June 2, 2010
To Karen and All Others:
Thank you Karen for the looting articles...
I will be teaching some summer archaeology classes to children 4th through
8th grades and would appreciate similar short articles about successfully
prosecuted looting cases. I want the kids to be in teams reading them and
then doing oral reports, so I need 10 - 15 more articles.
Can anyone point me to, or provide me with such articles?
I remember reading one some years ago in which kids damaged a resource, were
caught, and their parents had to pay fines, etc. I'd especially like to get
that one.
You can contact me off list if you prefer.
Many thanks,
S. Walter
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karen Mudar" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, June 02, 2010 4:57 AM
Subject: NPS Archeology E-Gram May 2010
May 2010 Archeology E-Gram
DOI Archeologists Work to Protect Sites During Oil Spill Response
Within four days of the burning and sinking of the oil drilling rig
‘Deepwater Horizon’ in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, archeologists from
NPS and FWS were compiling information about vulnerable archeological sites
on park lands, preparing updated response planning documents, and preparing
to assess resources threatened by oil. At least 8 national parks, 30
national wildlife refuges, and 28 state parks and preserves ring the Gulf
and may be affected by oil coming ashore. While the movement of the oil is
unpredictable, Gulf Islands National Sea Shore, Dry Tortugas National Park,
and Florida Key National Wildlife Refuge are likely to be most vulnerable
once the oil gets into the Loop Current.
Many Federal and state agencies, including the USCG, NPS, FWS, NOAA, MMS,
and DoD are involved in this unprecedented response to a disaster. NPS
Director Jarvis is acting as the Incident Commander for DOI. We are seeing
good cooperation and sharing of resources between agencies to ensure
protection of archeological resources both during the initial response and
the recovery period. Archeologists will be needed during clean-up to
protect sites from heavy equipment. On May 11, NPS Southeast Archeology
Center (SEAC) Director David Morgan began deploying teams of archeologists
to national parks on the Gulf. Everglades National Park Chief of Cultural
Resources, Melissa Memory, is coordinating park archeologists’ responses in
southern Florida.
The NPS Cultural Resources Washington Support Office is assisting the
response efforts by providing personnel and information. The NPS Cultural
Resources national coordinator for the gulf oil spill incident is Ann
Hitchcock. She is engaged in developing protocols for removing oil from
cultural resources. Jeff Durbin will coordinate NPS Section 106 compliance
that relates to the oil spill.
Using NOAA data that is updated daily, the CRGIS Program, has developed
regional maps that combine oil slick movements, points where oil has come
ashore, national historic and natural landmarks, and historic properties
and districts. The WASO Archeology Program has produced park overview maps
that combine data from ASMIS (Archeological Site Management Information
System) and LCS (List of Classified Structures), and databases. SEAC and
park personnel also provided data for maps, which will support decision
making and field operations. In addition to maps, a number of guidance
documents developed after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska are also
available.
NPS employees can find these and other resources on the Spill Response
Cultural Resources Sharepoint Site at
https://portal.doi.net/c/deepwater/npscr/pages/default.aspx.
Non-DOI employees can find information about the oil spill on the following
websites:
NOAA- www.noaa.gov/
NPS Oil Spill Response – www.nps.gov/aboutus/oil-spill-response.htm
DOI Oil Spill Response – www.doi.gov/deepwaterhorizon/index.cfm
National Oil Spill Response – www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com
2010 Wildland Fire Season Outlook: A Call to NPS Archeologists
According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, ID,
several regions of United States have the potential to experience active
wildland fire seasons in 2010 (http://www.nifc.gov/news/NR_Outlook2010.pdf
).
The strong El Niño winter weather pattern has produced drier than normal
conditions in the Northern Rockies of Montana and Idaho, parts of eastern
Washington, northwestern Wyoming, a portion of south-central Oregon
stretching down into the northeastern corner of California, and the leeward
Hawaiian Islands. Several other regions of the country are also abnormally
dry heading into late spring and early summer: the northern Great Lakes
region, central Alaska, southern Arizona, and a section of southern
Georgia, Alabama, and northern Florida. These areas, however, will probably
benefit from normal seasonal rains by midsummer.
