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Ground-penetrating Radar Analysis, Jicaro Beach, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
The ephemeral remains of buildings in a Late Period Costa Rican village proved challenging for GPR mapping because little remained but foundation stones and compacted earth floors. Those features had been disturpted over the last 800-900 years by erosion, flood deposits, root action and slumping of the ground. Standard amplitude mapping proved to be beneficial in showing patterns of stones that were consistent with what is known about the shape of these ancient dwellings. Those patterns were confirmed in three locations by the identification of high amplitude planar reflections generated from compacted floor surfaces. Only with the integration of those…
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Phase I Study: Geophysical Investigation Survey Report – Las Animas Geophysical Study, Hollister to Gilroy 4 Lanes, California.
This survey was designed to employ geophysical techniques that included three technical approaches: grorn1d penetrating radar (GPR), total field magnetometry (MAG), and electromagnetic induction (EM). Only two of the geophysical tools were used, EM and GPR.Upon inspecting these locations, it was decided that MAG would not be effective because of thehigh metal content of the proposed survey area, and therefore it was not used. Geophysical mapping in the Las Animas study area has located possible historic features buried by as much as a meter of sediment and soil. GPR reflection profiles and timeslice maps showed the location of four possible…
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Integration of GPR and GIS to Model the Distribution of Pre-Columbian Canoes, Florida
The distribution of ancient dugout canoes, which were abandoned on waterways in Florida, were mapped with GPR and their locations studied using GIS. Canoes were located using GPR reflection profiles, which were compared to 2-D forward models for interpretation. Two lakes in northern Florida were found to contain many canoes, which were concentrated in distinct areas along the shore. These were likely transit points for transportation of goods and people from east to west across the Florida Peninsula over millennia. The State’s fluvial and lake navigation network was studied by determining possible transportation routes between canoe locations and contemporaneous archaeological…
