North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
Graphic/Image:
Project Name: Whistling Elk Village, SD (39HU242);
References: Toom, D. L. and K. L. Kvamme (2001). The "Big House" at Whistling Elk Village (39HU242): Geophysical Findings and Archaeological Truths. Plains Anthropologist, in press.
Kvamme, K.L. (2000). Current Practices in Archaeogeophysics: Magnetics, Resistivity, Conductivity, and Ground-Penetrating Radar. In Earth Sciences and Archaeology, P. Goldberg, V. Holliday, and R. Ferring, eds., Plenum Press, New York, pp. 353-384.
Kvamme, K.L. (1999). Geophysical Explorations at the Whistling Elk Site (39HU242), Hughes County, South Dakota, 1998 Field Season. Submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District Office.
Kvamme, K.L. (1999). The Whistling Elk Subsurface Imaging Project. http://www.cast.uark.edu/~kkvamme/Whistle/Whistle.htm
Kvamme, K.L. (1998). Geophysical Exploration at the Whistling Elk Site (39HU242), Hughes County, South Dakota. Submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District Office.
The
results of the magnetic gradiometry survey at Whistling Elk, SD, covered an
area of
approximately 16,200 sq m and required nearly 64,800 measurements. Cultural
features, nearly a meter deep, tend to exhibit higher magnetic responses due
to the
presence of hearths and burned features like houses. The sharp line near the
southern
part of the village is the Army Corps of Engineers protective berm created as
part of a
bank stabilization program to protect this site from further erosion from Lake
Sharpe to
the south. A portion of the northwest quadrant of this village was not surveyed
by
magnetic methods owing to the presence of a steel wire and post fence which
profoundly effects magnetic measurements. The "zebra stripes" seen in this area
are a
series of magnetic dipoles resulting from proximity to the steel fence posts.