During the early excavations at Ranelius, over 25 features were discovered. Unfortunately, there are descriptive notes on only 14 of the features.
The picture above is a Science Museum excavation units, which is 10 feet in length and width. This unit is located on the eastern side of the terrace at Ranelius. Within the unit are 3 features, labeled as Feature 6, Feature 7, and Feature 8. Feature 6 and Feature 8 consist of a pile of rocks that show evidence of being exposed to high temperatures. These fire cracked rocks are surrounded by charcoal and burnt earth. Johnson’s notes suggest these features are the result of material being removed from a fire pit.
Feature 7, which is in the corner of the excavation unit in the previous picture, was further investigated to reveal a large shallow, basin shaped feature. This feature was probably a large fire pit. This feature is 8.2ft in length and 4.5ft in width and the depth is 1.2ft.
The feature contains a high concentration of charcoal and burned earth. One interesting aspect of Feature 7 is that the entire the base of the feature is lined with fire cracked rocks. There are other features found during the excavations of 1954 that were similar to Feature 7 in structure along the eastern half of the terrace.
We hope that our investigation at the Ranelius this summer will help us understand the nature of these features, as well as reveal other feature that help us interpret use of the site.
Geophysical survey. Part 2.
Posted by Ed Fleming on Thursday, June 24
Below are three videos that show Don Johnson collecting geophysical data from the Ranelius site using a radar unit, a magnetometer, and a resistometer.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Geophysicist Don Johnson pushing the ground penetrating radar unit across a grid square on the Ranelius site. The antenna (the large white box) sends out several pulses of energy into the ground with every rotation of one of the rear wheels of the cart. When the signal bounces back, the receiver collects and records the amount of time and the strength of the signal.
Unfortunately (for a geophysical survey) trees are unavoidable on a forested site, and have to be gone around.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Magnetometry survey. Don Johnson is walking south to north across one of the grids with the magnetometer. When he reaches the north edge of the grid square, he moves over 1 meter and walks another line north to south. The whole project area is covered in this way. The magnetometer takes several readings per second, so Don walks at a constant speed.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
Don Johnson conducting the electrical resistivity survey. The device Don is using has several probes that are pushed into the ground. Two probes are also placed into the ground in an area outside of the grid being tested. These are connected to the wire that is behind him. With each stop, the resistometer measures the difference in resistance at that point compared to the points off the grid. The resistometer measures resistance at two depths, one at about a half meter and one at about one meter below the surface.
U.S. Monument 52. A point of known elevation and location established by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prior to the construction Hastings Dam. This monument is located just to the west of the project area. We will associate the site grid with this monument so it can be tied to an established, real-world geographic coordinate system.
The Ranelius site is about a half hour hike from where we are able to park. So, we loaded this wagon up with the equipment we needed each day and hauled it along the trail. It worked pretty well, although we did flip it about once a day. Still, it was a lot easier than carrying everything.
The PBR box is for the magnetometer. Really… it is!
Geophysical survey. Part 1.
The geophysical survey took place June 1 - 16. A lot of rain and a temporary equipment failure made the survey go a couple days longer than expected. As I said in a previous post, we used three methods to test the geophysics of the site: electrical resistivity, magnetometry, and ground penetrating radar. The first step, however, was to set up a grid across the site. A grid of 20 x 20 meter squares was established. Stakes were put in at 20 meter intervals along an east to west baseline that runs through center of the site. Additional lines of stakes were placed along transects to the north and to the south until the entire 1.5 acre area of the site was within the grid. All geophysical data is associated with individual grid squares, and Don can then put the data into the correct spatial contexts. We will know where on the site anomalies show up. And we will then be able to place our excavation units approximately over the anomalies we choose to test. We will also map our excavation according to the grid coordinates. We will eventually associate our grid to US Monument 52, a point of known elevation just to the west of the project area that has real-world geographic coordinates. The grid that was established in 1954 for the previous SMM excavation is also associated with this monument, which is just to the west of the project area. The 0 South, 0 West point for that grid is located 297.6 feet to the north and 626.2 feet to the east of monument 52.
