«Breaking News» High-tech radar and laser scans uncover hidden military traverse on Alcatraz Island

High-tech laser and radar scans have uncovered a buried military traverse underneath Alcatraz penitentiary.

Archaeologist Timothy de Smet of Binghamton University used advanced scanning technology to discover the buried earthworks on the San Francisco island, publishing his findings in January.

Though Alcatraz is well-known as the former federal prison that housed notorious killers and gangsters, but before that it was a U.S. military installation.

President Millard Fillmore first designated the island for military use in 1850, and the installation became a fort and later a military prison that held POWs in the Civil War.

Archaeologist Timothy de Smet of Binghamton University uses advanced scanning technology to discover the buried earthworks on the San Francisco island

The fortifications at Alcatraz are seen in an undated image. The island was a military facility from 1850 until it transferred to the Bureau of Prisons in 1933

A sketch shows the style of earthworks at Alcatraz, with the traverse earthworks in between the cannons

After the island was transferred to the Bureau of Prisons in 1933, little was thought to remain of the original military fortifications. 

 But using his scanning technology, de Smet discovered the remnants of underground structures, including a 'bombproof' earthwork traverse along with its underlying vaulted brick masonry tunnel and ventilation ducts, running east to west beneath the recreation yard.

A traverse is a form of earthworks used in trench warfare, running perpendicular to the main trench.

It can be used both for accessing the trench and escaping 'enfilading fire' - where enemies can shoot sideways down the length of a trench. 

Archaeologist de Smet used scanning technology to discover the military traverses

A historic map of Alcatraz Island circa 1894 shows traverses I, J and K and batteries 6 and 7

'I was surprised for several reasons,' de Smet said in a press release. 'The remains of these historical archaeology features were just a few centimeters beneath the surface and they were miraculously and impeccably preserved.' 

'The concrete veneer of the Recreation Yard floor is incredibly thin and, in fact, in places sitting directly atop the architecture from the 1860s,' he continued.

'We also learned that some of the earthwork traverses were covered over with thin concrete layers through time, likely to decrease erosion on the rainy windy island. It was wonderful to find the history just beneath our feet that we can visualize for the public,' de Smet said.

Alcatraz is seen in its modern incarnation last year. The island is a tourist attraction for many in the San Francisco Bay 

De Smet hopes the expedition can serve as a powerful proof-of-concept for his scanning technology, which he believes can be used to explore archaeological sites without disrupting them through excavation. 

With modern remote sensing methods like these, we can answer fundamental archaeological research questions about human behavior, social organization and cultural change through time without costly and destructive excavation, thereby preserving these non-renewable archaeological resources in the ground - or in situ as we say in the field - for future generations,' he said. 

'These results are significant in that they show how modern technology can be used to answer fundamental questions of archaeological importance without any destructive excavations.'

Link hienalouca.com

https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/01/high-tech-radar-and-laser-scans-uncover-hidden-military-traverse-on-alcatraz-island/
Main photo article High-tech laser and radar scans have uncovered a buried military traverse underneath Alcatraz penitentiary.
Archaeologist Timothy de Smet of Binghamton University used advanced scanning technology to discover the buried earthworks on the San Francisco island, publishing his findings in ...

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