol for the operating cemetery to preserve the sacred space and to prevent destruction of these burials. This work affirms ongoing efforts by this public university to address its origins from a plantation and segregation in the American South.
{"title":"On Cemetery Hill: The legacy of burials at Clemson University, a public university in the southern USA","authors":"Keith C. Seramur, Kyle B. Campbell, Joseph B. Anderson, Ellen A. Cowan","doi":"10.1002/arp.1916","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1916","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) was used to map anomalies characteristic of unmarked graves on the grounds of the modern Woodland Cemetery on the campus of Clemson University. Hundreds of these anomalies are believed to represent newly discovered unmarked graves belonging to African Americans including enslaved people, convicted laborers, sharecroppers, domestic workers, tenant farmers and wage workers, who contributed to the wealth of the Fort Hill Plantation or to building and maintaining the university. These burials appear to be in an organized arrangement indicating the presence of a burial ground where the graves would have been marked at the time of internment. Analyses of reflections from the bottom of the grave shaft detected horizontal bases as well as possible chambered and vaulted burials, a common vernacular burial type among African Americans in the 19th and early 20th centuries. A fewer number of graves showed hyperbolic reflections that can be produced by graves that contain coffins or a large artefact. This may indicate burial practices that changed over time or the status of the interred individual. The estimated length of the grave shaft in GPR grid data suggests that small adults or adolescents made up most of the burials (58%), then adults (28%) and infants and children (13%). In 1924, Woodland Cemetery was developed on Cemetery Hill, which had its first recorded burial in 1837. Plots were then gifted to prominent University leaders, faculty, staff and their families. The unmarked burials were found juxtaposed among these modern graves requiring modification of the current protocol for the operating cemetery to preserve the sacred space and to prevent destruction of these burials. This work affirms ongoing efforts by this public university to address its origins from a plantation and segregation in the American South.","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135291493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ole Risbøl, Jo Sindre P. Eidshaug, Hein B. Bjerck, Magnar M. Gran, Kristoffer R. Rantala, Angélica M. Tivoli, Atilio Francisco J. Zangrando
LiDAR has become fairly integrated into archaeological practice at a global scale. This has gradually evolved to include UAV LiDAR. Nevertheless, considerable biases remain, including with regard to geographical regions, chronological periods, feature types and environments. At present, few studies of coastal environments exist, despite the fact that LiDAR—and UAV LiDAR in particular—has the obvious advantages of flexibility and time efficiency in such archaeologically rich but logistically challenging environments. In this paper, we compare the results of UAV LiDAR surveys with records from previous ground surveys in two case studies from coastal environments on opposite sides of the globe. Case Study I of shell middens located within approximately 3 km2 around Cambaceres Bay involved the first collection of LiDAR data from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Case Study II covered approximately 3 km2 of the island of Vega, Northern Norway, and is among the pioneering LiDAR studies of Mesolithic house pits. The detection success rate was fairly good for Cambaceres—69% of 1240 recorded structures were identified on LiDAR—and above expected for Vega, with 81% of 51 recorded house pits identified on LiDAR. In Cambaceres, the main challenges were dense and low vegetation and identifying small middens. Possible new identifications of archaeological features were made in both areas: subtle depressions interpreted as dwelling foundations in Cambaceres and house pits on Vega. We conclude that UAV LiDAR can contribute to coastal archaeology and that it has added values besides making new identifications, being both flexible and time efficient. An example pertains to the possible identification of a practice that has not previously been proved archaeologically in Tierra del Fuego—more thorough site preparation prior to the construction of the dwellings—which in turn raises new questions.
在全球范围内,激光雷达已相当程度地融入考古实践。这已逐渐发展到包括无人机激光雷达。然而,仍然存在相当大的偏差,包括地理区域、年代、地物类型和环境方面的偏差。目前,尽管激光雷达--尤其是无人机激光雷达--在这种考古资源丰富但后勤难度大的环境中具有明显的灵活性和时间效率优势,但对沿海环境的研究却很少。在本文中,我们将无人机激光雷达勘测结果与以往地面勘测记录进行了比较,这两个案例研究分别来自地球两侧的沿海环境。案例研究 I 涉及坎巴塞雷斯湾周围约 3 平方公里的贝壳冢,这是首次在阿根廷火地岛收集激光雷达数据。案例研究 II 涵盖挪威北部 Vega 岛约 3 平方公里的区域,是对中石器时代房屋坑洞进行激光雷达研究的先驱之一。坎巴塞雷斯的探测成功率相当高--在记录的 1240 个结构中,有 69% 通过激光雷达进行了识别;而维加岛的探测成功率高于预期,在记录的 51 个房屋坑中,有 81% 通过激光雷达进行了识别。在坎巴塞雷斯,主要的挑战是植被茂密和低矮,以及识别小型窖穴。在这两个地区都可能发现了新的考古特征:坎巴塞雷斯的细微凹陷被解释为住宅地基,维加的房屋坑被解释为住宅地基。我们的结论是,无人机激光雷达可以为海岸考古做出贡献,而且除了进行新的鉴定外,它还具有更多的价值,既灵活又省时。其中一个例子是,我们可能发现了一种以前在火地岛考古中未被证实的做法--在建造住宅之前进行更彻底的场地准备--这反过来又提出了新的问题。
