Publication of the Archaeological Society Of-British Columbia INSIDE
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Publication of the Archaeological Society of-British Columbia ISSN 0047-7222 Vol.22, No.3 June 1990 INSIDE: Historical archaeology goes high tech ... page 1. Federal heritage legislation is on the way ... page 3. Debitage ... page 4. News Bits ... page 5. Diver finds lost weights ... page 6. New publications ... page 11. Permits ... page 12. Summer site seeing ... page 13. The Midden Publication of the Archaeological Society of British Columbia Editor: Kathryn Bernick Production Assistants: Toni Crittenden, Phyllis Mason. Subscriptions and Mailing: Helmi Braches Submissions and exchange publications should be directed Subscription is by membership in the A.S.B.C. (see below). or to the Editor. Contributions on subjects germane to B.C. non-member rates of $12.00 a year (5 issues!. U.S.A. and overseas archaeology are welcomed: maximum length 1,500 words, $14.00 a year. Check or postal money order in Canadian funds no footnotes, and only a brief bibliography (if necessary at payable to the A.S.B.C. Address to: Midden Subcriptions, P.O. Box 520, Station A, Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2N3. all). Guidelines available. Telephone inquiries: 873-5958. The contents of The Midden are copyrighted by the A.S.B.C. It is The next issue of The Midden will appear mid-October unlawful to reproduce all or part by any means whatsoever, without 1990. permission of the Society, which is usually gladly given. Publication of The Midden is made possible in part by financial Contributors this issue: Kathryn Bernick, Erik de assistance from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, Recreation and Bruijn, Lindsay Oliver, Kathi Sherwood. Culture through the British Columbia Heritage Trust and British Columbia Lotteries. TJ:IE COVER: Subsurface radar signals on paper tape of graphic recorder, used to locate burials in historic cemetery. The Society The Archaeological Society of President: Affiliated Chapters: British Columbia is dedicated to Terry Spurgeon (464-1984) Fraser Valley. Meetings featuring the protection of archaeological Vice President: illustrated lectures are held on the resources and the spread of Bill Paull (980-5186) third Tuesday of each month archaeological knowledge. Membership Secretary: (September to May) at 7:45 p .m. on Helen Smith (224-1426) the Fraser Valley College campus in Meetings featuring illustrated Abbotsford. President: Thelma lectures are held on' the second Membership year runs September 1 Mcintyre (853-1495). Membership Wednesday of each month (except to August 31. Fees: single - $20.00; Secretary: Andy Purdy (823-4920). July and August) at 8:00 p.m. in the family - $25.00; senior citizen - Victoria. President: Shirley Vancouver Museum Auditorium. $15.00; student $15.00. Cuthbertson (c/o Royal B.C. Visitors and new members are Membership includes Midden Museum). welcome! subscription. Address to: A.S.B.C. Membership Secretary, P.O. Box 520, Station A, Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2N3. NEXT MEETING: September 12: Topic to be announced. Cpl. Bob Stair sweeps radar antenna across Golden Pioneer Cemetery (EhQf 3}. Subsurface Radar in an Historic Cemetery Context by L.]. Oliver UNTIL RECENTLY, subsurface unit-the only grave visible from proposed-to complete recovery of radar has been applied mainly to off-site-was demarcated by a the pioneer remains with the geological contexts. Archaeologi picket fence. assistance of subsurface radar. cally, the technique has been My identification of the remains Subsurface radar, otherwise employed to locate features such as aroused local interest and known as ground penetrating radar, buried walls. In 1989, the Royal evacuation of the cemetery was employs a pulse of electromagnetic Canadian Mounted Police and the proposed, to be followed by re energy discharged from an antenna Golden Pioneer Cemetery Project interment of the pioneer remains in to a determined depth. A portion of collaborated in applying subsurface the municipal cemetery once the signal of pre-set duration and radar to locate pioneer graves no osteological analysis had been frequency is then reflected back to longer marked by any visible completed. A brief survey the surface, picked up by an surface feature. conducted in 1987 suggested that antenna, and directed to a receiver Golden Pioneer Cemetery, in six to eight graves were present, station where it is processed. This Golden, British Columbia, was the though none was clearly marked. includes an oscilloscope display and community interment ground from The 1988 field season yielded a a paper-fed graphic recorder. The 1882 to 1894, at which time, total of eight graves, seven of which operator, Cpl. Bob Stair of " E" archival sour.ces note, it was full were not visible prior to removal of Division Identification Support and a new municipal cemetery was overburden. No patterning of grave Service, RCMP, volunteered his opened. The older cemetery was locations or marking features was expertise