ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY SURVEY OF THE NATHAN BOONE HOMESTEAD STATE HISTORIC SITE, SOUTHWEST MISSOURI

The Nathan Boone Homestead State Historic Site (NBHSHS) was established in 1991 upon acquisition of the property by the state of Missouri. The site is located approximately two miles north of Ash Grove in the Ozarks of southwest Missouri and was the home of Nathan Boone (youngest son of Daniel Boone), his family, and their slaves from the 1830s to about 1900. The Boone house, which still stands, is the focus of NBHSHS interpretation. However, little is known about archaeological deposits at the site, precluding an efficient protection and interpretation of remains. This study uses electrical resistivity surveys to identify sub-surface archaeological deposits at the NBHSHS, and then employs the NBHSHS findings to address the lack of geophysical methods in Ozarks archaeology.

To delineate subsurface deposits, we used two different electrical resistivity methods. First, a GEOSCAN RM15 resistivity meter was used to survey 28 grids in areas with a high potential for archaeological deposits that will image electrical resistivity anomalies at a shallow depth. Using a 0.5-meter spacing with a 0.5 sample spacing, the site was scanned during the spring of 2011. Preliminary examinations of the electrical resistivity data revealed high resistivity anomalies near the west side of the cabin. Then the electrical resistivity imaging system in profile mode was used to image two anomalies detected by the RM15 survey west of the house. The profile images and subsequent two-dimensional inverse models revealed that these two anomalies also include a low resistivity region.

Using both the RM15 and imaging system, managers of NBHSHS can now see a surface map of areas with possible subsurface archaeological deposits. Using the inverse models, they can estimate the depth of the anomalies. These results will assist in site management and provide an example of the usefulness of geophysical methods for archaeology in the Ozarks.