{"title":"UAV LiDAR in coastal environments: Archaeological case studies from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, and Vega, Norway","authors":"Ole Risbøl, Jo Sindre P. Eidshaug, Hein B. Bjerck, Magnar M. Gran, Kristoffer R. Rantala, Angélica M. Tivoli, Atilio Francisco J. Zangrando","doi":"10.1002/arp.1918","DOIUrl":"10.1002/arp.1918","url":null,"abstract":"<p>LiDAR has become fairly integrated into archaeological practice at a global scale. This has gradually evolved to include UAV LiDAR. Nevertheless, considerable biases remain, including with regard to geographical regions, chronological periods, feature types and environments. At present, few studies of coastal environments exist, despite the fact that LiDAR—and UAV LiDAR in particular—has the obvious advantages of flexibility and time efficiency in such archaeologically rich but logistically challenging environments. In this paper, we compare the results of UAV LiDAR surveys with records from previous ground surveys in two case studies from coastal environments on opposite sides of the globe. Case Study I of shell middens located within approximately 3 km<sup>2</sup> around Cambaceres Bay involved the first collection of LiDAR data from Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. Case Study II covered approximately 3 km<sup>2</sup> of the island of Vega, Northern Norway, and is among the pioneering LiDAR studies of Mesolithic house pits. The detection success rate was fairly good for Cambaceres—69% of 1240 recorded structures were identified on LiDAR—and above expected for Vega, with 81% of 51 recorded house pits identified on LiDAR. In Cambaceres, the main challenges were dense and low vegetation and identifying small middens. Possible new identifications of archaeological features were made in both areas: subtle depressions interpreted as dwelling foundations in Cambaceres and house pits on Vega. We conclude that UAV LiDAR can contribute to coastal archaeology and that it has added values besides making new identifications, being both flexible and time efficient. An example pertains to the possible identification of a practice that has not previously been proved archaeologically in Tierra del Fuego—more thorough site preparation prior to the construction of the dwellings—which in turn raises new questions.</p>","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/arp.1918","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135391611","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Abstract Part of Canadian history that is now being addressed is the legacy of Indian residential schools (IRSs) and closely related institutions. For most of their 200‐year‐plus history, these were run by various churches or religious organizations, and many were directly funded (and eventually run) by government. Attendance by Indigenous children at these schools was made compulsory, and children were deliberately taken far from their cultural base, native language and family in the name of cultural assimilation. Abundant and longstanding evidence has documented abuse, neglect and high rates of death at the schools. Most or all schools had cemeteries, many of which have fallen into neglect and/or been lost through time. Documenting the numbers, names and burial locations of students who died at the schools has become a national priority. Since 2021, interest in this work has accelerated, due in large part by media announcements of geophysical findings of potential unmarked graves at various school sites. Geophysical surveys for unmarked graves are planned or underway at a large number of school sites nationwide. Related lines of research are seeking to document the extent and nature of student deaths based on archival records, survivor accounts and other lines of evidence. As suggested by government and demanded by Indigenous communities, these searches are being led by the affected communities. This paper represents a snapshot of elements of the work in progress, based in part on the personal participation of the author in multiple IRS searches and resulting direct involvement with local communities. Included in this contribution are a historic context, broad overview of community participation/leadership and suggested refinements to geophysical survey best practices that have been promulgated by the Canadian archaeological community and other nationwide organizations.
{"title":"Community‐led investigations of unmarked graves at Indian residential schools in Western Canada—overview, status report and best practices","authors":"Brian Whiting","doi":"10.1002/arp.1914","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1914","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Part of Canadian history that is now being addressed is the legacy of Indian residential schools (IRSs) and closely related institutions. For most of their 200‐year‐plus history, these were run by various churches or religious organizations, and many were directly funded (and eventually run) by government. Attendance by Indigenous children at these schools was made compulsory, and children were deliberately taken far from their cultural base, native language and family in the name of cultural assimilation. Abundant and longstanding evidence has documented abuse, neglect and high rates of death at the schools. Most or all schools had cemeteries, many of which have fallen into neglect and/or been lost through time. Documenting the numbers, names and burial locations of students who died at the schools has become a national priority. Since 2021, interest in this work has accelerated, due in large part by media announcements of geophysical findings of potential unmarked graves at various school sites. Geophysical surveys for unmarked graves are planned or underway at a large number of school sites nationwide. Related lines of research are seeking to document the extent and nature of student deaths based on archival records, survivor accounts and other lines of evidence. As suggested by government and demanded by Indigenous communities, these searches are being led by the affected communities. This paper represents a snapshot of elements of the work in progress, based in part on the personal participation of the author in multiple IRS searches and resulting direct involvement with local communities. Included in this contribution are a historic context, broad overview of community participation/leadership and suggested refinements to geophysical survey best practices that have been promulgated by the Canadian archaeological community and other nationwide organizations.","PeriodicalId":55490,"journal":{"name":"Archaeological Prospection","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136382187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}