While El Niño denied normal snowfalls and winter rains in some parts of the
country, it had a dampening effect in other regions heading into the
traditional summer fire season. The mountainous areas of Arizona, New
Mexico, southern Utah, and southern Colorado were inundated with heavy
snows over the winter, and forested areas will probably not have enough
time to dry to critical levels before summer rains begin to fall.
Wildland fires, fire management operations taken to suppress or manage
them, and post-fire conditions can have detrimental consequences for
archeological resources. Many NPS archeologists currently serve as Resource
Advisors (READs) during active incidents and as members of Burned Area
Emergency Response (BAER) teams that assess post-fire conditions. The
efforts of these individuals have successfully protected many archeological
resources and mitigated fire-related damages to others on NPS lands.
The need for READs and BAER team members remains great, however. Those
interested in what it takes to participate and training opportunities are
encouraged to contact PWR Archeologist/BAER Coordinator Nelson Siefkin
(510.817.502) or National BAER Coordinator Rich Schwab (208.387.5642).
NPS Archeology Program Celebrates National Oceans Month
From coastal settlement to maritime battles, archeology illuminates
relationships between people and the oceans. Visit the website of the NPS
Archeology Program for ideas on places to go and things to do regarding
oceanic archeology. Check out the new front page
http://www.nps.gov/archeology/index.htm or go directly to the Oceans Month
feature at http://www.nps.gov/archeology/months/june10.htm. (See all the
monthly pages at http://www.nps.gov/archeology/months/index.htm).
In July and August, the front page will feature summertime archeological
happenings in the NPS, like public archeology days or special events. Let
us know your plans, give a link, and we'll include information in the next
front page monthly update. E-mail [log in to unmask] to submit announcements.
Two Sentenced for Looting Yakama Nation Cultural Site
Tiffany E. Larson, 24, and Devin W. Prouty, 27, both of Goldendale,
Washington, were sentenced on May 12, 2010, for damaging and removing
archeological resources from an historic Yakama Nation site, in Spearfish
Park, Klickitat County, Washington. The park is Federal land managed by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. On August 15, 2009, Larson and Prouty were
apprehended at while looking for arrowheads and collecting stone fragments
that were culturally altered. Signs at the entrance to the park note that
"Destruction, injury, defacement, removal, or any alteration of public
property is prohibited." Neither Larson nor Prouty had a Federal permit for
archeological excavation of historic or prehistoric resources, or for
removal of archeological objects.
The Yakama Nation archeological damage assessment determined that there
were three areas of measurable disturbance and that the cost to
rehabilitate the area was $6,690.08. Larson and Prouty received sentences
of two years probation and were ordered to pay that amount in restitution.
Both were also ordered to perform 150 hours of community service for the
Yakama Nation and banned during the period of probation from going into
Spearfish Park.
The investigation was conducted by the Yakama Nation Cultural Resources
Program, Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fisheries Enforcement, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, and the Klickitat County Sheriff’s Office.
DOI Secretary Approves Cape Wind Energy Project
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has approved the Cape Wind renewable
energy project on submerged Federal lands in Nantucket Sound, but will
require the developer of the $1 billion wind farm to agree to additional
binding measures to minimize the potential adverse impacts of construction
and operation of the facility. The Advisory Council of Historic
Preservation had recommended rejecting the proposed project and Native
American tribes also objected to construction of the wind farm on Horseshoe
Shoals.
Salazar disagreed with the Advisory Council’s conclusion that visual
impacts from the proposed wind farm provide a rationale for rejecting the
siting of the project. The 25 square mile Cape Wind Associates LLC facility
project site is about 5.2 miles from the mainland shoreline, 13.8 miles
from Nantucket Island and 9 miles from Martha’s Vineyard. In no case does
the turbine array dominate the view shed, Salazar said.
Salazar emphasized that the Department has taken extraordinary steps to
fully evaluate Cape Wind’s potential impacts on traditional cultural
resources and historic properties, including government-to-government
consultations with the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and the
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and that he was “mindful of our unique relationship
with the Tribes and carefully considered their views and concerns.” Salazar
said he understood and respected the views of the Tribes and the Advisory
Council, but noted that, as Secretary of the Interior, he must balance
broad, national public interest priorities in his decisions.
