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NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Leigh Flynn
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466
9/23/99
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NATCHITOCHES - Northwestern State University archaeologists and two NASA scientists will spend much of next week searching for keys to the history of Los Adaes State Commemorative Area, an early 1700s Spanish fort and one-time capital of the Province of Texas.
Dr. Marco Giardino and Dr. Ramona Travis, both NASA scientists, will begin working at the site near Robeline on Tuesday, using ground-penetrating radar to determine the location of some of the more significant areas at the former Spanish fort.
From 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Wednesday, the public is invited to visit Los Adaes and observe the scientists. Northwestern archaeology professors Dr. George Avery, Dr. Pete Gregory and Jeff Girard, who have done extensive archeological research on the former fort site will also be on hand Wednesday.
In addition, NSU assistant professor of physics Dr. Kelly Knowlton will display and discuss the work he did with infrared photography and ground-penetrating radar during a 10-week summer faculty workshop sponsored by NASA and the American Society for Engineering Education. The day's events are only a few of the many lectures and demonstrations being held during Archaeology Week.
This past summer, Knowlton and 10 other participants in the program at the John C. Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi used the two non-intrusive methods to locate and map portions of El Camino Real west of Natchitoches and other historical sites. A mission was flown using the Atlas sensor, taking both infrared and thermal images of an area near Los Adaes.
Giardino said those images will be analyzed and could indicate where other buildings as well as portions of El Camino Real may have been positioned.
Next week's visit to the fort has two purposes, Giardino said. If the ground-penetrating radar works well enough in the different soil types, Giardino said he hopes to begin creating an outline of what structures were located where at the fort. Avery and Gregory have maps of the site, so they have a general idea where the main structures were located. Giardino said they might be able to survey as much as half of the site during the two and a half day visit.
Giardino and Travis also hope to determine whether a ditch or small moat was dug around the perimeter of the stockade fence. Avery said design plans included a moat, but it has not yet been determined whether that moat ever existed.
The ground-penetrating radar, which Giardino said is a "great tool for archaeology," will help answer that question and others without random, unnecessary digging. The process, which detects anomalies or differences in the soil, is much faster than the traditional probe method, he said. It will not replace digging, though, it will only help pinpoint the anomalies.
"I'm really excited about (the non-intrusive technique)," Avery said. "Anytime you can look at a site without destroying its integrity is going to be very useful for us."
Los Adaes was a Spanish fort built in the early 1700s to counter any further French intrusion into Spanish territory. Los Adaes, the capital of the Province of Texas for 44 years, was ordered closed in 1772. The hexagonal stockade and the buildings within the walls are no longer standing. In 1978, Los Adaes State Commemorative Area was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, an honorary designation for significant historic sites.
Earlier this year, NASA's Earth System Science Office and Technology Transfer Office at Stennis Space Center announced the signing of an agreement with Surveys Unlimited Research Associates Inc. of Baton Rouge to share remote sensing techniques and technology that improve the accuracy of archaeological site surveys.
Locating archaeological sites and determining their extent can be beneficial in modeling climate change and sea level rise, both research interests of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.
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