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Date: | Mon, 12 May 2003 21:52:04 -0400 |
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On Monday, May 12, 2003, at 12:44 PM, Jamie Brandon wrote:
> Greetings all:
>
> I am currently looking for references (including mentions in State
> Plans, Laws, gray literature, methodological papers, etc.) on the use
> of metal detectors in finding the locations of historic grave sites. .
> . Or more to the point, are there statements out there in the
> literature to the effect that metal detectors may not be (putting it
> diplomatically) "the best way to go about" delineating a
> historic-period grave (I mean, 5-6 ft down?!?). . . .
A metal detector has a fall-off of signal with depth of about 1/d9th
which means that the signal falls off very, very, very rapidly. The
larger the object, the deeper it can be detected. However, a typical
coffin with nails has very little metal mass to be detected. A MD is
not the best bet for grave detection at those depths.
Physics in Archaeology by Martin Aitken (1971) has a good write-up on
them and their limitations. The essentials haven't appreciably changed
over the years.
Lyle Browning
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