Reduce your overall costs by flagging surface materials and mapping them individually or as clusters with a total station or no-longer-conventional transit. That should nail down the limits of the site. A metal detector survey wherein metals are not necessarily recovered, just instrument mapped, could cost-effectively identify the footprints of buildings. The assumption is that the metals mostly are nails and other architectural hardware.

I use this method for documenting probable slave housing in Maryland and have found it very effective. It doesn't preclude the use of geophysical instruments, but it certainly narrows the field of investigation. Where the sites are wooded I use close-interval shovel testing instead of surface collecting, but I still use the metal detector afterwards to identify for mapping the metals. I also instrument map the shovel tests to correct for distortions in the grid created by trees and other obstructions.

Jim
 
 
 
James G. Gibb

Gibb Archaeological Consulting

2554 Carrollton Road

Annapolis, Maryland USA ?? 21403

443.482.9593 (Land)? 410.693.3847 (Cell)

www.gibbarchaeology.org ? www.porttobacco.blogspot.com
 
On 11/23/11, Al Tonetti<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
 
All I'm saying is that if they can afford it, do the geophysics. I assume
they want to know if the site contains subsurface features. If they do, I
think the geophysics will save time and money, i.e., can they afford NOT to
do the geophysics?

Al

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan
Walter
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 1:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site

Hi Al,

Agreed. It seemed to me that the original question was about wanting to
know what the plow effect most likely had been.

If I had posted this query, I know that since I do not have this type of
technology readily available to me, your first answer would not have helped.

Kris, in Michigan, may also be trying to get his work completed prior to
snow. A problem in Southern California I thankfully don't need to think of!

Susan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Al Tonetti" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 9:50 AM
Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site


