United States Department of Transportation
i
Decision support model for assessing archaeological survey needs for bridge replacement projects in Iowa.
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2006-01-01
[PDF-2.21 MB]
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Abstract:The Bridges Decision Support Model is a geographic information system (GIS) that assembles existing
data on archaeological sites, surveys, and their geologic contexts to assess the risk of bridge replacement
projects encountering 13,000- to 150-year-old Native American sites. This project identifies critical
variables for assessing prehistoric sites potential, examines the quality of available data about the
variables, and applies the data to creating a decision support framework for use by the Iowa Department
of Transportation (Iowa DOT) and others. An analysis of previous archaeological surveys indicates that
subsurface testing to discover buried sites became increasingly common after 1980, but did not become
routine until after the adoption of guidelines recommending such testing, in 1993. Even then, the average
depth of testing has been relatively shallow. Alluvial deposits of sufficient age, deposited in depositional
environments conducive to human habitation, are considerably thicker than archaeologists have routinely
tested.
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