Archeology E-gram October 2021

Bies New Deputy Superintendent of Acadia National Park

NPS archeologist Brandon Bies has been selected as the Deputy Superintendent of Acadia NP and St Croix International Historic Site. Bies had been the Superintendent of Manassas NBP and served in a special assignment as NPS Deputy Chief of Staff, coordinating the agency’s COVID-19 response.

Bies’ career includes working at the park, regional, and national office levels; congressional affairs; as a park manager; and as a cultural resource specialist and archeologist. While at Manassas NBP, he focused on protecting the 5,000-acre park from external development projects. His work in congressional affairs included advocating for rehabilitation of the Arlington Memorial Bridge and repairs to the Washington Monument. He served as the Site Manager of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial and Great Falls Park. Working in cultural resources at the George Washington Memorial Parkway, he was key in the discovery of PO Box 1142, a secret World War II military intelligence facility.

Bies is a native of Delaware and holds a MA in Applied Anthropology from University of Maryland and a BA in American History and Anthropology from the University of Delaware.

Sturdevant Moves to Hawaii

NPS archeologist Jay Sturdevant is the new Integrated Resources Program Manager for Pearl Harbor National Memorial and Honouliuli NHS. Sturdevant previously served as an archeologist for over 20 years at the NPS's Midwest Archeological Center, Southeast Archeological Center, and Dinosaur NM.

In his new role, he oversees the preservation of the USS Arizona Memorial; the USS Utah; historic resources related to WW II and the battle of Pearl Harbor; and the archeological and cultural landscape of the Honouliuli NHS. The Honouliuli incarceration camp held Japanese American citizens and Japanese prisoners of war between 1943-1946.

Sturdevant is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Colorado State University. He is also a past President of the Plains Anthropological Society.

Disability History Handbook in Development

The history of disability—as a lived experience and as a site of civil rights and social justice struggle—is gaining recognition in the NPS. In 2020 a working group began planning for an NPS Disability History Handbook. A concise anthology of thematic and chronological essays, the handbook will help the service identify and interpret nationally significant historic sites and enrich interpretation at existing sites.

Is your park’s history associated with an archeologist with a disability? If you have ideas to share or want to know more about the handbook, contact Lu Ann Jones at e-mail us or Perri Meldon at [e-mail].

Society for American Archaeology Representatives Argue for NHPA Section 106

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert has introduced H.R. 4302 that would reconfigure the way federal forests are managed by creating categorical exclusions to streamline compliance reviews, including compliance requirements for NHPA. Archeologists Susan Chandler (SAA past president), Kim Redman (SAA board member), and Kim Kintz met with the Colorado Representative’s office. They argued there is no need for such an exemption, since Section 106 work does not slow down project delivery, but accelerates it, and creates jobs and economic activity. The group pointed out that at least 12 cultural resources management firms operate in the congresswoman’s district, employing hundreds of people, and for whom NHPA work is critical.

From report by Deborah L. Nichols, President, Society for American Archeology

Restoration of Bears Ears and Grande Staircase Escalante National Monuments

On October 8, 2021, President Biden restored the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in southern Utah. The land is considered sacred to several Native tribes — including Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and Pueblo of Zuni.
The Bears Ears National Monument, which was created by President Barack Obama, will go back to 1.36 million acres, and Grand Staircase will be restored to 1.87 million acres. Bears Ears National Monument will resume boundaries established by President Obama on December 28, 2016, and include an additional 11,200 acres added by President Trump in 2017. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will resume boundaries that were in place on January 20, 2017.
In 2017, then-President Donald Trump signed an executive order that dramatically downsized Bears Ears by 85% and cut Grand Staircase in half; it was the largest reversal of U.S. land monument protections in history.

The Federal Archeologist’s Bookshelf: Lots of Great Reads!

It’s autumn, and a whole cornucopia of interesting articles have come out, so pull your chair a little closer to the fire and enjoy!

“The Underworld. Finding justice for African American hallowed ground” by Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, October 4, 2021.
This article, written by a Harvard history professor, pulls together a number of different narrative threads to examine efforts to accord African American cemeteries the same preservation and maintenance efforts as cemeteries associated with other groups. Lepore has interviewed a cross section of people involved, including a number of Black archeologists. She also notes that there is increasing momentum for an African American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act – AAGPRA, modeled after NAGPRA – to return African American skeletal remains in museums to descendant communities. The NPS has been proposed as the administrator for AAGPRA. Lepore’s article adds to a growing list of publications calling for the passage of an AAGPRA-type law, including a comment by Justin Dunnavant, Justinvile Delande, and Chip Colwell in Nature in May 2021.

Two recently published articles ponder evidence for colonization of the New World. New research conducted at White Sands NP has dated the oldest known human footprints in North America. The discovery reveals evidence of human occupation in the Tularosa Basin beginning at least 23,000 years ago, thousands of years earlier than previously thought. Seeds embedded in the footprints were radiocarbon dated and analyzed by the U.S. Geological Survey to establish their age. The research dramatically extends the range for the coexistence of humans and Pleistocene (ice age) megafauna and confirms that humans were present in North America before the major glacial advances at the height of the last ice age closed migration routes from Asia.