Preliminary results and observations during data collection suggest that there are some very likely subsurface cultural features showing up in the data. Don will be showing us the final results tomorrow. We will develop our excavation strategy based on those results.
The Ranelius 1954 and 1955 excavation notes and maps
Posted by Travis Hager on Tuesday, June 22
As mentioned in the beginning of the “The Science Museum of Minnesota’s 2010 Ranelius site project at Spring Lake” blog post, the first step of the Spring Lake project was to study the 1954 and 1955 crew’s journals, maps, and any other notes associated with their excavations. Understanding the previous excavation is important because it allows us to associate the collected artifacts with where they were found within the site. We can also learn about the location and characteristics of any feature discovered during the previous excavation at site. Features are remains of a human activity that can be observed within the soil, but features cannot be removed from the site and brought back to the lab as a whole. Some examples of features are a hearth area, a storage pit, a refuse pit, or a house floor. This information gives us an idea of the layout of the site and what types of activities took place at Ranelius. This type of information is usually readily available in a formal report written after any excavation. Because the 1950’s excavations at Ranelius were never formally written up, we need to rely on these original notes to understand the site.
The methods used in archaeology have greatly improved since 1955, which includes how information was recorded during excavations. So, there are many problems involved when using original notes from old excavations that should not occur with recent excavations. The Ranelius journals were created as a personal reminder to the excavators about how excavation units were organized and about the location of unusual anomalies in the soil, like features. The information in the journals is often sparse and vague. This is avoided in current excavations by filling out a standardized form after each level is excavated in every unit. The Ranelius notes are also limited since they mostly contain how they excavated an area and rarely contain any interpretations or explanation for why they excavated an area a specific way.
The methods used at the site were also inconsistent and their style of excavating changed several times throughout their investigation at the site. These methodological inconsistencies cause quite a bit of confusion and frustration when trying to study this excavation.
Though there were many difficulties working with these notes, an understanding of the Ranelius excavation was not impossible to achieve. We are using this information to create digital maps of the excavations and compare them to the results from the geophysical survey, using a Geographical Information System (GIS). This information combined will help us accurately interpret which areas of the site have been disturbed and which areas mostly likely have potential to help us understand the Ranelius site better.
Here’s a snap shot of my workspace while I’m reviewing the Ranelius 1955 excavation notes and maps.
Staff of the Spring Lake project
Posted by Ed Fleming on Sunday, May 30
This post lists the staff involved in the Science Museum of Minnesota’s 2010 archaeological research at Spring Lake.
Dr. Edward Fleming - Director. (This is me, and I will, hesitantly, write in the 3rd person about myself for just a moment)
Dr. Fleming is the Curator of Archaeology and Director of the Archaeology Program at the Science Museum of Minnesota. He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology, a M.S. in Archaeology and Paleoecology, and a B.A. in Anthropology and Art History from the University of Minnesota. For the past 10 years, his research has been focused on the relationships of pre-contact native communities along the Upper Mississippi and St. Croix rivers. He specializes in the study of lithic (stone) and ceramic artifacts, and in the interpretation of archaeological materials and concepts for the public.
Dr. Ronald Schirmer - Co-Director.
Dr. Schirmer is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the Minnesota State University - Mankato, and a Research Associate in Anthropology at the Science Museum. He holds a Ph.D. in Archaeology and Paleoecology from the University of Minnesota, a M.S. in Anthropology from the Minnesota State University - Mankato, and a B.A. in Anthropology and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. He has been conducting archaeological research and field work in the Midwest for the past 20 years with a specialization in the analysis of ancient plant remains and plant use (paleoethnobotany). His passion and research is understanding interaction among American Indian communities during the Late Pre-Contact period (1000 - 1400 A.D.), and is also carrying our active survey and excavation projects in the Red Wing area of Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition to co-directing the project, Ron will also be leading the recovery and analysis of botanical remains from the Ranelius site.
