THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE GEOPHYSICAL QUALITIES AND SOIL DISTURBANCES AT THE MUD LAKE SITE IN NORTHERN INDIANA

The Mud Lake site (12 Le 14), located in Northern Indiana is the site of two Middle Woodland mounds of the Goodall Tradition, and was excavated in 1999, 2003 and 2005 by a few groups of students from the University of Notre Dame.

Two different methods of geophysical surveys were utilized: soil resistivity to locate certain parts of the site that contained unusual features, and gradiometry to test the amount of magnetivity in the ground.

The results from resistivity and magnetic surveys performed at the east mound indicate a looted mound, while those from the west mound, which was excavated in 2003 and 2005, produced similar signals. However, the latter also displayed a higher amount of resistivity, which could be caused by a different type of soil, or instead indicate a natural topographic elevation, which is relatively unlikely due to the amount and nature of artifacts found from excavation works.

Resistivity and magnetic survey results correlate with field results obtained from excavation work that includes artifact cataloging and the detailing of floor and wall profiles from E 99-100 N 98-104. Higher resistivity was detected just towards the west of around E 99-100 N 102 and pieces of bone were discovered here that may indicate part of a burial.