Archeology E-gram April 2021

Passing of Former NPS Archeologist Ron Ice

Former Regional Archeologist for the (legacy) NPS Southwest Region Ron Ice passed on February 1, 2021. Ice was born on November 5, 1932, and grew up on a farm near Wiley, Colorado. He graduated from high school in 1950 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as a radar man. Through the early 1960s, Ice earned his BA and MA in archeology at the University of New Mexico and conducted archeological work for the New Mexico State Highway Department.

In 1964, Ice began his NPS career as a seasonal ranger at Gran Quivera NM (now part of Salinas Pueblo Missions NM). In 1966, he accepted a permanent position at Petrified Forest NM, and moved to Tonto NM in 1967. He moved again in 1969 to Alibates Flint Quarries NM. While there, he was certified as an NPS scuba diver. Ice made his last career move to Santa Fe and the Southwest Cultural Resources Center in 1972 as a staff archeologist, later the Regional Archeologist. His career as a diver continued into the 1990s, working at Gulf Islands NS, Fort Jefferson NM, Biscayne NP, and Point Reyes NS among others.

People he supervised say that Ice was a good person to work for – he was low key but effective, and set a good example of how to run a regional program. Ice was an avid photographer and traveler and took his wife and two children through much of North America, Europe, and a few Pacific islands. In 1990, he and his wife bought a farm in Alcalde, New Mexico and, after retirement in 1993, established a successful farm. They were popular at farmer’s markets in Santa Fe and Los Alamos and were voted Alcalde Organic Farmers of the Year in 2020.

Manzanar National Historic Site Archeology Program Receives Award

The Manzanar NHS Community Archeology Program has received the prestigious 2021 Award for Excellence in Public Archaeology Programming from the Society for American Archaeology. The program was recognized as an exemplary public engagement program that highlights best practices in archeology outreach and education. Since 2003, the Community Archeology Program has enlisted hundreds of volunteers to investigate the physical traces of Manzanar’s history. Volunteers have come from Owens Valley towns and across the U.S. and Japan. They range in age from 9 to over 90, and represent diverse communities and experiences. Former incarcerees—including an orphan who lived at Manzanar’s Children’s Village—and their descendants volunteer. Many return year after year.

Project goals are developed in collaboration with the descendant communities and are designed to uncover features to help Manzanar’s 100,000 annual visitors learn more about the site’s history. The most recent project removed brush and sediments from foundations and landscaping features at the Children’s Village orphanage, and retrieved toys, baby bottles, and crib parts. Once it is safe to work together on site again, volunteers will be able to help uncover more features and stories at Manzanar.

By Alisa Lynch

Archeologists Discover Harriet Tubman's Homesite on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Refuge Land

Archeologists in Maryland have identified the homesite owned by Harriet Tubman’s father. The former home of Ben Ross is located on property acquired in 2020 by the USFWS for addition to the Blackwater NWR. It contains 10 acres bequeathed to Ross by Anthony Thompson in the 1800s. As outlined in Thompson's will, Ross was to be freed five years after Thompson's death in 1836. Ross was freed and received the land in the early 1840s. He felled and sold timber, which was transported by free Black mariners to Baltimore shipyards.

Tubman was born Araminta Ross in March 1822 on the Thompson Farm near Cambridge. She and her mother were enslaved by the Brodess family and moved away from the farm when she was a toddler. She spent time there as a child, but she probably also lived with her father in her teenage years, working alongside him. It was here that Tubman learned to navigate difficult physical terrain. Interacting with mariners also provided knowledge of waterways on the East Coast, which may have helped her lead people to freedom via the Underground Railroad.

During the course of field survey and analysis, State Highway Administration Chief Archeologist Julie Schablitsky and her team found numerous artifacts dating to the 1800s, including nails, brick, glass, dish fragments and a button, dating to the time period when Ross was living on the property.

The archeological discovery of Ben Ross' home site will be highlighted on the historic Thompson Farm where he and his family were enslaved. This point of interest will be added to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, designated an All-American Road by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. The byway is a 125-mile, self-guided scenic drive that includes more than 30 sites related to Harriet Tubman's life and legacy.

