Magnetometry map of the Bridge River Site housepits. Source: Prentiss et al. 2009
Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to see what was underground without having to go through the time-consuming, expensive and destructive process of digging it up? There are some nice geophysics techniques in archaeology for doing just that, though none are yet a substitute for excavation. I noticed the other day (and you were quizzed on it) that there is a very comprehensive recent report online (45 meg PDF) by Anna Marie Prentiss and colleagues, on work at the middle Fraser pithouse village of Bridge River (EeRl-4). This village lies in the territory of Bridge River Band (Xwisten) and the St’át’imc Nation. While there is a huge amount of archaeological interest across the 350 page report as a whole, it was the use of geophysics on an interior pithouse village which got my attention.
