Archaeo-Physics LLC

Our 2025 field season officially ended last week with a project on the Red River of the North near Fargo North Dakota. Quite a contrast when compared with the first project of the season in Hawai'i!

Exciting new research published in Nature has documented the earliest known evidence of controlled fire use by neanderthals, and I am proud to say that one of my publications was cited in the study! My research, which involved the high-temperature inversion of magnetite/maghemite to hematite under oxidative conditions, was conducted to understand why magnetic survey failed to detect archaeological hearths during a Phase III archaeological mitigation in southern California. The mitigation was done to comply with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act prior to site destruction for development.

Subsequent laboratory research took place at the Institute for Rock Magnetism (IRM) at the University of Minnesota, a publicly funded research institution. The IRM is partially funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

I mention all of this to make the following observations. The Trump Administration is currently debating the merits of the NRHP, with the intention of bypassing or sidestepping many Section 106 requirements. At the same time, the value of public funding for science is being questioned by elements of the US public and the current administration. I would have never guessed that (unsuccessful) geophysical survey during a routine Section 106 compliance project could have eventually helped lay the groundwork for a major scientific advancement in our understanding of human evolution, but it did, and this is how science works. And all of this was made possible due to laws and policies of the United States that are currently under threat. Their loss would be a blow to global science; therefore, I urge you all to contact your elected representatives and express support for scientific funding.

Earliest evidence of making fire - Nature Baked sediment, heat-shattered artefacts and introduced pyrite in a 400,000-year-old Palaeolithic occupation site in Suffolk, UK provide evidence of intentional fire-making, marking a pivotal moment in human development.

I’m happy to share the first published review of Archaeology in a Living Landscape: Envisioning Nonhuman Persons in the Indigenous Americas, edited by Brent Woodfill and Lucia Henderson. The review was written by Dr. Laura Pey of the Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Dr. Pey highlighted our chapter on the Wakinyan Oyate as a compelling example of a truly “braided science” approach—one that interweaves Western scientific methods with Indigenous knowledge systems. I’m grateful for the positive review and honored to have contributed to this volume.

What especially caught my attention, however, was Dr. Pey’s discussion of the book’s Epilogue by fellow Minnesotan Jim Waŋbdi Haŋyetu Rock. Like many readers, she was initially puzzled by Jim’s careful counting of words in each chapter. As she explains:

“This meticulous quantification eventually allowed the book to be translated into a quipu (an Inka method of keeping records and communicating information through strings and knots), something I found truly remarkable. I did not expect that crossover: a contemporary Dakota scholar reinterpreting and enacting Inka embodied and material language, a true Dakota quipucamayoc (quipu-interpreter). His contribution undoubtedly adds both lucidity and grounding to the volume, while inviting us to explore alternative formats that move beyond written and spoken words, touching the realm of the sensory.”

I’m grateful for Dr. Pey’s thoughtful insights and am happy to see the volume already sparking cross-cultural conversations about non-human persons on Turtle Island.

Brent K.S. Woodfill & Lucia R. Henderson (ed.). 2024. Archaeology in a living landscape: envisioning nonhuman persons in the Indigenous Americas. Gainesville: University Press of Florida; 978-0-8130-7919-6 hardback $100. | Antiquity | Cambridge Core Brent K.S. Woodfill & Lucia R. Henderson (ed.). 2024. Archaeology in a living landscape: envisioning nonhuman persons in the Indigenous Americas. Gainesville: University Press of Florida; 978-0-8130-7919-6 hardback $100.

Friday was our final day of fieldwork during a three week stretch of brutally hot and humid late summer weather while collecting high-resolution ground penetrating radar and electromagnetic induction data. Pidamaya to the Ihanktonwan Dakota Oyate for all the hospitality.

Some photos of a recent Archaeo-Physics survey at an 1874 battlefield located on the Southern Plains in what is today known as the Texas Panhandle. This was one many engagements that took place during the during the attempted ethnic cleansing of Native-Americans from their ancestral homelands by the government of the United States. The photos depict important components of our non-invasive investigation, which started with appropriate ceremony, followed by grid layout using an electronic total station and precise georeferencing using a static GNSS system. Next, geophysical data were collected using three different methods including magnetic field gradient, electromagnetic induction and GPR survey at frequencies of both 500 and 250 MHz. Sub-surface results are then overlaid on LiDAR digital elevation models and derivatives using geographic information system (GIS) software. Results of this investigation will be presented at the 2026 Society for American Archaeology (SAA) presidential session on April 29th, 2026 in San Francisco, California. The theme of this plenary session is “Archaeology, Collaboration, and Community Empowerment.” We hope to see you there!