Professor Michael "Bodhi" Rogers and physics student researchers Greg Shear '05 and Kevin Faehndrich '06 are traveling to Silver City, New Mexico, to conduct cesium magnetometer studies at Gila Encantada site, a Late Pithouse (A.D. 550-1000) period site.
The team plans on posting photos from the field on Rogers's website every three days or so until they return on July 1, so you can follow their adventures online.
Home Page of Physics Professor Michael "Bodhi" Rogers
The goals of these studies are to gain a better understanding of the magnetic geophysical signature left by the occupants of the site and to improve methods of gathering and interpreting these data.
We specifically plan on using maximum entropy image enhancement techniques to see if, using low-resolution data, we can obtain the same information as is obtained from high-resolution data. Resolution is defined by how close the survey lines are placed; the closer they are the higher the resolution, which also means a longer and more costly survey.
Additionally, the results of the magnetometer survey will help guide archaeological excavations to be conducted by Barb Roth (Department of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies, University of Nevada, Las Vegas) and her field school students.
Contributed by Michael Rogers