From report by WBALTV

Commemorating Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program

The National Underground Railroad Network To Freedom Program has expanded with the addition of 16 sites, including one at Cumberland Island National Seashore and another at Gulf Islands National Seashore. There are now 682 listings in the network. Each provides insight into the diverse experiences of freedom seekers who bravely escaped slavery.

The additional sites were announced during National Park Week by Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland. At the event, NPS Chief Historian Dr. Turkiya Lowe and Park Ranger Casimer Rosiecki from Gulf Islands National Seashore highlighted two of the new listings, the Lizzie Ambie Escape Site in Cambridge, Maryland, and the Barrancas in Pensacola, Florida.

A recording of the event can be viewed via YouTube.

From report by National Park Traveler staff

Forrest Fenn Treasure Hunter Digs Himself Into a Federal Sentence

Roderick Craythorn, of Syracuse, Utah, was sentenced by Chief Federal District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl, for damaging archeological resources in the Fort Yellowstone NHL cemetery in Yellowstone NP. Craythorn received a sentence of six months of imprisonment plus six months of home detention, to be followed by two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $31,566 in restitution.

Craythorn was found digging in Fort Yellowstone’s cemetery in late 2019 and early 2020, while looking for a treasure believed to be worth millions of dollars. NPS rangers and special agents discovered 17 sites of illegal excavation, including damage to an historic grave. The cemetery is a multi-component archeological site with historical human burials.

Yellowstone NP was established in 1872 as the nation’s first national park; the Army was dispatched to the park in 1886 to protect its natural features and wildlife. Originally established as Camp Sheridan in 1891, it evolved into Fort Yellowstone and served as the Army headquarters until their departure in 1918. The Army began interments in the cemetery in 1888. At least 54 people were buried in the cemetery between 1888 and 1916, most of them civilian employees of the Army and relatives of military personnel.

A Santa Fe, New Mexico, art dealer named Forrest Fenn buried a chest of gold, silver, and gems in the western United States and then left a clue-filled poem to solve its location. Craythorn had done extensive research on the Forest Fenn treasure but did not find the treasure during his criminal adventure. It was found later in Wyoming by another person.

National Heritage Areas Program Releases Annual Report

National Heritages Areas (NHAs) expand on traditional conservation approaches by supporting large-scale, community initiatives that engage communities in heritage preservation activities. Across the country, NHAs and their partners are reviving historic downtowns, preserving large landscapes and cultural practices, and sharing our nation’s history through the arts.

In 2020, 247 historic sites and 8,623 acres of cultural landscapes were preserved and maintained; 83 historic preservation grants were awarded, totaling $655,192; $88.5 million in cash and in-kind support was leveraged to carry out heritage projects and programs, greatly increasing the impact of the $20.9 million in federal Heritage Partnership Program funding. The 2020 By the Numbers is the first NHA Annual Report to include data from the six NHAs designated in 2019.

For a comprehensive list of 2020 accomplishments in the NHAs, read the full 2020 By the Numbers report at https://www.nps.gov/subjects/heritageareas/upload/By-the-Numbers-2020_508-Compliant.pdf

Submitted by Elizabeth Vehmeyer, NPS National Heritage Areas Program

Government Accountability Office Releases Report on Native American Cultural Resources

In early April, the GAO released the report Native American Cultural Resources: Improved Information Could Enhance Agencies' Efforts to Analyze and Respond to Risks of Theft and Damage. The report examines (1) approaches selected federal agencies have taken to prevent and detect theft and damage; and (2) factors that have hindered agencies' efforts to prevent, investigate, and prosecute incidents of theft and damage. GAO analyzed data from seven federal agencies, reviewed agency documents, and interviewed agency officials and representatives of Native American tribes.

Officials cited impediments such as being unable to afford costly measures such as fences and physical surveillance. Also cited was a lack of information on the location and condition of archeological sites. GAO recommended the agencies work to obtain this information, which could help them better prioritize protection efforts. GAO recommended that each agency take steps to identify and obtain information to enhance their ability to analyze and respond to risks to Native American cultural resources. The agencies generally concurred with the recommendations.

