North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
Abstract/Summary:
Project Name: 5MT209, CO;
Reference: Butler, W.B. (1999). Magnetic Susceptibility Investigations on Two Sites in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Monument, Colorado. National Park Service, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, Colorado.
Whereas establishing the extent of a prehistoric site is important for research purposes, knowing site extent is also very important for resource management. Magnetic soil susceptibility samples were taken from sites 5MT208 and 5MT209 as a test of a method that may be used to delimit site occupation limits in areas without surface artifacts or features. Although limited in scope, the results of this study suggest that site extent can be delimited. If an interest is in only detecting buried features, then a gradiometer is probably a better choice than surface susceptibility sampling in terms of time and cost. However, magnetic susceptibility using soil samples can provide information not attainable with many other techniques such as detecting activity areas, building material source areas, building sequences, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction.