Cultural Resource Management

Preservation and Conservation

Is archaeology a public interest?• The Harris Survey (2000): The Harris Survey was sponsored by the

Society for American Archaeology with support from several other organizations. It was a detailed telephone survey of American adults and has an accuracy level of +/- 3% (95% level of confidence).

• The survey showed a generally high level of awareness and interest in archaeology as well as widespread support for preservation and legislation. The respondents ascribed multiple values to archaeology, including educational and scientific; aesthetic or artistic; personal heritage; spiritual; monetary; and political.

• Of particular relevance the survey also revealed a high level of support (96%) for laws to protect archaeological sites; for laws to prevent the general public from selling artifacts found on someone else's property (82%); for laws to prevent the general public from selling artifacts found on their own property (69%); and for the use of public funds to protect archaeological sites (69%).

Public ArchaeologyA form of archaeology accessible to the public through television, state-sponsored “archaeology weeks”, special museum displays and activities, and the internet

Conservation/ Preservation Ethic in Archaeology

• By the early 1970s, a shift in thinking about archaeological practice was taking place. The traditional professional and academic focus on viewing sites only as targets for research and excavation was giving way to the realization that sites were both finite and non-renewable and seriously threatened by development, looting, and neglect.

• If archaeological sites and objects were, in fact, cultural resources with multiple values to professionals and public alike, then the rationale for digging them up could not be based solely on academic interests.

• Perhaps archaeologists should spend more time preserving sites in place for the future instead of excavating non-threatened sites to answer their own research questions.

• Gradually a conservation ethic for archaeology began to emerge that redirected the profession, or at least an important part of it, towards the public interest.

Preservationthe care of materials which are physically endangered… preservation encompasses everything which serves to prolong the life of those materials and/or their informational content free of human influence.

Conservationthe activities which involve physical treatment of individual items by a "conservation technician" or professional conservator.

From this shift in thought emerged a new subfield in archaeology which focused on the preservation and conservation of cultural resources…

Cultural Resources are unique and nonrenewable human-made sites, structures, and artifacts and natural features associated with human activity.

Cultural Resource Management (CRM) is the management to preserve important parts of cultural heritage for the benefit of the public, both today and in the future, and involves the development of overall strategies for conservation priorities and management of a finite resource, the archaeological record.

CRM is often completed in three phases: identifying, assessing, and managing archaeological resources

Phase 1: Identifying- provides the preliminary identification and assessment of cultural resources within a project area. Phase 1 fieldwork is aimed at identifying the distribution, spatial relevance, and cultural affiliation of the archaeological resources present.

Phase 2: assessing- To determine the significance of the archaeological resources present and their potential for listing in the National registrar of Historic Places. The final Phase 2 report discusses the cultural resources identified with regard to the relevant CRM legislation and makes recommendations concerning the need for additional research to determine eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places.

Phase 3: Management- This is the final stage of cultural resources management work undertaken. It spells out a management plan for cultural resources eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

identifying, assessing, and managing archaeological resources

The 1960s saw the development of the concept of cultural resource management. New federal legislation laid down regulations for land use and resource policies and also defined archaeological resources as any artifact more than a century old.

Slack Family Example

Cultural Resource Management Legislation in the United States from 1960

Early Preservation Efforts

Antiquities Act of 1906First federal preservation law. It says the president has the authority to set aside archaeological objects, structures, and sites as national monuments.

Historic Sites Act of 1935The first US law to declare preservation to be a national policy. It encouraged public-private partnerships to encourage widespread preservation efforts throughout the states

Reservoir Salvage Act of 1960Allowed archaeologist to dig and salvage sites that were in danger of destruction as a result of federally owned and funded dam projects Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (amended from 1949)Required federal government to establish a nationwide system for identifying, protecting, and rehabilitating what are commonly called “historic places”. It called for the establishment of the National Registrar of Historic Places

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 1969NEPA went far beyond protection and laid down a comprehensive policy for government land-use planning and resource management. It requires federal agencies to weigh environmental, historical, and cultural values whenever federally owned land is modified or private land is modified with federal funds.

Executive Order 11593Along with NEPA developed requirements that made it essential for archaeologists to prepare and maintain extremely comprehensive information on archaeological resources on state, federal, and privately owned land and enable them to assess at short notice the potential effects of development on these resources Archaeological resources Protection Act (ARPA) of 1979 (amended 1988)ARPA gave more stringent protection to archaeological sites over 100 yrs old on federal land, making it a felony to remove archaeological materials from the land. Abandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1988This act extends protection to shipwrecks and defined ownership of abandoned vessels in state and federal waters more clearly. It is an important weapon in the fight against unauthorized looting of shipwrecks.

Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990NAGPRA requires all museums and institutions receiving federal funds to inventory their holdings of Native American human Remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and what are called “objects of cultural patrimony” in the collections they control. They must establish if their holdings have cultural affiliations, and notify the relevant Native American organization about the existence of the materials and offer to repatriate them. The legislation also protects ALL Native American graves and other cultural objects found in archaeological sites.

Global Concernshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYB6XK6rQVk&feature=related