Archeology E-Gram January 2023

Anthropologist New Program Manager of National Park Service Archeology Program

Kristen Martine has been selected as the NPS Lead Bureau Archeologist and Department Consulting Archeologist. Martine brings 30 of experience in the Federal and private sector to the position. She holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico and a MA in Anthropology and Ethnic Studies from the University of Nevada.

Martine began her federal career with the USFS as an archeologist on the Santa Fe, Gila, and Coconino National Forests; then as a NEPA specialist at the Pacific Northwest Regional Office. In 2007, she accepted a position at DOE’s Bonneville Power Administration as the Cultural Resource Program Manager for the Federal Columbia River Power System. In 2017, she joined the BLM, serving first as the Deputy Preservation Officer for the Oregon/Washington State Office, and later as the Deputy Division Chief for Education, Cultural and Paleontological Resources at the national Headquarters Office.

Martine has expertise in tribal relations, cultural resource management, NEPA, and land management planning. Her work with a broad spectrum of culturally and socioeconomically diverse tribal communities has resulted in innovative solutions to natural and cultural resource management challenges, all of which will be useful in her new position!

Martine began her new role in January.

National Park Service Releases Guidance on Field Response Plans for Potential Explosives

The NPS Archeology Program, WASO, has released technical guidance for developing explosives field safety response plans for military and commercial explosives encountered in national park units. The Serious Accident Investigation Report and Board of Review Corrective Action Plan related to the transportation of a live 19th century cannonball from Fort Larned NHS recommended the development of guidance to address unexploded ordnance discovered during archeological and construction activities.

The guidance focuses on four components:

• Planning in advance of any emergency involving explosives, including formation of an emergency response team, assignment of roles, and establishing cooperative relationships and agreements with community resources.
• Developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that are specific to the park unit’s resources and needs.
• Training, SOP rehearsals, and emergency response after-action reviews, to ensure that respondents understand roles and procedures to ensure safety.
• Public communication—templates and tools to inform the public, researchers, and NPS staff of the potential danger of explosives.

National Park Service Guidance on Museum Firearms Released

The NPS Museum Management Program has announced that the new Museum Handbook, Part I, Appendix G: Museum Firearms, Small Arms Ammunition, Munitions, and Artillery is now available online. The appendix introduces new standards and a risk-based approach for safely managing firearms, small arms ammunition, munitions, and artillery in museum collections. It updates guidance, including safe management of small arms ammunition, in the NPS Safety Alert: Discarded Military Munitions and Unexploded Ordnance (February 10, 2022). It includes:

• Standards for firearms, small arms ammunition, munitions, artillery, and non-combat explosives.
• Guidance on safe handling, storage, and exhibit procedures.
• Guidance on working with US Marine Corps Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units.
• Guidance on working with experienced specialists to evaluate status of firearms and ammunition
• Shipping, transportation, and documentation guidance
• Completing a park Inerting Request Package.
• Emergency Response Steps for suspected live munitions in the museum collection.
• Forms and figures for customization by parks, and an index for easy access to information.

The Federal Archeologist’s Bookshelf:

Bison Roamed the Mountains, Too by Brent Rowley
Sea Level Rise Threatens Cultural Sites in the Everglades by April Watson, Park Science, Vol. 36(2) Winter 2022

January brings us not one but two archeology stories in Park Science! In Bison Roamed the Mountains, Too, Rowley reports on archeological investigations to identify and study remains of bison who perished in high altitudes in Glacier NP. Archeologists found bison bones and teeth melting out of ice patches at almost 8,000 feet above sea level. The bison remains ranged in age from 165 to 4,400 years old.

Even more surprising were results of stable isotope analysis that indicated that the bison ate cold weather grasses and inhabited the foothills and mountains for significant periods throughout a year. This research contributes to our changing understanding of early Native American relationship to high altitude environments, as the number of identified exploited resources in this region expands.

In Sea Level Rise Threatens Cultural Sites in the Everglades, April Watson reports on the efforts of Everglades NP archeologists’ efforts to monitor impacts of rising sea levels from climate change and gather data to determine which actions will preserve them from further damage. Florida is on the forefront of climate change, facing erosion, extreme weather, storm surges, sea level rise, and saltwater intrusion. This puts Everglades National Park’s cultural sites at risk.

Indigenous people of southern Florida used islands in the marshes as home bases and gardens. They also constructed islands. These mounds, called shell works, are more intricately constructed than a typical shell mound. A 16th century account described one such home as a very tall and wide house situated on top of a mound, encircled by reed mats and with benches along its walls. They also constructed a canal that connected the inland Everglades to the ocean.

Since the 1800s, human alterations to the Everglades have halved its size. Water removal for agricultural and domestic purposes has reduced the water flowing through the Everglades. Runoff from agricultural fields and residential areas has changed the water’s chemistry. These changes have made both the structures and artifacts vulnerable to destruction.

