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The Calculation of Volumes of Middens, Mounds, and Strata Having Irregular Shapes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Peter E. Sorant  and
J. Richard Shenkel
Peter E. Sorant
Affiliation:
School of Urban Studies, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148
J. Richard Shenkel
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology and Geography, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70148
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Abstract

A critical aspect in the estimation of human effort embodied in mound construction or in midden deposition is the volume of the deposit. When these deposits are of irregular contour, the use of standard geometric formulae for the determination of volumes of solids is inadequate. Given a basic contour map of a given deposit, a rather precise determination of volume can be calculated by the application of the formula derived from that for the volume of a truncated cone. The use of the formula involves the determination of the volumes between contour intervals, and then adding the successive contour interval volumes. This is done by measuring the areas of adjacent contours and inserting those data into the formula. The procedure can be accomplished by hand, using grid paper or a compensating polar plenimeter, or by computer–either mainframe or micro–by the incorporation of the formula into an existing contour mapping program.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 49 , Issue 3 , July 1984 , pp. 599 - 603
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1984

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