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Prospecting for Prehistoric Gardens: Results of a Pilot Study
Author(s) -
Nolan Kevin C.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
archaeological prospection
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.785
H-Index - 38
eISSN - 1099-0763
pISSN - 1075-2196
DOI - 10.1002/arp.1465
Subject(s) - prehistory , prospection , prospecting , archaeology , agriculture , geology , soil survey , earth science , geography , soil science , mining engineering , soil water
Non‐intensive agricultural systems leave little physical trace on the surface of the landscape. Geochemical analyses are useful in analysing known fields, but often cost‐prohibitive for prospection. A method of soil phosphate and magnetic susceptibility survey is proposed as a solution. Either or both soil characteristics should be altered by most agricultural systems. Anomalies in these two soil properties combined with archaeological data indicate at least one possible garden detected in the initial pilot study plot in central Indiana. The detected potential gardens match, in size and distribution, ethnographic accounts of non‐intensive agricultural fields. The promise of the proposed method of prospecting for gardens for the study of prehistoric impacts on our inherited landscapes is enormous. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.