Up In Smoke: Assumptions of Survey Visibility and Site Identification

Abstract

Pedestrian surface survey, or the discovery and documentation of visibly detectable prehistoric and historic remains in the modern landscape, has been a critical part of archaeological field research for more than half a century. Despite increasingly accessible technologies such as satellite imaging, aerial photography, and geophysical testing, surface survey remains the primary means through which archaeologists obtain regional-scale data; it is widely employed both as a precursor to subsurface investigation and as an end in itself. Its ubiquity may in part be explained by the fact that: 1) it is both non-invasive and non-destructive, and therefore more in tune with the concerns of many native and local stakeholders; 2) it is less costly and time consuming than excavation, particularly when issues of material analyses, curation, and archiving are taken into consideration; and 3) it can provide a broad regional perspective on past human activities within either a culturally meaningful or arbitrarily defined area. State and Federal mandates, which dictate that potential impacts to cultural resources be investigated in advance of land modification, further ensure the continued pervasiveness of pedestrian surface survey, as its presumed reliability and cost-effectiveness make it a mainstay among cultural resource management agencies.