North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
North American Database of Archaeological Geophysics
Abstract/Summary:
Project Name: Medicine Lake Mounds (21HE0068), MN;
Reference: Mather, D., D.W. Johnson, and E.J. Abel. (1997). Burial Authentication Investigations of the Medicine Lake Mounds (21HE0068) for the Proposed West Medicine Lake Park Improvements - Phase II, City of Plymouth, Hennepin County, Minnesota. Loucks & Associates, Inc., Maple Grove, Minnesota. Prepared for the Office of the State Archaeologist, Minnesota Indian Affairs Council, City of Plymouth, Parks and Recreation, Barton-Aschman Associates, Inc.
This report presents the findings of burial authentication investigations conducted under the auspices of the Office of the State Archaeologist, per the terms of the Private Cemeteries Act, Minnesota Statute 307.08. The focus of the investigation was the Medicine Lake Mounds (21HE0068), recorded in 1887 by T.H. Lewis.
Improvements to West Medicine Lake Park as proposed by the City of Plymouth involved realignment of West Medicine Lake Drive (Phase I of the park improvements). The 1500 ft segment of road that was abandoned traverses a small hogback landform that corresponds with the recorded location of the Medicine Lake Mounds (21HE0068). No surface remnants of the mounds are presently visible at the site. The landform is small and narrow, measuring approximately 400 ft in length. The crest of the hill, discounting the steep slopes on its east and west margins, measures a maximum of 50 ft in width; and is essentially covered by the pavement and shoulders of West Medicine Lake Drive. Phase II of the proposed West Medicine Lake Park Improvements includes plans for removal of the abandoned road segment. Future plans (Phase III) include construction of a building on the hogback landform, beach development and other landscaping in the immediate vicinity. In preparation for the park improvements, burial authentication investigations were conducted to determine if burials or cemetery features remain in this highly landscaped area.
Burial authentication investigations of the Medicine Lake Mounds involved archival research, geophysical survey, and subsurface testing. Remote sensing methods included use of ground penetrating radar and electromagnetic ground conductivity survey. These techniques indicated that the nature of the soils under the road differ from that seen at its margins, and revealed the presence of anomalies within that matrix. Shovel testing showed the soils along the road margins to have been stripped to the subsoil and recapped with fill. Later removal of the pavement within the affected road segment was monitored. The milling machinery did not penetrate the road fill, except in two small areas on the crest of the hogback landform. Sterile sand was observed in these areas, identical to that interpreted as subsoil in the shovel tests along the road margins. While the exposed areas were not large enough to investigate the cause of the anomalies identified through the geophysical survey, the preponderance of other evidence suggests that any cemetery features associated with the Medicine Lake Mounds have been destroyed.