Salazar pointed out that Nantucket Sound and its environs are a working
landscape with many historical and modern uses and changing technologies. A
number of tall structures, including broadcast towers, cellular base
station towers, local public safety communications towers, and towers for
industrial and business uses are located around the area. Three submarine
transmission cable systems already traverse the seabed to connect mainland
energy sources to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island. Significant
commercial, recreational and other resource-intensive activities, such as
fishing, aviation, marine transport and boating have daily visual and
physical impacts, and have long coexisted with the cultural and historic
attributes of the area and its people.
The Secretary also disagreed that it is not possible to mitigate the
impacts associated with installation of piers for wind turbines in the
seabed. A number of marine archeological studies have indicated that there
is low probability that the project area contains submerged archeological
resources. Most of the area has been extensively reworked and disturbed by
marine activities and geological processes.
Because of concerns expressed during the consultations, Interior has
required the developer to change the design and configuration of the wind
turbine farm to diminish the visual effects of the project and to conduct
additional seabed surveys to ensure that any submerged archeological
resources are protected prior to bottom disturbing activities. Under these
revisions, the number of turbines has been reduced from 170 to 130,
reconfiguring the array to move it farther away from Nantucket Island,
reducing its breadth to mitigate visibility from the Nantucket Historic
District, and painted off-white. A Chance Finds clause in the lease
requires the developer to halt operations and notify Interior of any
unanticipated archeological find. The Clause in the lease only halts
operations if cultural resources or indicators suggesting the possibility
of cultural habitation are found but also allow the Tribes to participate
in reviewing and analyzing such potential finds.
Interior will require additional and detailed marine archeological surveys
and other protective measures in the project area. Remote sensing tools
will be used to ensure seafloor coverage out to 1000 feet beyond the Area
of Potential Effect. More predictive modeling and settlement pattern
analyses also will be conducted as well as geotechnical coring and analyses
to aid in the identification of intact landforms that could contain
archeological materials.
At average expected production, Cape Wind could produce enough energy to
power more than 200,000 homes in Massachusetts. Horseshoe Shoals lies
outside shipping channels, ferry routes, and flight paths but is adjacent
to power-consuming coastal communities. One-fifth of the offshore wind
energy potential of the East Coast is located off the New England coast and
Nantucket Sound receives strong, steady Atlantic winds year round.
Registration Open for 2010 Pecos Conference
The 2010 Pecos Conference will be held in Silverton, CO, August 12-15. The
conference was initiated at Pecos, NM, in 1927, by A. V. Kidder for the
sharing of information about Southwestern archeological research. Ever
since, with the exception of a ten-year hiatus, it has been held annually
at various Southwest locations. This will be the 73rd meeting for
professional and avocational archeologists and the interested general
public to present papers and recent Southwestern archeological research.
For more information and to register, go to
http://www.swanet.org/2010_pecos_conference/index.html
CRM Journal Features Interview with Hester Davis
The summer 2009 issue of CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship featured
an interview with Hester Davis, who has a been a leader in cultural
resource management. You can get a copy of this back issue for free by
emailing a request to [log in to unmask]
CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship addresses the history of,
development of, trends, and emerging issues in cultural resource management
in the U.S. and abroad. Its purpose is to broaden the intellectual
foundation of the management of cultural resources. The journal is written
for practitioners in the cultural resources fields, including preservation,
history, architecture, museology, conservation, ethnography, archeology,
cultural landscapes, folklore, and related areas; scholars in colleges and
universities who teach, study, and interpret cultural resources; and other
members of the heritage community. Subscribe for free online and find back
issues at http://crmjournal.cr.nps.gov/Journal_Index.cfm .
To be considered as a peer reviewer for manuscripts or to write reviews of
publications (books, websites, or exhibits), send an email to
[log in to unmask] stating your interest. Include your contact
information as well as your topical and geographic areas of expertise.
NASA Offers Remote Sensing Training for Archeologists
The NASA Space Archaeology Program is offering a workshop “Introduction to
Satellite and Aerial Remote Sensing for Archeologists” June 29 – July 1,
2010 at the Geospatial Innovation Facility, University of California,
Berkeley. Course objectives include:
Identifying elements in the remote sensing process of greatest
relevance to archeological research.