in subsurface radar largely forgotten until 1986 when a noted when the burials were technology to assist in locating pioneer grave was vandalized by a mapped, but since very little of the unmarked graves in the Golden local person and the remains site had actually been excavated an Pioneer Cemetery. He controlled offered for sale. The vandalized additional field season was both the horizontal scale, that is, the The Midden - 1 speed the antenna moved across the The System 8 Geophysical Survey ground and the paper-feed rate of system was employed in this test, the graphic recorder, and the using a 500 MHz ant~nna. vertical scale, which in this case Subsurface scanning consisted of was depth. moving the 20-inch-wide antenna The amount of reflected signal across the ground, east to west, varies according to the electrical following a grid laid out for the characteristics of the soil or object purpose. Six series of scans were encountered. These characteristics conducted and the paper ta.pes were depend on temperature, pressure, analyzed by Cpl. Stair at the end of frequency, moisture content, and each series. Based on the depths of soil impurities. graves encountered during the The graphic display records previous (1988) field season, a depth strong signals as black, and weak setting of six feet was used. The signals as white; a grey range graphic display indicated several represents noise between the sharply delineated interface surface and interface reflections. In changes, which were assumed to this case, ground interface changes represent grave cuts. The variations were taken to signify grave pits. in depth and sharpness of these Certainly all graves encountered interface changes led Stair to had quantities of rootlets designate them as either "most penetrating vertically down to the promising" or "less promising" of coffin, thereby greatly increasing possible grave·s. There were two moisture content in these areas. controls on the subsurface radar The EhQf 3 site measures 16 m scans: first, the grave pits excavated N-S and 24m E-W. Site preparation during the 1988 season, the consisted of removing vegetation; locations of which were not known mapping and removing surface to Stair; and second, a child's grave matter such as large rocks, scattered delineated by a ring of stones, pickets, and metal cans; and which had been identified but not exposing the survey pins excavated during the previous delineating the 2x2 m units set up in season. 1988. The correlation between targets indicated by the subsurface radar scans and known grave pits was very good. There was a drift between actual and indicated grave pit locations in the direction the scan was made, but the distance was not large enough to be significant. Based on the subsurface radar tapes, two large, previously untested areas were selected for excavation in 1989. Test area 1 (6-8 m E, 2-8 m N) yielded four burials with coffins, three of these at a depth of only 1 m and contained in an area designated "most promising"; the fourth, in a "less promising'' area, was considerably deeper. Test area 2 ( 18-22 mE, 8-12 m N) yielded two burials in an area designated ''most promising'' -time Subsurface radar signal processing station: oscilloscope (l}, paper-fed prevented the investigation of a graphic recorder (r}. possible third burial reported for this unit. 2 - The Midden Subsurface radar scans produced anomaly on the paper tapes. On the excellent results in this trial, with other hand, the results of the all previously excavated graves collaboration between the RCMP being detected. Six burials were and the Golden Pioneer Cemetery recovered from grave pit areas Project were extremely encourag indicated by the technique and two ing, with a good correlation additional burials were recovered between located targets and actual outside the scanned area. The total graves. Both time and labour were number of burials from the Golden saved during the 1989 field season Pioneer Cemetery is now 15, with through the application . of approximately 20% of the site subsurface radar, and a better excavated. At least five other small understanding of the nature of the areas designated as "less site was gained. D promising'' from subsurface radar * * * tapes remain untested. The failure The Golden Pioneer Cemetery Project was of the subsurface radar to detect a funded by the B.C. Heritage Trust. Dr. Mark known child burial, probably Skinner of Simon Fraser University directed the project with Lindsay Oliver as Principal relates to the depth of the pit, Investigator. approximately 8' to the outer coffin base and therefore beyond the anticipated depth set for radar L.J. Oliver, an MA candidate in the penetration. Archaeology Dept., Simon Fraser University, has worked with both . In 1982 and 1983, attempts to modern and prehistoric skeletal locate graves at a 16th century material. She holds a permit from the Basque whaling station in Red Bay, Archaeology Branch to investigate Labrador were unsuccessful since "found human remains" and is on there was not sufficient contrast contract with the B.