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Site name: Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park

Type of survey: Magnetic gradiometry; Instrument: Geoscan Research FM-36 fluxgate gradiometer; Prospection depth: up to 1.5 m; Sampling interval: 1 x 0.25 m; Area surveyed: 220 x 40 m; Date of survey: 1999, 2000; on-going.

Comments: This lesser known Civil War battle included about 20,000 participants on both sides, resulting in about 2,500 casualties. An interesting facet of the battle was the relatively large amount of artillery engaged, with more than 60 cannon. Most of what was shot was made of iron and is therefore readily detected and mapped with magnetic survey methods. This graphic shows a portion of the field where intense shelling by the Federals occurred, some of which was counter-battery fire against a Confederate battery placed to the east of the Borden House. In this area the large number of localized magnetic dipoles suggestive of iron artifacts (represented by small black-white pairs corresponding to north-south magnetic poles) testifies to the accuracy of the Federal fire. More subtle and broader dark and light areas represent soil changes and burned regions probably unrelated to the battle.
NOTE: These results are preliminary and are part of a larger on-going study.

What does the spatial distribution of
an exploded shell look like?
This graphic shows a likely candidate,
to be tested in the future.

Metal Detectorists: Please consider the kinds of information that can be lost if hobbyists continue to excavate metallic artifacts from Civil War battlefields and other sites. For most of the actions that occurred in the Civil War no historic documentation exists. All that can ever be learned can only come through careful study of these remains, including their spatial distributions, using scientific archaeological methods.

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(updated: 7/00)