A pedestrian archaeological survey (also called field walking) is usually conducted only after the archaeologist has completed an exhaustive
background study of the history of the area, talked to the landowners, and researched any previous reports. But sometimes, you get surprised. I guess that's probably why we like doing archaeology--there are always surprises. In
The Marshalltown Ballcourt Mystery, a humongous deep oval circle in a soybean field near Marshalltown, Iowa leaves a mystified impression on a handful of archaeologists.
This photograph of pedesrian survey aided by GPS equipment is courtesy
Wessex Archaeology.
Comments
i saw a similar thing here when doing Flora Search & Rescue work at Coega. Every now and then we find large shallow depressions in the thick bush which turned out to be ancient elephant mud (clay) wallows (circa 1760) now grown over with vegetation. Even though they are ‘grown over’ they “feel” different and one is aware of the depression (especially after rain when water still pools in them).