Don Johnson - Geophysicist.
Don Johnson has over 25 years experience providing high-resolution, near-surface geophysical services in many applications. He has specialized in geophysical applications at archaeological mapping for 10 years. Methods he will be applying to this project are magnetometery, ground penetrating radar, and electrical resistance.
Don has worked all over the world. A partial list of locations where he has worked includes many states in the United stated, Turkey, Bolivia, Ecuador, Italy, and the Philippines. He has worked on several prehistoric sites in the area around Red Wing, Minnesota. These include Silvernale, Bartron, Bryan, and Energy Park sites. Work at the Silvernale site included compilation of available maps and air photos to provide a consistent scale map showing mounds and other features mapped from the late 1880’s to today in addition to the comprehensive magnetometer and resistance surveys conducted to help establish the sites limits and to help archaeologists plan excavation locations. He will be leading the geophysical survey of the Ranelius site.
Paul Wickman - Geographic Information Scientist.
Paul Wickman is the owner and primary analyst of Northstar Geographics in St. Paul Minnesota. He holds a Master of Geographic Science from the University of Minnesota and a B.S. in Computer Science from Carroll College. Before moving into the field of GIS, he spent 15 years in the Information Technology field as a programmer and a software engineer. Now he applies GIS to projects that range from water and natural resources engineering to archaeology. Paul will be carrying out a number of GIS mapping, analysis, and data management tasks including setting up the master geographic information system for the project.
Travis Hagar - Research Assistant.
Travis Hagar is a graduate student in Applied Anthropology at the Minnesota State University - Mankato. He holds a B.S. in Anthropology from the Minnesota State University - Mankato and is working on his M.S. His thesis involves a study of plant remains from the Late Pre-Contact Silvernale site in Red Wing, Minnesota. Travis is assisting in all aspects of the Spring Lake project, from analyzing the 1954/1955 Ranelius site collection to participation in this summer’s field work, analysis of the recovered materials, and writing up the reports.
Matt Edling - Collections Technician.
Matt Edling is a Collections Technician in the Collections Services Department at the Science Museum of Minnesota. His experience in working with archaeological data and collections management make him an invaluable member of the team. He holds a M.A. in Museum Studies from George Washington University and a B.A. in Archaeology from the University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse. Along with participating in the geophysical survey and excavation of the Ranelius site, he is also working in the lab on the GIS portion of the project and will be working on the processing of the recovered materials from the 2010 excavation.
Anna Morrow - Laboratory Volunteer.
Anna Morrow has been a volunteer in the Archaeology Lab at the Science Museum for 10 years where she has been crucial to the identification and cataloging of numerous collections. Anna has several decades of archaeological experience in the Upper Midwest and the U.K. Frankly, the Archaeology Lab at the Science Museum would not function without her dedication and experience. She has been, and will continue, working on processing archaeological materials from the Ranelius site and other sites from the Spring Lake region.
Rod Johnson - Laboratory Volunteer.
Rod Johnson is the President of the Minnesota Archaeological Society, a part-time field archaeologist for various Cultural Resource Management firms in the Twin Cities, and an expert flint knapper (the manufacture of stone tools). For several years, he has been filling his busy schedule in by volunteering in the Science Museum’s Archaeology Lab. His expertise is in the identification of stone materials, the production of stone tools, and the public education of this process. You will often find Ron sitting on a tarp demonstrating flint knapping and teaching people how to make stone tools at archaeology events in the area.
This list sums up various backgrounds often required to carry out a scientific archaeological project today. This list is far from exclusive, though. There are many backgrounds that contribute to archaeological projects around the world. The scientific study of the human past is by nature interdisciplinary. If you have any questions about becoming involved in archaeology, I encourage you to send me a note.
The Spring Lake Archaeology project receives funds from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment passed the voters of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
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