North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
Abstract/Summary:
Project Name: Orendorf Site, IL;
Reference: Klasner, J.S., and P. Calengas. (1981). Electrical Resistivity and Soil Studies at Orendorf Archaeological Site, Illinois: a Case Study. Journal of Field Archaeology 8:167-174. Reproduced from Journal of Field Archaeology with the permission of the Trustees of Boston University. All rights reserved.
An electrical resistivity survey and accompanying soil analyses were performed over an exposed but unexcavated prehistoric house in Peoria loess in west-central Illinois. Positive resistivity anomalies occur along the trenches for the house walls and within the house and distinctive patterns in contoured resistivity data occur over the house.
Soil analyses show that quartz, kaolinite, montmorillonite, illite, and hematite are the main mineral constituents in the soil. Within the house basin, the soil is dark gray in color because of the presence of organic carbon. Prominent positive electrical resisitivity anomalies occur where the dark soil is thickest.
Analyses of the resistivity and soil data enable the identification of several anthropogenic features within the house and suggest that electrical resistivity data would be helpful to archaeologists in doing both detailed and reconnaissance work. For example, the mean amplitude and fabric patterns in contoured resistivity are distinctive over the house relative to areas outside the house. This fact suggests that similar analyses of reconnaissance resistivity data might be helpful in exploration for large archaeologic activity areas such as whole villages or camps. Also, detailed analyses of the resistivity and soil data, in conjunction with information already available from other excavated structures at Orendorf village, suggest that the electrical resistivity technique can serve as a valuable, but ancillary, tool to help archaeologists focus their efforts and decide which of the many structures in a village should be excavated.