Incorporating Multistaged Geophysical Data into Regional‐scale Models: a Case Study from an Adena Burial Mound in Central Kentucky

Abstract

ABSTRACTA multistaged geophysical methodology was recently used at site 15Ck10, a state‐protected Middle Woodland period Adena (500 bce to ce 250) conical burial mound in Central Kentucky, USA. Data from this research are used to develop anthropological interpretations on the nature of burial mound construction and regional interaction between separate mortuary traditions in Kentucky. Methods utilized in this research include magnetic gradiometry, electromagnetic induction, ground‐penetrating radar, electrical resistivity tomography and downhole magnetic susceptibility. Together, these methods helped identify a circular ditch‐and‐embankment earthwork enclosing the burial mound, as well as possible off‐mound activity areas commonly reported in the Adena literature. Within the mound, multiple anomalies were discovered that are consistent with hypothesized geophysical responses of mound stages and funerary features. A review of burial mounds excavated by the University of Kentucky during the depression‐era work relief programmes (i.e. the Works Progress Administration – WPA) of the 1930s and early 1940s provide a vehicle with which to interpret these features. Comparisons of our data with length and width dimensions of known mortuary facilities documented in WPA excavations suggest that two distinct burial types were used at 15Ck10. These data are used to build a comprehensive site interpretation and create a relative dating context for the site. We use the site‐level model to evaluate regional interaction on Kentucky's Middle Woodland social landscape. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.