NPS Archeology Program. The National Park Service: Preserving America's Past

Legislative Landmarks

Concern about endangered archeological places led to two important milestones: the Antiquities Act of 1906 and the Organic Act of 1916. The Antiquities Act empowered the President to set aside historic and scientific places as national monuments. The Organic Act created the National Park Service. It charged the NPS to conserve natural and historical places, provide for their enjoyment, and leave them unimpaired for future generations. The NPS became steward of 14 national parks, 21 national monuments, and a reservation. Among them were Casa Grande, Mesa Verde, and national monuments transferred from the Forest Service. view slideshow >>

Both acts reflected belief in the public benefit of setting aside lands for all Americans.<< back or

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Archeologist Edgar Lee Hewett collaborated with Congressman John Lacey on the Antiquities Act of 1906 for the preservation of Southwestern antiquities. President Theodore Roosevelt used the Act to proclaim 18 national monuments. Six were ancient archeological places in the Southwest. Others established for natural features, like Grand Canyon, have since demonstrated their archeological significance, as well.

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Edgar Hewett's Southwestern archeological surveys brought the so-called Montezuma Castle in Arizona to his attention. Aggressive pothunting techniques—like the use of dynamite—threatened the ancient structures and the artifacts they contained. Hewett supported the establishment of the national monument in 1907.

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Losses through vandalism and private collecting led to the designation of Chaco Canyon National Monument in New Mexico. Its proclamation in 1907 referred to the extensive communal or pueblo ruins as possessing "extraordinary interest because of their number and their great size and because of the innumerable and valuable relics of a prehistoric people which they contain."

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Inside the Spanish colonial mission church of San José de Tumacácori.

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Other kinds of historical areas joined ancient Native American structures in the NPS system. Tumacacori National Monument in Arizona was established in 1908 to preserve an 18th-century Spanish mission church and the community grounds around it. Archeologists have found evidence of pre-mission O'odham and prehistoric Hohokam and Trincheras cultures, as well as post-mission settlement. Tumacacori transferred to the NPS in 1918.

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