U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is known as a natural laboratory for extreme hot weather testing.
YPG’s Environmental Sciences Division employs an archeologist to manage the protection and preservation of cultural recourses across the range.
YPG Archeologist Jane Poss is a Columbia University graduate in Anthropology and attended graduate school at St. Antony's College at the University of Oxford.
Poss has worked on excavations around the world yet says the archeological work at YPG is different because of our desert landscape.
“Almost all of our archeological work is by foot survey. We are walking along the ground looking for what’s lying on the surface of the desert,” explains Poss.
The team scans the surface for signs of past human activity.
“It’s common on YPG for us to find rock cairns, rock alignments, cleared circles, and evidence of historic and pre-historic trails. We are also looking for artifacts, signs there was a dropped pot, a place where people made stone tools, a place where people made fire. Anything that can tell us that people once lived in or used this area.”
Poss explains that the Cultural Resources team is not always performing the field side of archeology. Another aspect of the job is the documentation of findings.
“Once we collect the data out in the field, we have to process that data. Weather that is writing reports, processing geographic data or drawing maps or preparing to present out findings to outside parties.”
The team must collect all the data they can about their findings. That includes measurements, photographs, detailed notes, and precise location information for identification purposes.
YPG’s Environmental Sciences Division and Cultural Resources subdivision works with outside entities including the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office and 17 Native American Tribes to gather input on the culture resources whether they be a historic building or an archeological site.
After the teams perform an archeological survey and research, they can determine how best to proceed with YPG’s mission requirements.
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