Current efforts to manage resources include restoring water levels in areas of the park and monitoring ongoing degradation of sites, along with excavation and recordation of sites before they are gone.

To read Park Science, go to Park Science| Winter 2022 (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

National Park Service Archeologist on Team Investigating 19th Century Army Hospital

In 2010, while monitoring remediation of lead-contaminated soils, a pit containing over 4,000 human skeletal elements was discovered at the site of the former Army hospital at Point San Jose in San Francisco. NPS archeologists determined that the bones, which were found with medical waste artifacts, were remains from anatomical dissections conducted in the 1870s. As no records of these dissections exist, historical, archeological, and bioarcheological analysis provided information about the function of the pit and the identities of the people represented in it. Historical research also revealed the identity of the Army surgeon whose work is most likely responsible for the remains found in the medical waste pit.

The research shows how the discovered remains are postmortem manifestations of social inequality, evidence that nineteenth-century surgical and anatomical research benefited from and perpetuated structural violence against marginalized individuals. The analysis develops a larger narrative of the beginning of medical teaching and practice in nineteenth-century California.

The results have been compiled in Archaeology and Bioarchaeology of Anatomical Dissection at a Nineteenth-Century Army Hospital in San Francisco edited by P. Willey, Peter Gavette (NPS/GOGA archeologist), Eric J. Bartelink, and Colleen F. Milligan, available from the University of Florida Press.

Register of Professional Archaeologists Announces New Participation Category

The Register of Professional Archaeologists (ROPA) has announced that a new category for students and early career archaeologists is accepting applications. The eligibility requirements are:

• Current enrollment or graduated with a minimum of a B.A., B.S., A.A., A.S, or equivalent in the past two years with a major in Archaeology, Anthropology, Classics, or another germane discipline with a specialization in archaeology from an accredited institution.
• An unofficial copy of an Academic transcripts to verify enrollment dates and declared major.
• Recommendation by an active RPA in good standing with the Register.

No experience is required The annual fee will be $25 for the length of academic enrollment and up to 2 years after graduation with a BA. This category extends the Register’s support to students to provide low or no-cost training as part of ROPA’s evolving Professional Development Program. Other benefits include access to JSTOR, registrant-focused job listings, and the Archeological Ethics Database, as well as the increased opportunity for broader networking, support, mentoring, and career path assistance.

Boom Times for Contract Archeology?

It has never exactly been boom times for the archeology profession, but this past year comes close — thanks to Congress, as billions of dollars in infrastructure appropriations make their way down through the states.

Archeologists are on the leading edge of a wave of jobs that will result from $1.2 trillion in direct government spending from the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Two subsequent initiatives — $370 billion in incentives and grants for lower-emissions energy projects provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, and $53 billion in subsidies for semiconductor manufacturing funded by the CHIPS Act — are expected to leverage tens of billions more in private capital.

Job websites like archaeologyfieldwork.com are stacked with listings at pay rates significantly higher than they were in previous years.

To read the full article, go to As Infrastructure Money Lands, the Job Dividends Begin - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

From report by Lydia DePillis, New York Times

Cooper’s Ferry Site Yields Early Projectile Points

The Coopers Ferry site, located in Idaho on the Salmon River has yielded 13 full and fragmentary projectile points dated to 15,700 BP, according to C-14 dating. These stemmed points are several thousand years older than Clovis points (~13,000 cal yr B.P.) and are ~2,300 years older than stemmed points found previously at the site. These points date to the end of Marine Isotope Stage 2 when glaciers closed off an interior land route into the Americas. This stemmed projectile points resemble pre-Jomon Late Upper Paleolithic tools from the northwestern Pacific Rim.

The points are revelatory not just in their age, but in their similarity to projectile points found in Japan, dating to 16,000-20,000 years ago, said project director Loren Davis. Some of the first technological traditions in the Americas may have originated in that region. Their presence in Idaho adds more detail to the hypothesis that there are early genetic and cultural connections between the ice age peoples of Northeast Asia and North America.

The area is now federal land but was long occupied by the Nez Perce Tribe, or the Niimíipuu. They know Cooper’s Ferry as Nipéhe.

To read more, go to https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade1248

National Park Service National Register Program Launches New Publication

The NPS National Register Program has developed a new publication to aid the development of National Register nominations. The Best Practices Review complements guidance in National Register Bulletins with examples on specific topics. The review will be issued quarterly.

