Date of Award
12-2019
Culminating Project Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Cultural Resources Management Archaeology: M.S.
Department
Anthropology
College
College of Liberal Arts
First Advisor
Mark Muñiz
Second Advisor
Debra Gold
Third Advisor
Robert Mann
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Keywords and Subject Headings
Site formation, wildfire, experimental archaeology
Abstract
The study of fire and how it affects archaeological sites has been a topic of interest for some time. Unfortunately, data retrieved from burned sites comes with little or no data regarding the site before it was burned over, particularly the pre and post-burn location of artifacts. This thesis presents an experiment where test plots of replica artifacts were burned in prescribed fires on the Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge. In an attempt to measure fire as a site formation process in prairie grassland and oak woodland, this experiment helps establish baseline data for these two common habitats in Minnesota and how fire may affect sites on the surface of the ground within them.
Recommended Citation
Hanson, Ian, "Burn Baby Burn: an Experiment in Archaeological Site Formation through Fire" (2019). Culminating Projects in Cultural Resource Management. 31.
https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/crm_etds/31
Comments/Acknowledgements
To everyone who supported me on this journey I am so very thankful, especially so to my wonderful wife Courtney, my parents, siblings, classmates, and my thesis committee who got me to the finish line.