Preliminary archaeological geophysics results at fort garland, CO

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2009

Abstract

Adams State College has conducted its archaeology field school at Fort Garland, CO for the last six years. A focus of the field work for the last two years has been the parade ground, which is a grass covered field approximately 50 by 75 meters. The parade ground is of interest for several reasons, Fort Garland appears to have a remarkably sophisticated water system for a frontier fort of the 1860s, consisting of multiple wells, cisterns, underground pipes, and open ditches. The second reason is that the flag pole marked the center of the original 36 square mile fort, but the flag pole is known to have been moved a number of times over the years. To attempt to locate the original flag pole location and the water system as well as ensure that the students received a chance to practice all of the geophysical techniques relevant to archaeology a number of geophysical techniques were used: time domain electromagnetic induction metal detection, ground penetrating radar, frequency domain electromagnetic induction conductivity mapping, total field magnetometry and magnetic susceptibility. Neither the water system nor the original flagpole location was found, but a large unknown linear anomaly appeared in a number of the data sets. This anomaly will be further investigated by excavation next year.

Publication Title

Proceedings of the Symposium on the Application of Geophyics to Engineering and Environmental Problems, SAGEEP

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