ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY AND MAGNETIC INVESTIGATION OF THE DORTON FORT, RUSSELL COUNTY, VIRGINIA

The location of the Dorton Fort is a subject of debate among historians in southwestern Virginia. Initial archaeological investigation placed the fort in Scott, County, Virginia. Subsequent work revealed that the fort in question was the Kilgore Fort, and debate over the location of the Dorton Fort renewed. Recent investigation of land records in Russell and Washington (VA) Counties reveals that William Dorton Sr. received a land grant near Copper Creek, in 1782. The chain of ownership of the land can be documented to the current owners, the Mason family. Field investigations revealed no incontrovertible evidence that a building was present at the site, however, oral history accounts were compelling enough to warrant further investigation. An electrical resistivity and magnetic survey was conducted at the Dorton/Mason tract in Russell County, Virginia in an effort to determine the location of the Dorton Fort. All historically important surface features at the Dorton/Mason tract have been removed or destroyed. To obtain a complete understanding of historical significance of the site, nine magnetic and two electrical resistivity profiles were collected. The magnetic data were corrected for time-varying changes and contoured to produce a magnetic anomaly map that indicated three regions of higher magnetic values. To further investigate the easternmost of these anomalies, an east-west electrical resistivity profile was collected using a Schlumberger electrode array. The electrical resistivity profile indicates that there was an electrically resistive region that corresponded to the magnetic anomaly. Two-dimensional modeling indicates that these anomalies are caused by two bodies: 1) an old trail/road and 2) an electrical resistive region between 0.7 and 1.0 meters in depth. The source of the latter body is speculative but may be due to a building foundation, part of a grave and/or a trash pile. A second region twenty-five meters to the east of the first anomaly has a similar anomaly pattern but the amplitude is smaller. Modeling indicates that the source is shallow and may be due to a building foundation. The combination of oral history and geophysical evidence provides a compelling argument for physical excavation at the site.