GEOPHYSICAL METHODS APPLIED TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF SUNWATCH INDIAN VILLAGE ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK, DAYTON, OH

Sunwatch Indian Village Archaeological Park (SIV) is located along the Great Miami River in Dayton, Ohio. The discovery and first excavations of SIV took place in 1964, becoming a National Historic Landmark in 1974. Once home to the Fort Ancient Indians approximately 800 years ago, the excavated parts of the village site are currently undergoing reconstruction to replicate the likely original appearance. A subsequent flood plain deposit, thicker than the plow zone, and excellent drainage of the Wea type soil have resulted in exceptional, near-complete preservation of artifacts. SIV contains a unique concentric layout of artifacts, ranging from a central solar alignment pole in a artifact-sparse ceremonial area, a ring of high status burials, a ring of storage and trash pits, a ring of dwellings and ceremonial houses, and a surrounding stockade enclosing the village (Heilman and Hoefer 1980, 1981). Due to modern concerns and sensitivity regarding excavation of Indian burial sites, archaeologists have ceased most activities here, leaving many parts of the site unexplored. Our geophysical project is designed to demonstrate how nondestructive geophysical methods might significantly aid the mapping of artifacts and cultural features in unexplored areas of SIV and aid the archaeologists in planning any future excavations. Our study focuses on two moderately sized rectangular areas (each about 12m x 15m), lying generally within the rings of burials and trash/storage pits. Each of these areas is flat and elevated from the excavated village ground surface by approximately 0.5m, which is the thickness of the floodplain sediments that protected the site and not replaced upon excavation. Using a combination of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), resistivity (56 electrode Sting/Swift), and magnetics, we have surveyed each of these areas at high resolution, expecting the targeted features to be rather small and at shallow depths (i.e., 0.5-2m). In the two areas studied, geophysical anomalies in our data sets (especially GPR and resistivity) appear to identify and map limestone slabs that are known to cover significant burial sites at SIV, and localized areas of lower resistivity that may indicate circular trash/storage pits.