Any archeological report prepared in compliance with section 106 of the
National Historical Preservation ultimately has to go on file with the
State Historic Preservation Officer or the Tribal Historic Preservation
Officer having review authority for the project. They keep all the
documentation related to the compliance process, and it is essential that
they be informed of any substantive errors that may have creeped into a
report--particularly if they relate to site location or bear upon questions
of signicance, and especially if the undertaking is still in the early
stages of planning. Even if the precipitating construction project is
already complete, there may be future undertakings in the same area
(widening an existing road from four to eight lanes, for example) that will
requre reference to reports on earlier work in the area, and they should
have the best information available.

In most cases your client will have sole responsibility for submitting
reports to the SHPO/THPO and also will be in control of any distribution
beyond mandatory submittals. Probably your best approach would be to
apprise whoever contracted for the research of the errors discovered after
the fact and advise them that the supplementary information must be
submitted to the SHPO/THPO for inclusion in the official files. You should
either send as many copies of the errata sheet as copies of the report
tendered under terms of the contract (since it was not their error they
should not have to make the copies at their expense) or offer to send out
the errata sheets directly to all recipients (since they shouldn't have to
pay the postage, either). That should be discussed when you inform them of
the error.They will probably still have a record of anyone who received
distribution copies of the report. Obivously you should also stick an
errata sheet in any file copies you retained.


Vergil


******************************************************************************

Vergil E. Noble, PhD, RPA, Archeologist
Midwest Archeological Center, National Park Service
Robert V. Denney Federal Building, Room 474
100 Centennial Mall North, Lincoln, NE 68508-3873
Phone: 402.437.5392x108     Fax: 402.437.5098
office email address: [log in to unmask]
******************************************************************************







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                      HISTORICAL               cc:       (bcc: Vergil Noble/MWAC/NPS)
                      ARCHAEOLOGY              Subject:  Re: Past work
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                      12/01/04 10:48 AM
                      EST
                      Please respond to
                      HISTORICAL
                      ARCHAEOLOGY






In a message dated 12/1/2004 5:20:33 AM Mountain Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

> What if any responsibility does a CRM professional (archaeologist,
> architectural historian, etc.) have for old reports? For instance, if
> it becomes clear that parts of a report were incorrect, is there any
> obligation to publish an errata?
>
> James H. Brothers IV, RPA
>

What an interesting question, James.  For our part, its often hard to know
if
something is incorrect since we often don't hear anything about the report
once it leaves our office - other than acceptance of it.  There may be
problems,
but they are not always voiced.  On the other hand, there are a few
agencies
who go into excruciating detail about all the problems including spelling,
too
many spaces between words and grammar and expect us to supply a corrected
copy.

I'd be interested to hear what others may experience and how they deal with
it.  It seems to depend upon the agency CRM person involved.

Mike Polk
Sagebrush Consultants
Ogden, Utah