• Issue 1, September 2022: Evaluating Non-Historic Exteriors
• Issue 2, January 2023: Evaluating Garages and Outbuildings in Historic Districts

Future issues will address using oral history, preparing additional documentation, and developing historic contexts.
To read the review, go to Publications of the National Register of Historic Places - National Register of Historic Places (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

GRANTS AND TRAINING

Cultural Resources and Sacred Sites in Climate Change Planning and Response
The White House Council on Native American Affairs Climate Adaptation Subcommittee and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation will hold a webinar about sacred site considerations in climate change planning. Tribal Historic Preservation professionals working on the front lines of historic preservation and climate readiness will discuss the crucial importance of addressing cultural resources and sacred sites in climate change planning and response. Speakers will share lessons learned through their experiences, how their expertise in historic preservation influences that work, and how federal representatives can help remove barriers to more holistic climate adaptation planning.

Date: February 8, 2023, 3:00-4:00 pm EDT

To register, go to https://www.eventbrite.com/e/culturalresources-sacred-sites-and-climate-changeplanning-and-response-tickets-522095831687

Contact: e-mail us

ARPA Snapshot Series
ARPA Snapshots are for law enforcement and cultural resource professionals who want to refresh their skills, look more closely at a particular topic, or explore new directions that the Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) may take them in their work. All members of the ARPA team need to know about the entire process to more effectively participate in an investigation and its follow-up. Both CR and LE are encouraged to participate in ALL Snapshot offerings.

Presenters:

• Joshua Torres, NPS Regional Archeologist
• Caven Clark, retired NPS Archeologist
• Robert Still, NPS Special Agent
• Wendy Sutton, USFS NAGPRA
• Tim Simmons, AUSA

Upcoming Sessions:
February 9 – ARPA Basics
February 23 – Investigating Cultural Resource Crime
March 9 – ARPA & NAGPRA Working Together
March 23 – Working With Tribal Partners: Best Practices

All sessions are held 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM ET.

National Center for Preservation Technology and Training Offers Grants

NCPTT's Preservation and Technology Grants Notice of Funding Opportunity is open until the end of February. NPS archeologists are requested to share information widely and encourage partners to apply.

For more information, go to https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=345296

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Section 106 Webinar Series (Virtual)
The ACHP is hosting a Winter 2023 Section 106 Webinar Series. Staff members will be presenting on four topics: Section 106 Program Alternatives, Implementing Section 106 Program Comments, So You Think You Need a PA, and Coordinating CERCLA and Section 106.

For the full schedule, a synopsis of each topic, and registration instructions, go to https://www.achp.gov/training/webinars

Implementing a Successful Citizen Science Effort
The FWS will offer a distance learning course about implementing citizen science projects. Regardless of where you are in your citizen science efforts – planning your first project, expanding an existing program, using citizen science data – this course has much to offer. Federal scientists working with visitor services and outreach staff to implement a citizen science program or project will especially benefit.

Participants progress through the course together and with course instructors. Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Describe the benefits of citizen science to accomplish your Agency's mission
• Identify a resource management issue and a target audience for your project
• Identify components of successful citizen science projects from case studies
• Know where to access resources and toolkits for your project

Dates: April 11 - May 16 (Session 1 - April 11; Session 2 - April 18; Session 3 - April 25; Session 4 - May 2; Session 5 - May 9; Session 6 - May 16) All sessions are 2 - 4 PM ET.

Location: On-line through live webinars and an on-line classroom.
Tuition: Free for FWS, NPS and USGS employees; $398.00 for other DOI agencies.
To register for the course, go to DOI Talent.

Contact: e-mail us

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC: The Repatriation Project

In partnership with NBC News, ProPublica is investigating the role of NAGPRA to bring about the return of Native American human remains to communities of origin. ProPublica reporters have found that a small group of institutions and government bodies has played an outsized role in the issue. Ten institutions hold about half of the Native American remains that have not been returned to tribes. The first story in the series explores the efforts that this group of institutions have made to comply with NAGPRA.

Repatriation can be a deeply sensitive topic. ProPublica investigation included an analysis of records from more than 600 institutions; interviews with more than 100 tribal leaders, museum professionals and others; and the review of nearly 30 years of transcripts from the NAGPRA Review Committee. The reporters explain how they went about reporting and gathered feedback from tribal representatives. You can read more about the approach at https://www.propublica.org/article/behind-propublica-reporting-on-repatriation

ProPublica will publish additional stories about repatriation over the coming weeks. ProPublica also launched a searchable database that shows each institution’s progress on repatriation. Reporters hope that this tool will help raise awareness of the issue and provide useful information to tribes and institutions hoping to facilitate repatriation. (Editor's note: much of the same information is also available on the National NAGPRA website.)

To read the full article, go to America’s Museums Fail to Return Native American Human Remains — ProPublica

Archeology E-Gram, distributed via e-mail on a regular basis, includes announcements about news, new publications, training opportunities, national and regional meetings, and other important goings-on related to public archeology in the NPS and other public agencies. Recipients are encouraged to forward Archeology E-Grams to colleagues and relevant mailing lists. The E-Gram archive is available at https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1038/archeology-e-gram.htm.

Contact: Karen Mudar at e-mail us to contribute news items and to subscribe.