Read the full article by Matthew Bennett et al. ScienceVol. 373, No. 6562; 1528-1531, at Evidence of humans in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum (science.org)

And if you are wondering how people arrived in the Southwest, but don’t have time to wade through the scientific literature, take a look at “The Search for America’s Atlantis” by Ross Anderson in The Atlantic at https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/10/prehistoric-america-atlantis/619819/
Anderson pulls together much information and theory about the migration history that resulted in the burial of Arlington man on Santa Rosa, today part of Channel Islands NP.

Also situated in Channel Islands NP, “Earliest Evidence of Geophyte Use in North America: 11,500-Year-Old Archaeobotanical Remains from California’s Santarosae Island, by Kristina Gill, Todd Braje, Kevin Smith, and Jon Erlandson (American Antiquity 86(3):625-637, presents evidence for consumption of starchy corms.

Another article that focuses on national parks includes “The Curious Douglas-Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) Trees in Schulman Grove, Mesa Verde National Park, Southwestern Colorado USA” in American Antiquity (Vol. 86(3):549-568, in which authors Stephen Nash, Ronald Towner, and Jeffrey Dean report on results of experimental archeology to reject a claim that one of the trees had scarring from a stone axe.

The evidence for early dates for Venetian glass beads in Alaska is challenged and re-considered in the same volume of American Antiquity.

Another good read is “The Lost Canyon Under Lake Powell: Drought is shrinking one of the country’s largest reservoirs, revealing a hidden Eden” (New Yorker, August 9) in which climate change author Elizabeth Kolbert examines effects of lower water levels in the lake and archeological resources that are accessible for the first time in many decades.

GRANTS AND TRAINING

Cultural Property Law: Criminal and Civil Enforcement Seminar
November 22-23, 2021, 12:45 pm EST to 5:15 pm EST
This webinar series will educate Federal and tribal attorneys on laws that address looting, vandalism, and illegal commercial trafficking of cultural heritage, and negligent and fraudulent acts involving these resources. The course provides an overview of the Federal laws protecting cultural property and offers strategies for effective preparation, prosecution, case resolution, and sentencing, as well as civil legal options. Statutes to be covered include NAGPRA, The Antiquities Act, and ARPA. This webinar is for AUSAs, DOJ Attorneys, and Tribal Attorneys and Prosecutors; other professionals are welcome to attend.

Sessions
The Acoma Shield Case: Returning the Sacred Home
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA): Criminal Provision
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA): Repatriation and Tribal Concerns

Registration Deadline: November 17, 2021
To register, go to https://usao.webex.com/usao/onstage/g.php?PRID=699b2f25e6e68df52c4387a2a97a70fe

Contact: Delores Johnson, e-mail us, and Leslie A. Hagen, e-mail us.

National Park Service Common Learning Portal Offers ARPA information

Although no formal classes are currently scheduled, the NPS continues to provide information for administering the Archaeological Resources Protection Act. Go to the CLP to check out resources.

ARPA Snapshot Series: This Cultural Resource series delves into specific topics to explore new directions or refresh your ARPA skills.
ARPA Focus Series: For Cultural Resource Professionals who may want to go beyond a refresher and hone a skill set pertaining to all or part of the Archeological Resources Protection Act. This series offers opportunities to look more closely at particular topics, or explore new directions for using ARPA.

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC: Halalaween!

What's Halaloween? The Halaloween Muslim Film Festival is presented annually by the Global Islamic Studies Center (GISC) at the University of Michigan. Halaloween screens horror films from across the globe that were made by, for, or about Muslims with the hopes of understanding ‘What scares Muslim audiences? Are horror movies halal?’ Below is a list of Muslim horror films, for those of us who want something a little different at Halloween, or any time of year! They are available online through a variety of venues.

Impetigore (Indonesia)
Down on her luck, Maya learns that she may inherit a house in her ancestral village. But when Maya returns to the village with her loyal best-friend, Dini, she’s unaware that the community has been trying to kill her to remove the curse that's plagued them for years. As she unravels the complicated truth of her past, Maya finds herself in a fight for her life.

122 (Egypt)
In Egypt calling 122 is the equivalent of calling 911 in the US. The film follows the story of Nasr and Umnia. When their car gets hit by a bus they wake up in intensive care in a hospital in the middle of nowhere. The couple faces a catastrophe inside the hospital, and must escape and run for their lives.

KL24: Zombies (Malaysia)
Toxic bosses, dysfunctional family members, polygamous marriage, and zombies (and pandemics!). A flu-like infection has taken over Kuala Lumpur which turns into a zombie outbreak as the film follow three intersecting stories of the survivors fleeing for safety.

Kandisha (Morocco)
It is summer break and best friends Amélie, Bintou and Morjana hang out together. When Amélie is assaulted by her ex, she remembers the story of Kandisha, a powerful and vengeful demon. Afraid and upset, she summons her. The next day, her ex is found dead. The legend is true and now Kandisha is on a killing spree. The three girls will do anything to break the curse.

Madayen (Saudi Arabia)
A tale of three young Saudis who set out to the notoriously haunted Madayen Saleh ruins to the far north of the Kingdom to investigate the myths and the truths behind the cursed place.

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