Finding Ashmounds

Identifying Large Buried Homogenous Anthropogenic Features with ERT

Bibliographic Data

ID23308488
AuthorsAustin C Hill (0000-0002-8397-8105, California University of Pennsylvania, corresponding author), Mark T Lycett (0000-0002-0662-0126, California University of Pennsylvania), Jennifer T Feng (0000-0002-0069-7886, California University of Pennsylvania), Moriah Mckenna (0009-0003-2299-7905, California University of Pennsylvania), Smriti Haricharan (0009-0003-6399-5703, Indian Institute of Technology), K D Morrison (0000-0002-8224-0846, California University of Pennsylvania)
Year2026
Pages1-12
Publication date2026-07-24
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Antiquity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7316 • E-ISSN: 2325-5064
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/aaq.2026.10194
OpenAlexW7170629813
LanguageEN
References cited21

Electrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) is commonly used in geophysical and environmental surveys because it allows for rapid and high-quality resolution of large depositional features over a wide area. It is generally less able to resolve small anthropogenic features, however, so it has had a slower uptake among archaeologists despite several promising applications over the last two decades. Traditional soil resistivity (ER) surveys are generally limited to two-dimensional surveys at a given depth based on the probe spacing and array selected. As an extension of our ongoing work using ER to detect shallow but spatially extensive patterns at a large urban site of Brahmagiri in southern India, we experimented with using our Frobisher Tar-3 resistance meter to create a “pseudosection”—a narrow but deep remotely sensed profile of a Neolithic ashmound. Ashmounds are large accumulations of vitrified cattle dung, and as such, are appropriate targets for ERT. In our ongoing work at Brahmagiri, one of the most well-known sites in southern India, we located no fewer than nine ashmounds covering an area of more than 10 ha. First reported here, these features add significantly to our understanding of the South Indian Neolithic. Given the size, distribution, and depositional context of the ashmounds, ERT appears to be a promising method for studying these important features.

Context (archaeology) · Electrical Resistivity Tomography · High resolution · Resistance (ecology) · Sedimentary depositional environment · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Geophysical and Geoelectrical Methods · Soil Geostatistics and Mapping

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