March 2008, Archeology E-Gram

Natural Bridges National Monument Celebrates Centennial
Natural Bridges NM, will celebrate the centennial of establishment through
the Antiquities Act in April, 2008. Located in southwest Utah, the park
features the second and third largest natural bridges in the world. In
1883, gold prospector Cass Hite found three magnificent bridges that water
had sculpted from stone. National Geographic Magazine publicized the
bridges in 1904 and, in 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed
Natural Bridges NM. In honor of the Native Americans that made this area
their home, the bridges are named "Kachina," "Owachomo," and "Sipapu."


Repeatedly occupied and abandoned during prehistoric times, the area was
first used around 7000 B.C. Only the rock art and stone tools left by
hunter-gatherer groups reveal that humans lived there at that time. At
approximately A.D. 700, ancestors of modern Puebloan people moved onto the
mesa tops to farm. They later left as the natural environment changed. By
A.D. 1100, migrants from across the San Juan River were living in small,
single-family houses near the deepest and best-watered soils. In the 1300s
the ancestral Puebloans migrated south, in response to an extended drought.
Navajos and Paiutes lived in the area during later times, and Navajo oral
tradition holds that their ancestors lived among the early Puebloans.



The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) designated Natural Bridges NM
as its first International Dark Sky Park in a program recognizing
exceptional commitment to dark sky preservation and restoration of public
lands. IDA challenged the monument to minimize its nocturnal impact and
share its magnificent starry sky with the park’s 95,000 annual visitors.
The park retrofitted light fixtures, shielding them so all the light points
downward. Most of these outdoor fixtures utilize 13-watt compact
fluorescent light bulbs that provide ample light but do not interfere with
the campground and backcountry. “This is one of the darkest national parks
in the country,” says Chief Ranger Ralph Jones, referring to a
comprehensive study of night sky quality conducted by the National Park
Service.


To celebrate "One Hundred Years of National Parks in Utah,” various
interpretive programs will be held from April to October, including Night
Sky Programs that take advantage of Natural Bridges designation as the
first and only International Dark Sky Park.


To learn more about Natural Bridges NM, go to http://www.nps.gov/nabr/.  To
learn more about the Antiquities Act, go to
http://www.nps.gov/archeology/sites/Antiquities/index.htm.

Vandals Sentenced in Looting of Archeological Sites in Buffalo National
River
In January 2006, rangers at Buffalo NR investigated a report of possible
looting in the Lower Wilderness area of the park. They discovered 45 holes
in a known archeological site; over 2,000 cubic feet of dirt had been
excavated from the six acre site. The rangers and the park archeologist
recovered evidence from the site that helped them to identify a suspect. In
addition, rangers had observed the suspect in the area of the archeological
site between October 2005 and January 2006.

Rangers interviewed Carl Ray Henderson in February 2006, who confessed to
digging at the site. Over the next six months, Henderson recovered and
returned artifacts from the site, as well as artifacts and human bones from
other sites he had looted.

In March 2007, Henderson was indicted by a Federal grand jury for a felony
violation of the Archaeological Resource Protection Act (ARPA; 16 USC §
470ee-mm). He pled guilty to this offense in July, but failed to appear for
his sentencing. A warrant was issued for his arrest. Henderson was arrested
by U.S. Marshals in February 2008 and held until sentencing. Henderson was
sentenced to 21 months in Federal prison, a year’s supervised probation,
and ordered to pay $2,720 in restitution for a felony conviction under
ARPA.

NPS Cultural Resources GIS Facility developing Spatial Data Standard
The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is an organization within the
Federal government that is dedicated to promoting coordination and reducing
redundancy in the creation of spatial data. As part of its
responsibilities, the FGDC provides the framework for creating spatial data
standards for all Federal agencies. OMB Circular A-16, revised 2002,
designated the NPS as the lead agency for the cultural resource spatial
data theme, which includes archeological resources.

Within NPS, the Cultural Resource GIS Facility (CRGIS) has the
responsibility for tasks associated with this lead agency status, including
assessing current best practices, developing cultural resource spatial data
standards, creating tools and guidance for those utilizing those standards,
and disseminating cultural resource data more widely.

In December 2007, CRGIS submitted a proposal “Need of Cultural Resource
Spatial Data Standard” to the FGDC Standards Working Group. The proposal is
the first step in creation of a standard for collection, maintenance, and
distribution of cultural resources spatial data by Federal agencies and,
extension,  State and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices.  On February
27, 2008, the FGDC Standards Working Group met and unanimously accepted the
proposal. The CRGIS now has FGDC official endorsement to establish
standards for cultural resources spatial data that will apply for all
Federal agencies.

Projects in Parks: Multiple Lines of Evidence: Searching for the Sand Creek
Massacre Site
by Alexa Roberts
The search for the location of the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre site was a
collaborative effort among the NPS, State of Colorado, Cheyenne and Arapaho
Tribes of Oklahoma, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, and Northern Arapaho Tribe.
The location of the massacre site was confirmed through a combination of
archaeological, oral historical and archival research, although the
archaeological evidence had different meanings for tribal, NPS, and other
stakeholders. This report provides an overview of the project and how the
partners relied on different lines of evidence to interpret the
archaeological record.

Archeology E-Gram readers can access the full report through the News and
Links page www.nps.gov/archeology/public/news.htm on the Archeology Program
web site. NPS employees who can access the NPS intranet can read the full
report by going to Projects in Parks
http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=279&id=3670 on
InsideNPS.

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about archeology-related projects in national parks.  Prospective authors
should review information about submitting photographs on the Projects in
Parks webpage on InsideNPS.  The full reports are available on the Projects
in Parks web page inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=279&id=3670
on InsideNPS or through individual issues of the Archeology E-Gram on the
on the News and Links page http://www.nps.gov/archeology/public/news.htm on
the Archeology Program web site.

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