Archeological Sites are not just located in National Parks. Sites occur on public lands owned by Federal, State, and Local Government agencies as well as on privately and corporately owned lands throughout our nation. People of all ages and walks of life are interested in these links to our past. Archeological sites are non-renewable portions of our heritage -- once they are destroyed they do not grow again. In many cases, the sites are the object of laws that require their preservation or consideration in planning decisions or protection from damage or destruction.. By understanding the nature and importance of archeological sites, we can all help preserve these valuable properties for future generations.

The National Park Service Archeology and Ethnography Program provides assistance to partners with interests in archeological resources through offices located within the regions of the National Park Service as well as within the National Center for Cultural Resource Stewardship and Partnerships. The Stewardship and Partnerships Team in the Philadelphia Support Office provides archeological assistance to a wide variety of agencies and organizations throughout the Northeast Region of the National Park Service .

The Team's activities in providing archeological assistance to partners are shaped by the major emphases in the Secretary of the Interior's Strategy for the Federal Archeology Program and reflect specific needs and resources within the Northeast Region. These emphases include public education and participation, efforts to fight looting and preserve the archeological record in place, interagency cooperation in information exchange, site inventories, and curation of collections and records.

Some of the current and recent Partnership Archeological Assistance activities of the Stewardship and Partnerships Team include:

• Archeological Resource Awareness for Youth Group Leaders
• Archeology at the 1997 Boy Scout National Jamboree
• The Earliest Americans National Historic Landmark Theme Study
• Archeology for Managers Training at Delaware Water Gap

The park archeology program within the Chesapeake and Allegheny Clusters, coordinated by the Philadelphia Support Office and working in cooperation with the Valley Forge Center for Cultural Resources, archaeologists in parks, and cultural resource specialists in individual parks and in coordination with the Boston Support Office, seeks to:

• Identify, evaluate, and nominate to the National Register archeological properties within the Chesapeake and Allegheny Clusters, many of which are arguable the finest in the nation.
• Integrate archeological information into planning, preservation, and interpretation activities .
• Provide technical assistance for the 106 Compliance process to ensure that construction activities do not adversely effect archeological resources.
• Provide technical expertise for enforcement of the Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and provide damage assessments for prosecution.

The Philadelphia Support Office serves as the Systemwide Archeological Inventory Program and Archeological Sites Management Information System coordinator and as contract manager for the Archeological Overview and Assessment of Booker T. Washington National Monument. The office has provided expertise to the Booker T. Washington National Monument and Petersburg National Military Park General Management Plan projects, Collection Management Plans at Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site and produced educational materials for park interpretation and the World Wide Web. It has conducted five field survey projects for compliance resulting in complete technical reports, and provided Automated National Cataloging System cataloging assistance to five parks. It assisted in the Archeological Resource Protection Act damage assessment at Petersburg National Military Park coordinates the Archeological Resource Protection Act permitting process for the Chesapeake and Allegheny Clusters. The office also served to guide parks through the funding allocation and the Resource Management Plan process for archeological resources.