Archeology in the United States is bound by state and federal laws and regulations that pertain to protection of resources as well as research and academic standards for the discipline. At NARP, we specifically comply with major federal laws and regulations and National Park Service Management Policies to preserve archeological resources. By complying and guiding parks in compliance with these policies, we work to be stewards of archeological resources managed by the National Park Service and protect resources for future generations.
Archeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA)
In most cases, it is illegal to excavate on federal property without a permit. We serve parks by responding to incidents of unauthorized and unpermitted excavations. Responding to these ARPA incidents involves our team rapidly traveling to a park to document the damage done to an archeological resource and write a Damage Assessment Report. These Damage Assessment Reports follow ARPA regulations and help prosecute the violation through either criminal or civil pathways. Our team also issues ARPA permits to authorize excavation of archeological sites. These permits are issued for a variety of reasons from scientific investigations to utility development. See our post (article about ARPA once it is approved).
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National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA):
Section 106: Contracting, Line Item Construction and Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC)
In accordance with Section 106 of NHPA, we provide multiple services to parks in our region to aid in compliance. At NARP we help to write Scopes of Work and estimates, serve as CORs, review park projects (PEPC), and advise on future archeological research.Section 110: Inventory
To comply with Section 110 of the NHPA, we help parks create and execute projects that establish and keep an up to date inventory of archeological resources monitored and managed by the NPS. Along with these projects, we also aid in the maintenance of archeological resources through the Cultural Resources Inventory System - Archeology database, which is used to inventory archeological resources within and associated with NPS park units.
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Cataloging and Curation
While much NARP’s work is based around helping parks follow the federal laws and regulations listed above, we also spend a significant amount of time supporting parks with archeological cataloging and curation needs. Much of this work evolves from quality assurance and quality control efforts of overseeing new collections derived from on-going projects and archeological work done under contract.
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Last updated: January 8, 2021