Seneca Iroquois White Springs
JR Benedict
Nov 20, 2012
“Understanding the built environment at the Seneca Iroquois White Springs Site using large-scale multi-instrument archaeogeophysical surveys”.
The field of landscape archaeology can be challenging in the way that it conducts itself. Most of the time the sites are obstructed by vegetation or they may be hidden in a farmer’s plowed field. However the surveying of these places do to their size and proximity to any adjacent constraints can often lead to poor performance of the archaeological standards. The sizes of these sites can sometimes be as large as settlements covering acres of land. However archaeologists have now been using a surveying method that employs the use of multi-instrument geophysical scanning. Using this the archaeologist can help maintain budget and time constraints that may have been restricting progress. The Seneca settlement at (1688-1715 CE) the White Springs Site located in Geneva, NY is a site that covers a settlement size estimate of 1.42-2.75 ha. This paper reports on approximately five hectares of high-resolution, multi-instrument archaeogeophysical surveys. This information allowed the archaeologist to study the layered, temporal contexts of these maps; which allowed for visual survey without accessing the site physically. Using documents, excavation, and archaeogeophysics to understand a historic Iroquois site. Limited excavation required non- invasive survey methods. Five hectares of ground-penetrating radar and magnetometer survey exposed Seneca-era features. The settlement was likely palisaded and tightly packed, related to military pressure of the time. (Gerald-Little et al. July 2012) One of the significant questions at White Springs relates to settlement layout and the possibility of a defensive palisade. Consideration of the social and cultural context in which White Springs was constructed contributes to better
Nov 20, 2012
“Understanding the built environment at the Seneca Iroquois White Springs Site using large-scale multi-instrument archaeogeophysical surveys”.
The field of landscape archaeology can be challenging in the way that it conducts itself. Most of the time the sites are obstructed by vegetation or they may be hidden in a farmer’s plowed field. However the surveying of these places do to their size and proximity to any adjacent constraints can often lead to poor performance of the archaeological standards. The sizes of these sites can sometimes be as large as settlements covering acres of land. However archaeologists have now been using a surveying method that employs the use of multi-instrument geophysical scanning. Using this the archaeologist can help maintain budget and time constraints that may have been restricting progress. The Seneca settlement at (1688-1715 CE) the White Springs Site located in Geneva, NY is a site that covers a settlement size estimate of 1.42-2.75 ha. This paper reports on approximately five hectares of high-resolution, multi-instrument archaeogeophysical surveys. This information allowed the archaeologist to study the layered, temporal contexts of these maps; which allowed for visual survey without accessing the site physically. Using documents, excavation, and archaeogeophysics to understand a historic Iroquois site. Limited excavation required non- invasive survey methods. Five hectares of ground-penetrating radar and magnetometer survey exposed Seneca-era features. The settlement was likely palisaded and tightly packed, related to military pressure of the time. (Gerald-Little et al. July 2012) One of the significant questions at White Springs relates to settlement layout and the possibility of a defensive palisade. Consideration of the social and cultural context in which White Springs was constructed contributes to better