> It all depends on what resources you have at your disposal, but if you 
> want
> to go this route and you don't know when the 80 ac field will be plowed
> again, see if you can get only the two loci of interest in the field 
> plowed,
> let them weather (and hope that collectors don't beat you to the site), 
> and
> do the CSC on a 5- or 10-m grid, again depending on your resources. At 
> some
> point you'll have to dig to confirm any hypotheses you develop concerning
> the location of the cabin(s), etc. Geophysics is a good tool to narrow 
> your
> focus, but it all depends on your resources.
>
> Al Tonetti
> Cultural Resource Specialist
> ASC Group, Inc.
> 800 Freeway Drive North, Suite 101
> Columbus, OH 43229
> [log in to unmask]
> 614-268-2514 x3547
> http://www.ascgroup.net/
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan
> Walter
> Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 12:23 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>
> I agree, thanks for your reply.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Branstner, Mark C" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2011 9:13 AM
> Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>
>
> Susan,
>
> That would have been my response as well ... Depending on the timing
> issues, the cheapest (and as far as I am concerned) the best way to do
> this is to plow the field after the crops come out, let it weather through
> a few rains, and then do a gridded, controlled surface collection (10-m
> grid seems to work pretty well) ... The significant site areas should be
> readily discernible with very little cost.
>
> Mark
> ___________________________________
>
> Mark C. Branstner, RPA
> Historic Archaeologist
>
> Illinois State Archaeological Survey
> Prairie Research Institute
> University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
> 209 Nuclear Physics Lab, MC-571
> 23 East Stadium Drive
> Champaign, IL 61820
>
> Phone: 217.244.0892
> Fax: 217.244.7458
> Cell: 217.549.6990
> [log in to unmask]
>
> "Memory vectors collective success for any people."
> --- Randall Robinson.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 11/23/11 11:04 AM, "Susan Walter" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>Question: What if this is not affordable?
>>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Al Tonetti" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>>Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:11 PM
>>Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>>
>>
>>> Ditch the STPs for a gradiometer survey at the two loci. For e.g., see
>>> http://www.ovacltd.com/Geophys_Scofield.shtml.
>>>
>>> Al Tonetti
>>> Cultural Resource Specialist
>>> ASC Group, Inc.
>>> 800 Freeway Drive North, Suite 101
>>> Columbus, OH 43229
>>> [log in to unmask]
>>> 614-268-2514 x3547
>>> http://www.ascgroup.net/
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>>>Marty
>>> Pickands
>>> Sent: Tuesday, November 22, 2011 12:29 PM
>>> To: [log in to unmask]
>>> Subject: Re: MI Pioneer cabin site
>>>
>>> Hello, Kris-
>>>
>>> I have no experience on settler's cabins in Michigan, only in upstate
>>>New
>>> York. However, as you are probably aware, many New Yorkers moved on to
>>> settle in Michigan. The sites I have seen or worked on dated to the
>>>early
>>> 19th c. In each case they were located on the highest spot in the area,
>>>or
>>> the edge of a drop off, for drainage. Each was surrounded by a thin
>>>sheet
>>> refuse deposit with very little glass or metal. The structure was
>>> represented by a fieldstone footing only two or thee courses deep with
>>>a
>>> pit
>>> cellar 4-5 feet deep in the middle. These were storage spaces under a
>>> wooden
>>> floor. Of course, not all cabins had those, but only dirt floors. All
>>>were
>>> next to a road, and many had been replaced by a more formal house
>>>nearby.
>>>
>>> There was very little metal. Often these cabins, in our area, had bark
>>>or
>>> plank roofs held in place by poles and stones. Most were built by
>>> immigrants
>>> from New England after the revolution. One exception was a Prussian
>>> traditional two-room log house with a formal stone footing, that was
>>>later
>>> was moved to a full foundation with a stone-floored cellar and acquired
>>> clapboard siding, plastered walls and a frame addition, as often
>>>happened.
>>> A
>>> number of these in New York and Pennsylvania are still not only
>>>standing
>>> but
>>> lived in- the owners sometimes unaware that they are living in a log
>>> house.
>>> These houses were different from "settler's cabins" even when built by
>>> settlers, in that they were built to be permanent. Settler's cabins were
>>> meant to be temporary shelters.
>>>
>>> I'd bet on the rise as the house site. The brick is a good sign. The
>>>metal
>>> detector would probably not show anything there except an occasional
>>> button
>>> or dropped personal item. The other location may be a shed or small barn
>>> related to it. You might try close interval STPs on that area and the
>>>one
>>> where you had the metal hits. Alternatively narrow slit trenches can be
>>> dug
>>> with minimal effort into the subsoil to detect soil discolorations that
>>> STPs
>>> may miss. They cover more area and do not take a lot more time than
>>>close
>>> interval STPs.
>>>
>>> Marty Pickands
>>> New York State Museum
>>>>>> Kris Oswald 11/21/11 7:47 AM >>>
>>> Morning to all
>>>
>>>
>>> I have just begun site testing(stp work) of a Pioneer cabin site in
>>> Michigan and have a couple questions if I may, the wheat field that it
>>> is located in is approx 80 acre's and has not been dragged/ plowed or
>>> tilled in many years and the wheat for winter is resting a foot high. A
>>> metal detector survey of the site was done a couple of years back with
>>> some good results but conflicts with the Families story on where the
>>> cabin was located.I have brick fragments on the highest elevation as
>>> well at the lower section closest to original road bed where most of the
>>> personal artifacts have been recovered. I am looking for any resource
>>> materials on Michigan Pioneer Cabin Excavation. the concentration
>>> level's of material from the STP's are light at best, is it possible
>>> that the only remains of the site are articulated across the field?. I
>>> feel that until the soil has been turned to expose more surface
>>> artifact my STP work will take forever. Any thoughts on this? I value
>>> your opinions
>>> P.S. not sure when the field will be worked again
>>>
>>> Thanks in Advance
>>>
>>> Kris Oswald
>>> Linden Mi
>>> WILLIAMS INTERNATIONAL A COMPANY WITH A VISION
>>>
>>> This email message and any attachment(s) are for the sole use of the
>>> intended
>>> recipient(s) and may contain proprietary and/or confidential information
>>> which may
>>> be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure.
>>>
>>> Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited.
>>>If
>>> you are
>>> not the intended recipient(s), please contact the sender by reply email
>>> and
>>> destroy
>>> the original message and any copies of the message as well as any
>>> attachment(s)
>>> to the original message.
>>>
>>> This email message does not form a binding contract or contract
>>>amendment
>>> with
>>> the sender, unless it clearly states in writing that it is a contract or
>>> contract amendment.
>>>
>>> -----
>>> No virus found in this message.
>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>> Version: 2012.0.1873 / Virus Database: 2101/4632 - Release Date:
>>>11/22/11
>>
>>
>>--------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>------
>>
>>
>>
>>No virus found in this incoming message.
>>Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
>>Version: 9.0.920 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/4030 - Release Date: 11/20/11
>>23:34:00
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 9.0.920 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/4034 - Release Date: 11/22/11
> 23:34:00
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2012.0.1873 / Virus Database: 2101/4634 - Release Date: 11/23/11


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----



No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 9.0.920 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/4034 - Release Date: 11/22/11 
23:34:00

-----
No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 2012.0.1873 / Virus Database: 2101/4634 - Release Date: 11/23/11