Researchers Investigate Down-Hole Magnetic Imaging
Over the past decade, NCPTT
has funded a number of groundbreaking projects
investigating minimally invasive methods of surveying
archeological sites. The latest project, down-hole
magnetic susceptibility imaging, is actually an
outgrowth of one that was funded by a 1997 PTTGrant.
“The original NCPTT grant
supported the development of a prototype down-hole
magnetic susceptibility logger for archeological
application,” said Rinita Dalan, an assistant professor
at Minnesota State University Moorhead and principal
investigator for the project.
“The most recent PTTGrant
developed a methodology for the application of a
commercial version of this instrument so that it can be
effectively employed to detect and investigate buried
archeological sites.”
Bartington Instruments, a
company in the United Kingdom, is marketing a commercial
version of the down-hole magnetic susceptibility
instrument. A Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Grant
from the National Science Foundation supported
development through a partnership established between
Bartington Instruments and Dalan.
“My role was to provide
design suggestions and evaluate, through field and lab
trials, prototype versions of their instrument,” Dalan
said. “Now that this technology is available for use in
archeology, I thought that the NCPTT would be interested
in seeing it effectively integrated in archeological
use. This tool will provide a much-needed alternative to
traditional methods for the discovery and exploration of
buried cultural deposits.”
The instrument provides a
new avenue for the resolution of fine-scale layering
with depth and for the identification of ancient land
surfaces and cultural layers. It provides a rapid,
cost-effective, and relatively non-invasive means of
identifying and exploring buried cultural resources.
Dalan sees potential to
expand the application of this instrument to other
archeological questions besides research on buried
archeological properties. For example, she plans to
develop a program for confirming and interpreting
anomalies identified on the basis of surface geophysical
surveys, using the down-hole susceptibility logger.
She also believes this
project has fundamental significance to the field of
archeology. As buried cultural resources become
increasingly threatened, the need to document them also
increases. But they must first be located.
“It is imperative that we
develop effective methods to locate buried sites and
that we forward these approaches for use within the
archeological community,” Dalan said. “This project
establishes an approach suitable for a wide variety of
environments that is cost-effective, efficient, and
relatively non-invasive.”