Photo courtesy of Jenny McWilliams
The September speaker is
Jenny McWilliams
Cemetery Preservation Program Coordinator with the Texas Historical Commission
presenting:
Dowsing for Graves: An Experimental Project Comparing Multiple Remote Sensing Technologies with Dowsing and Mechanical Scraping
Dowsing for graves has been discussed in numerous archaeological publications. Whittaker (2015) proposed that a cemetery relocation project could provide an opportunity to evaluate grave-detection methods under controlled conditions. A historic Texas cemetery scheduled for relocation served as such a test site. Eighteen blind grave-search surveys were carried out by 10 dowsers, 3 human remains detection dogs, 2 GPR surveys, a metal detectorist, a gradiometer, and high-definition LiDAR. Each dowser’s hits were mapped using an Emlid Reach RS3 RTK and all surveys were overlaid in ArcGIS Pro. Subsequent mechanical scraping exposed much of the site. This paper compares each method against scraping results and challenges dowsers to test their abilities against one another through independent, blinded surveys of unmarked graves.
Jenny McWilliams joined the Texas Historical Commission as the Cemetery Preservation Program Coordinator in 2013. She fields inquiries, tracks legislation, and manages cemetery data on the THC’s Historic Sites Atlas. Previously, Jenny worked as an archeologist with Prewitt & Associates, traveling extensively throughout Texas conducting excavations at historic and prehistoric sites for TxDOT, lignite mines, and a reservoir project. Jenny received her undergraduate degree from Texas State University in San Marcos and her M.A. from Texas Tech University.
The next regular meeting will be held on our usual schedule, the third Tuesday of the month at 7pm at Casa Chapala's Austin location, 9041 Research Blvd., Suite 100 (Hwy 183 and Burnet Rd.) Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month, except June and December. They are free and open to the public. For those who wish to come early, we gather around 5:45 PM for dinner, drinks, and fellowship. The short business meeting starts at 7:00 PM, followed by the guest speaker's presentation.
Tuesdays 10am, ongoing Labwork for Joyful Horse materials. Sort and label pre-contact artifacts (lots of lithics!) to create teaching kits available for loan to area educators. THC Wheless Lab, 2801 Wheless Lane, Austin 78723. Send us a message from the Contact page for more details or to RSVP.
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Wondering what our programs are like? View the list of speakers and topics we've had since 2006. Or watch a few of our pandemic-era programs on our YouTube channel.
