Hello Ned:)

There are extensive threads on this subject in the archives of both Histarch
and Arch-l as the topic has come up at least twice in the past five years.
I can dowse, I do it when I want to, and I have had ample opportunity to
test it in the field using subsurface excavations. In the past eight years I
have identified and/or relocated hundreds of human interments
archaeologically, so I understand the value and limitations of dowsing. In
our neck of the woods:) the utility companies and many funeral homes have a
dowser on on the work crews, therefore it appears to be a blue-collar
method:):):)

The theoretical value of dowsing is you get remote sensing at the cost of a
few pin flags , welding rods, or coathangers.  The problems are the lack of
replication, intensive variation in the results because water, metal, burned
or fired earth, and even holes dug into the earth, all dowse, Then you have
the ridicule that must be endured whenever you try to promote serious
discussion of the topic.  The problems with dowsing far outweigh the value
you can expect to recieve.  With dowsing, the only definitive evidence comes
from the subsurface testing which must follow the method to verify the
results.  The other problem with dowsing is that not everyone can do it and
therefore it will always have sceptics. Because of the ridicule, those of us
who can do it usually don't discuss it.  I LEARNED to dowse from my
grandfather and do not apologize for that.  It did not come to me through
the great spirit,etc. etc.

Perhaps the greatest problem with dowsing is that in our contemporary
anti-intellectual, or a-intellectual society.  the use of dowsing reflects
badly on other archaeologists in the community.  I have worked long and hard
to attain a graduate degree in my field and understand that the use of such
a psuedo-science reflects negatively on other archaeologists within the area
I work.  It is disrespectful for me to extend the image of a dowsing
archaeologist on them.  Therefore, please never do it when the media is
around and keep your use of it to yourself (unless you plan on spending a
large chunk of your career proving a method that half the population will
never believe anyways:)  I can see the headlines now...Noted Archaeologist
Dowses Graves For Profit!!! and there goes ten years of tuition, books, and
hard work out the window.

I have also been bitten by it.  A few years back, I was asked to identify
and relocate a cemetery for a local government and based upon surface
depressions estimated a range of ten to fifteen interments.  They called in
a dowser from the local funeral home who unsystematically dowsed the same
ground and told them there were at least fifty to one hundred interments in
the cemetery effectively halting the relocation.

I will be glad to seriously discuss mortuary applications for dowsing with
you off-list.  Please refer to the archived material on the lists to read
the earlier posts:)

Dan Sumner Allen IV
Staff Histarch
Mortuary Specialist
DuVall & Associates, Inc.

My views and not DuVall's:)


----- Original Message -----
From: "Ned Heite" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2001 4:06 PM
Subject: Dowsing


> Back in 1969, Ivor Noel Hume suggested that dowsing with bent coat
> hangers might be a useful technique for finding buried features. He
> said, "they serve a useful purpose and are included in every
> Williamsburg archaeologist's box of tricks."
>
> Has anyone pulled that one out of the box recently?  I am about to
> investigate a supposed unmarked cemetery, and I want to know about
> any previous experience.
>
> What is the latest experience with this technology? Or, has it been
> abandoned, for reasons, to quote the same passage, as Noel Hume
> said,"There is no denying that one feels a little idiotic walking
> across a field intently watching two pieces of coat hanger."
>
> Having many years ago abandoned any qualms about appearing a little
> idiotic, I'm planning to test the technique seriously.
> --
> Ned Heite  ([log in to unmask])
> **************************
> *                        *
> *    Compost happens.    *
> *                        *
> **************************