NEARC 2001 

Recovering Raritan Landing: Using ArcInfo 8.1 and ArcScene to Assist in Archaeology Data Recovery

Author: Matt Woodmansee
GeoDecisions, Hammonton, NJ
Email:
mwoodmansee@geodecisions.com

Phone: (609) 561-4800

The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) is planning to extend State Route 18 an additional 1.7 miles from its current terminus in Piscataway Township, Middlesex County, New Jersey. Improvements will include a four-lane limited access highway with three grade-separated interchanges. The roadway expansion will take place over and around the site of an 18th century town along the banks of the Raritan River, known as Raritan Landing. A data recovery team was formed to extract archaeological information about the town before the construction of the new highway. GeoDecisions, a division of Gannett Fleming, was tasked with the GIS database portion of this project.

Using ArcInfo 8.1, GeoDecisions constructed a three-dimensional database to assist in archaeological data recovery and analysis. Using existing and proposed highway elevation information, GeoDecisions was able to determine the level of impact on the recovered artifacts by the proposed roadway improvements. ArcScene was also used for interactive viewing and conducting flybys of the project area.