Introduction to the most widely available and reasonably priced image
types, from multispectral to synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to
archeologists.
Introduction to image enhancement and analysis techniques that have
been of greatest use to archeologists, as well as those techniques
showing promise.
Development of criteria for choosing images for analysis, how to use
them, and tools needed.
To develop a mutual support group of archeologists working with this
technology.
Course prerequisites include at least one year of experience with GIS and
image enhancement software, familiarity with aerial or satellite remote
sensing imagery in archeological research or archeological resource
protection, and professional standing in the archeological community.
For more information and for an application, go to
www.culturalsite.com/articles/NASA_Aerial_and_Satellite_Remote_Sensing_for_Archaeologists_Course_Application.pdf
2010 Biennial Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network National
Meeting
The 2010 Biennial Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units (CESU) Network
National Meeting will be held June 22-24, 2010, Howard University School of
Law, Washington, DC. CESUs provide research, technical assistance, and
education to Federal land management, environmental, and research agencies
and their partners. CESU efforts bring together scientists, resource
managers, and other conservation professionals from across the biological,
physical, social, and cultural sciences to conduct coordinated,
collaborative applied projects to address natural and cultural heritage
resource issues at multiple scales and in an ecosystem context.
Who should attend? Representatives from CESU partner universities and
colleges; Federal natural and cultural resource managers, scientists,
educators, and agency leaders; prospective Federal and nonfederal partners.
New this year: 1.) An Orientation Session for Federal and nonfederal
partners new to the network. The session will provide an opportunity for
representatives from new partner organizations and new representatives from
existing organizations to learn more about the program, ask questions, and
interact with new and existing partners from around the CESU Network. 2.) A
Host University Directors Meeting will provide a forum for sharing among
unit leaders related to best practices, experiences, lessons learned,
emerging issues, and future possibilities. 3.) A “Speed Dating” Dialog
Session will allow Federal agency representatives and nonfederal partners
to engage in face-to-face conversations to identify potential connections
and synergies for future collaboration on topics of mutual interest.
Numerous topical areas will be arranged for brief table discussions to link
needs and capabilities among partners. 4.) A fun and informative walking
tour of the National Mall; NPS staff will provide an insider's view of
managing the Nation's Backyard!
For more information, go to www.cesu.psu.edu/meetings_of_interest.htm
BOR Releases Film about Looting of Military Cemetery
The BOR has released a film about Federal efforts to stop looting of a
cemetery associated with historic Fort Craig, Socorro County, New Mexico.”A
Helluva Way to Treat a Soldier” examines the history of the fort and the
looting of the fort’s cemetery. A century after his death, the remains of a
19th century Buffalo Soldier named Thomas Smith were stolen from the Fort
Craig cemetery. Private Smith's remains were kept as a trophy for over 30
years in the home of one of the Southwest's most prolific looters. While
the man who took Mr. Smith’s remains died before prosecution, or even
detection, the film carries a strong warning about the penalties of theft
of archeological heritage and links looting to the destruction of
knowledge.
Fort Craig was established in 1853 and, by 1861, was the largest fort in
the Southwest with over 2,000 soldiers, as well as families and other
civilians. Fort Craig soldiers fought Confederate soldiers and, after the
Civil War was won, housed Buffalo Soldiers, military units of African
American soldiers, led by European American officers (see “The Archeology
of Buffalo Soldiers and Apaches in the Southwest”
www.nps.gov/archeology/sites/npSites/guadalupeMts.htm ). Fort Craig was
decommissioned in 1885, and the bodies in the nearby cemetery were
dis-interred and buried elsewhere.
Fort Craig passed into private hands in 1895 and, at that time, it was not
illegal to dig in the ruins of the fort. The property was eventually
donated to Archaeological Conservancy by the Oppenheimer family and
transferred to the Bureau of Land Management in 1981. The nearby cemetery,
however, remained Federal property. When looter Dee Brecheisen began
digging in the cemetery in the early 1970s, he was destroying and stealing
Federal property (ARPA was not passed until 1979). Brecheisen quickly
discovered that a number of bodies had been left behind when military
personnel moved the cemetery. While Federal archeologists later estimated
that Brecheisen opened as many as 20 graves, only one set of remains were
recovered, those of Thomas Smith.
