2012 Archaeological Investigations at the Lander Trail New Fork River Crossing Historical Park, Sublette County, WY

Description

In September 2012, USUAS conducted a second year of investigations that again focused on the Island Area, but also expanded their investigations east of the river onto the Olson property. This year’s work was an expansion of the 2011 investigations that focused on excavation, or ground-truthing, of identified geophysical anomalies, as well as additional metal detection and geophysical prospecting. The results of the work were quite fruitful and produced additional buried evidence of Emigrant Era artifacts that included a range of fire arm munitions (e.g., bullets, percussion caps, melted lead), plus domestic items (.e.g., tent stake and hog scraper candlestick holder). Additional geophysical surveys using ground penetrating radar and a fluxgate gradiometer identified a number of linear features and, based upon our previous work, buried hearth features. Hand excavation, in concert with chronometric dating techniques, will be necessary to understand the context and origin of these anomalies.