To read the full report, go to https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-110

NPS Archeology Group E-Mail Lists

The NPS maintains a number of group e-mail lists just for archeologists. To join one or more of the lists, send an e-mail message to [e-mail] and provide the names of the lists that you would like to add your address to. Your choices are:

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Cultural Resources Update Released by the Defense Department

The Spring 2021 edition of the DoD Cultural Resources Program newsletter, "Cultural Resources Update," has been released. Highlights include the DoD Climate Assessment Tool, Streamlined Determinations of Eligibility (DOEs) for Historic Farmsteads and Ranches, Bellwood-Richmond Quartermaster Historic District and Elk Herd, an introduction to the new FPO, announcements, training, and more. If you have questions about the newsletter or would like to contribute a future article, please contact Courtney Williams at 703-414-4533 or [e-mail].

To subscribe to the newsletter, send an email to [e-mail].

The Federal Archeologist’s Bookshelf: will be back soon.

Well-known Moab Petroglyph Vandalized; $10K Reward Offered

BLM officials are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone who was responsible for damaging a famous petroglyph in Grand County, Utah. The vandalism marred "Birthing Rock," alternately known as "Birthing Scene Petroglyph," near Moab. Birthing Rock includes images drawn on the rock by Native American groups at least as far back as the Ancestral Puebloan Culture, a couple of thousand years ago. Three of four panels were heavily damaged.

The petroglyphs were defaced with scribbling in addition to vulgar phrases and imagery and the term "white power." Judging from photos, Elizabeth Hora, an archeologist for the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, judged that most of the damage was to petroglyphs left by people from the Fremont Culture. The Fremont era in that area stretched from 500 A.D. to about 1300 A.D.

A wooden fence was put up in recent years to keep people away from the rock and attempt to stop potential vandals as a result of increased visitation to the area. Whoever damaged the rock did so on purpose.

Anyone who may have information regarding the incident is encouraged to call BLM Law Enforcement at 435-259-2131 or 800-722-3998. Requests for confidentiality will be honored.

From report by Carter Williams, KSL.com

GRANTS AND TRAINING

NPS Region 2 Seeks Regional Archeologist
The Legacy NPS Southeast Region is soliciting applications for a Regional Archeologist, GS-0192-13.The incumbent serves as the regional archeologist for Interior Region 2, providing leadership, guidance, and administration of the archeological programs and the protection of archeological resources. This position will oversee the Archeologists working at the Southeast Archeological Center (SEAC) in Tallahassee, Florida.

Open to the first 100 applicants or until 05/14/2021, whichever comes first. All applications submitted by 11:59 (EST) on the closing day will receive consideration.To apply, go to USAjobs at https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/600108000

FEMA Offers COVID Assistance

The FEMA Funeral Reimbursement Program launched April 1, 2021 and will reimburse up to $7,000.00 for COVID-19 funerals. Under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, FEMA will provide financial assistance for COVID-19-related funeral expenses incurred after January 20, 2020. Funeral documentation is required in order to apply for reimbursement.

For more information, go to https://www.fema.gov/disasters/coronavirus/economic/funeral-assistance

Cultural Resource Director’s Awards Nominations Sought

Each year the NPS recognizes exemplary work in cultural resource stewardship and management through Director’s Awards. The Director’s Awards honor employees who go above and beyond day-to-day duties to solve problems or create new opportunities or projects with creative thinking and action. A bi-annual convocation, in Fall 2022, will recognize the recipients and their achievements. 

Nominees for the 2020 Director’s Awards in Cultural and Natural Resources may be submitted through July 6, 2021, based on accomplishments in the 2020 fiscal year.  Regional selection processes and timelines for submission may differ between regions. Detailed nomination forms for each can be found at the NRSS/CRPS Awards Nomination Webpage.

These awards celebrate individuals in:  

• Appleman-Judd-Lewis Award for Cultural Resource Stewardship by a Superintendent 

• Appleman-Judd-Lewis Award for Cultural Resource Stewardship through Maintenance

• Appleman-Judd-Lewis Award for Cultural Resource Management 

Contact: Stephen Pisani, e-mail us

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC: Chief Justice Roberts Invites Antiquities Act Challenges

From report by Jennifer Yachnin, E&E News reporter
Chief Justice John Roberts has openly urged opponents of national monuments to continue their legal fight, suggesting the Supreme Court may be willing to take a fresh look at the Antiquities Act. The Supreme Court declined to weigh in on whether President Obama exceeded his authority under the Act when he created a marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean, but Roberts questions how presidents have implemented the law; he suggests other cases that might be better suited to Supreme Court review.

