North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
Abstract/Summary:
Project Name: Little Pumpkin Village, SD (39HU97);
Reference: Kenneth L. Kvamme (1998). Geophysical Explorations at the Little Pumpkin Village Site, 39HU97, Hughes County, South Dakota. Submitted to the Hariman Research Center, Department of Anthropology, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks.
A small portion of the Little Pumpkin Village Site, near Pierre, SD, was geophysically inspected on June 29, 1998, by Dr. Kenneth L. Kvamme of the Department of Archaeology, Boston University. The area inspected is to be impacted by a water line installation project. The geophysical survey was conducted to ascertain if significant subsurface cultural features might exist in the area to be impacted by the project. Assistance in the field survey was provided by Dr. Dennis Toom and his staff of the University of North Dakota. Owing to the presence of a nearby railroad track and iron debris associated with it, magnetic survey methods were ruled out as being unlikely to be productive in the project area. Electrical resistivity survey, on the other hand, seemed most appropriate, in part because it is immune to nearby metallic objects and because of its success on nearby sites.
The resistivity survey was conducted in an area measuring 10 x 10 m to be impacted by the water line installation project. This area was therefore mowed prior to the survey. The survey was performed twice. The first survey of 400 measurements was conducted with a prospection depth set at 0.5 m. The second survey of 400 measurements was performed at a prospection depth of 1.0 m. The north end of the 10 x 10 m survey plot contained some gravel spill from the nearly adjacent railroad grade, which influenced earth resistivity properties, and a dirt vehicle track crossed a corner of the study area to the southwest.
The 0.5 m depth data reveal a number of features. The plumes of gravel from the railroad grade are indicated by amorphous low resistance zones near the north edge of the study plot. The dirt road track that crosses the southwest corner of the survey area also is expressed as a zone of lower resistance. Two anomalies of potential interest are indicated by the data. Anomaly 1 is a high resistance circular feature approximately two meters in diameter. This feature is also clearly expressed in the resistance map of 1.0 m depth. It was immediately felt that Anomaly 1 could be a cultural feature, possibly a prehistoric storage pit, owing to its size and continuity through multiple depths. Subsequent excavations by Dr. Dennis Toom of the University of North Dakota confirmed the prehistoric origin of this feature, but its function was indeterminate. Anomaly 2, seen in the 0.5 m depth data, on the other hand, is much less crisply defined, more amorphously shaped, does not continue through to a 1.0 m depth, and is expressed by a contrast much smaller in magnitude than Anomaly 1. Although initially it was suspected that Anomaly 2 could be an indication of a prehistoric cultural feature, subsequent excavations conducted by Dr. Dennis Toom showed this feature to be the probable result of an oil or creosote stain in the ground that probably originated from railroad activities.