USING GROUND PENETRATING RADAR (GPR) TO FIND PLEISTOCENE MEGAFAUNA FOSSILS AT THE HISCOCK SITE IN WESTERN NEW YORK

Since the discovery of dinosaur bones at Como Bluff, Wyoming in the western United States, paleontologists have been seeking better ways to locate and identify fossil remains in the subsurface. The Hiscock Site in western New York State has yielded many important objects including Ice Age plant fossils, mastodon bones and Paleoindian artifacts. In this research, ground penetrating radar is employed to help determine the 3D stratigraphy in the subsurface and to locate bones and other artifacts that are buried within the fossiliferous basin.

The GPR system used is the PulseEkko 100, equipped with 50, 100, and 200 MHz antennae. Over 130 profiles were taken at the site with a dual purpose: to locate subsurface anomalies on the site and to identify the presence of the fossil-bearing layer in the hills surrounding the site's previous excavation pits. Stratigraphic reflectors are located at depths up to 4 m at 100 MHz and 6 m at 50 MHz. The integration of radar profiles with known stratigraphic data from previously excavated pits is used to generate a fairly reliable 3-D image of the subsurface that would be suitable to aid paleontologists in future excavations. Detailed examination of the fossil bearing layer in profile view may also yield the exact location of radar anomalies thought to be bones. Future excavations at the site will be used to confirm or refute these interpretations.