Macs are cool!

Ah, the things one can do with a new MacBook Pro when one is supposed to be working on drafts for ones thesis...

Busy times to come..

Here's to starting my second year of graduate school in the next two weeks. I forsee it will be the busiest and most demanding period thus far. It should be a blast as long as organization and motivation equally prevail!

Sleep will be a luxury and coffee will be a new found friend, I'm sure.

Da Flow

Cultural Chronology
Methods
Data Collection
Processing
Interpretation

oh, yeah..

Random Notes

So, over the course of a few weeks I've sent myself some random notes that I have been meaning to post up here regarding Battle. I'm finally going through and catching up on emails so now I can delete this one.

A statement of settlement systems taken from Banning 2002: Understanding settlement systems requires that we go beyond the simple documentation of where sites occur and attempt to understand how they may have operated in a settlement system. At a minimum, this usually means gaining some sense of the site's function.

Also, I think I might have mentioned this before but the Red River is highly dynamic and understanding the influence of geomorpholocial processes in the region is imperative. I need to speak with Dr. Guccione.

I made a note to myself to create a 3D elevation model using ArcScene. Not sure how to approach that but I think it would be good to include.

Lastly, a note from Jamie on Battle Mound old aerials - "I seem to have a set on aerial "indexes" which has thumbnail sized pictures of each aerial in my station territory...this would be handy for figuring out which aerial you need, but little else."

All for now.

Trimble R8 GNSS

More notes...

The Trimble R8 GNSS requires more investigation. Given the possibility of mounds within the plow field, hardly visible when doing a walking survey, it has been suggested that I investigate using Real Time Kinematic (RTK) with accuracies in the mm. Spec sheet is here.

CAST does not have this new roaming unit but does have an earlier RTK unit. A couple places do rent the Trimble R8 GNSS:

Martin Instrument Survey Solutions in Austin.

This requires more research.

Arbitrary Notes

Well, since I should gravitate toward some aggregated method of jotting down notes regarding thesis thoughts, I figure what better place than this newly adopted blog. It also serves to be accessible anywhere and notes can also be added from anywhere - granted the all important internet connection.

So, here is a cut and paste from an email I keep sending and resending myself of random thoughts and notes regarding thesis methods. I can now delete that email.

- Include aerial imaging.. thematic mapper and LIDAR from CAST

- Chapter on geomorphology of the red river with evidence of meander of the river over time.

- Handbook of Geophysics in Archaeology

- GCD, Tom Jones, Terran Map, Crenshaw, Hatchell. A comparative study looking at intrasite settlement patterns of the Battle Mound site to support or not support the Terran Map observations. Where they out of it? Is GCD and other sites frontier sites with anomolous settlement patterns? Can specific settlement patterns be determined or are they so highly variable (single mound, hamlets, etc. as depicted in the Terran Map) that a pattern cannot be determined. What does this tell us about the Caddo culture and how they might have viewed their instrasite landscape?

Visit to Battle Mound & Crenshaw

Over the weekend I headed down to Magnolia, Arkansas to take a look at a couple mound sites that I am strongly considering for my thesis - Battle Mound and Crenshaw Mound. I plan on doing a geophysical survey at one (or both) of the sites. Battle Mound is a single mound site (although multiple mounds are to have existed) and Crenshaw has multiple mounds. I was able to meet the land owners at Battle and they are receptive to me doing research on the site. A recent email from Dr. Jamie Brandon brought news that land owners at Crenshaw are also receptive to me doing research there. My plan at this point is to gather as much historical information about both sites and in the coming months, make another visit to do some preliminary geophysical grids to get a better understanding of instrument capabilities and any issues I might encounter. I am concerned about the numerous historical occupations at Battle and the inevitable metal trash that would accompany them. However, I am anxious to get started and have many ideas about how to approach this research project floating about in my head as a result of my productive visit.