In a four-page statement, Roberts wondered whether presidents have abused the 1906 law by ignoring a provision requiring that monuments be "limited to the smallest area compatible with the care and management of the objects to be protected." The chief justice went on to suggest that a handful of other lawsuits — including a pair challenging President Trump's cuts to two Utah-based national monuments — could present "better opportunities" to review the use of the Antiquities Act.

Roberts' written comments should be a "very strong signal" to the Supreme Court bar to begin developing new challenges to bring before the nation's highest court, said Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Jonathan Wood. The Pacific Legal Foundation represents fishing groups whose lawsuit over the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine NM was rejected and intervenors in a lawsuit on the Bears Ears NM in Utah. If the court is interested in narrowing the scope of the Antiquities Act, Wood expects to see an uptick in challenges with a focus on how the "smallest area" standard is applied.

Mark Squillace, a natural resource law expert at the University of Colorado Law School, however, suggests Roberts' comments could simply be a caution over how monuments are created. "It's a warning to future presidents to be very careful about how you structure monument proclamations," Squillace said. "But I don't necessarily think it signals that future proclamations or past proclamations are going to be struck down on those grounds."

The Supreme Court has sided with presidents on their designation of national monuments, meaning the court would need to reverse precedent first set in 1920 on a challenge to what was then the Grand Canyon NM. In that lawsuit against the Antiquities Act, an Arizona businessman and miner challenged the establishment of an 808,000-acre site by President Theodore Roosevelt, asserting there was no authority for its creation. The court rejected that argument in a unanimous decision, noting the Antiquities Act allows for the preservation of "objects of historic or scientific interest."

In the years since, the Supreme Court has taken up only a handful of cases on the Antiquities Act. In the 1976 decision Cappaert v. United States, the high court confirmed the president's ability to protect more than human-made antiquities when the court rejected a lawsuit challenging the designation of Devils Hole, a unit of what is now Death Valley NP. Plaintiffs in that lawsuit argued that the law was meant to safeguard only archeological sites, rather than the endangered fish that live in the unusual desert setting.

Opponents of national monument sites have long argued that Congress' original intent for the Antiquities Act was to guard against "pot-hunters," including the museums and researchers who were looting archeological sites in the early 1900s. Chief Justice Warren Burger wrote in that unanimous 1976 opinion: "The pool in Devil's Hole and its rare inhabitants are 'objects of historic or scientific interest.'"

Other lawsuits challenging the size of monuments have failed to rise to the Supreme Court, like a 1997 challenge that argued President Clinton exceeded his authority when he established the then-1.9-million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante NM in Utah. In a 2004 decision, federal Judge Dee Vance Benson, a President George H.W. Bush appointee, found that Clinton complied with the Antiquities Act by "setting aside, in his discretion, the smallest area necessary to protect the objects."

In his opinion, Benson also noted that while the impetus for the Antiquities Act may have been to protect "'small reservations' of 'interesting ruins,'" it has nearly always been used to create "large scenic monuments…Nothing in the language of the Act specifically authorizes the creation of national monuments for scenic purposes or for general conservation purposes. Nonetheless, several presidents have used the Act to withdraw large land areas for scenic and general conservation purposes,"

Should the court attempt to revisit the idea of whether landscape-scale monuments or ecosystems are permissible designations, however, Squillace suggested the federal government will likely rely on highly detailed presidential proclamations in its defense. "There's a pretty strong factual record that supports the decisions," he said. "Unless the court were to reject the notion of a landscape-scale monument, I think it's going to be pretty hard to second-guess the president's decisions."

Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Kate Desormeau noted that Congress has chosen not to revisit the Antiquities Act to put an acreage limit on new sites, outside of a restriction in 1950 barring new monuments in Wyoming, as well as provisions in the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act.

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