Ground‐penetrating radar survey of the Sny Magill Mound Group, Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa

Abstract

AbstractA ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) survey of 101 mounds at the Sny Magill Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa, demonstrates that GPR can be an effective tool to evaluate the structure and condition of mounds without damaging them. Ideal survey conditions and improved processing technology allow for the identification of strata within the mounds, as well as areas of post‐construction disturbance and possible archaeological features within the mounds. Provisional interpretations indicate that 60 are intact conical mounds with minimal post‐construction disturbance, and two show very strong evidence of containing interior burial platforms; 29 are badly damaged by non‐cultural or cultural activity; two are probable non‐cultural mounds; nine are reasonably intact linear and effigy mounds; one is an excavated effigy mound. GPR and other remote‐sensing techniques are highly recommended for mound investigation, but wherever possible such techniques need to be coordinated with mound excavation so as to test the remote‐sensing results. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.