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Use of Infrared Photography in Archaeological Field Work*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John Buettner-Janusch
John Buettner-Janusch*
Affiliation:
Departments of Preventive Medicine and AnthropologyUniversity of Utah
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Extract

Photographic emulsions sensitized to wave-lengths of radiation in the infrared region of the spectrum have been used in technical studies for a number of years. During excavation of the Barbeau Creek Rock Shelter, in Randolph County, southern Illinois, in 1952 and 1953, I experimented with infrared films, taking pictures of profiles in the site. The midden in this shelter consisted largely of a light, dun-colored loess which came from the tops of the bluffs in the area. Ordinary photographs of the profiles in the midden are dull and without sufficient contrast between features to be useful for analytical purposes. The possibility of making dramatic, high contrast prints from infrared negatives is well known. For this reason photographs of the profiles were made with infrared film. The results the first season were promising. Not only did features in the profiles show up clearly on the prints, but some appeared which were not visible in prints made with panchromatic film and which were not apparent to the eye.

Type
Facts and Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 20 , Issue 1 , July 1954 , pp. 84 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1954

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Footnotes

*

The excavation of the Barheau Creek Rock Shelter was sponsored by the Illinois State Museum, the Department of Anthropology of the University of Chicago, and private benefactors. Essential support was given by J. Charles Kelley of Southern Illinois University and Fred Matson of Pennsylvania State University. This support is herewith gratefully acknowledged. I am also indebted to my colleague, Howard Winters, who first pointed out to me the bands in the prints made from infrared negatives of the west profile.

References

* The excavation of the Barheau Creek Rock Shelter was sponsored by the Illinois State Museum, the Department of Anthropology of the University of Chicago, and private benefactors. Essential support was given by J. Charles Kelley of Southern Illinois University and Fred Matson of Pennsylvania State University. This support is herewith gratefully acknowledged. I am also indebted to my colleague, Howard Winters, who first pointed out to me the bands in the prints made from infrared negatives of the west profile.