Shortly after his death in 2004, Federal archeologists received a tip that
Brecheisen had illegal human remains and artifacts. It wasn’t clear whether
he sold any of the looted items. Authorities found some Civil War and
Native American artifacts in his home, but the collections had already been
auctioned off by his family. Authorities also found piles of prehistoric
pottery sherds, military buttons, and other artifacts, vividly detailed in
the film. Smith’s remains were later returned by an anonymous person.
Investigators believe Brecheisen also dug up grave sites in Fort Thorn and
Fort Conrad, and prehistoric burial sites in the Four Corners region. He
may also have taken the Fort Craig burial plot map, found among his things
but missing from the National Archives.
To prevent further looting, BOR archeologists in 2008 removed the rest of
the burials that had been overlooked when the cemetery was moved. The
remains of 39 men, 2 women, and 26 infants and children were later
reburied.
Situating a film about looting within a historical context that includes
both European and African Americans that the public can easily identify
with complements a growing body of film and literature about looting of
Native American sites. The film features cameo appearances by BOR FPO Tom
Lincoln and BOR archeologists Jeffry Hanson and Mark Hungerford.
A short version of “A Helluva Way to Treat a Soldier” was shown at the 7.5
Film Fest at the Society of American Archaeology’s 75th Anniversary meeting
and was chosen as the winner out of 66 entries.
Federal Publications: Kingsley Plantation Ethnohistorical Study by
Antoinette T. Jackson and Allan F. Burns
Ethnohistorical research provides a rich historical dimension to the
current archeological investigations at Kingsley Plantation, Tumucuan
Ecological and Historic Preserve, Jacksonville, Florida. A primary focus is
Zephaniah Kingsley, a European American who occupied the plantation from
1812 to 1837 (and whose nephews owned it after him), and who eventually
migrated to Haiti. He married an enslaved Senegalese woman from a “royal”
family, Anta Majigeen Ndiaye, and, together, they managed the plantation,
and the enslaved people who labored on it, and raised four children while
negotiating Florida European American society.
Much is made of the fact that Anta owned enslaved people in America but, as
a high status individual in Africa, her family may also have owned enslaved
people. Only in America was social status linked to skin color. Zephaniah
and Anta’s children were able to transcend these contradictions between
wealth and expectations of social status, and all married European
Americans. The majority of descendents of the children who stayed in
Florida after their parents migrated to Haiti, however, married people who
were identified as African Americans in the U.S. census.
This research also took as a subject a family that had been part of
Zephaniah and Anta Kingsley’s enslaved population. Esther Lottery was born
on Kingsley Plantation about 1825, and descendents remain in the
Jacksonville area.
Against this backdrop of slavery and slave owning, the authors examine
important events of the past two hundred years of habitation of Fort George
Island, beginning with Zephaniah and Anta’s tenure, and ending with the Klu
Klux Klan, the assassination of Malcom X, and the Civil Rights movement.
Chapters 1 and 2 focus on the Kingsley family history and fortunes. Chapter
3 encompasses branches of the descendent families, including some from
Haiti. Chapters 4 and 5 look at some of the more recent history of the
island, and oral histories of recent inhabitants of the Fort George Island
community. The authors rightly emphasize that slavery is not the only story
to be told, but only one among many stories of people connected to the
island.
Data collection for the study was facilitated by the gathering of former
inhabitants and descendents of inhabitants of Fort George Island at the
“Kingsley Plantation Heritage Festival” held annually. Oral history is
augmented by archival research, summarized in four appendices: genealogical
charts, census data, and a fascinating table of occupations held by African
Americans in the U.S. in the first part of the 20th century. This
well-written study is a welcome addition to historical and archeological
research of Kingsley Plantation.
(This study provides background information for two archeological studies
about Kingsley Plantation to be presented in future as Projects in Parks.
For a condensed version of the study, see “The Kingsley Plantation
Community in Jacksonville, Florida: Memory and Place in a Southern American
City” in CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship at
http://crmjournal.cr.nps.gov/04_article_sub.cfm?issue=Volume%206%20Number%201%20Winter%202009&page=1&seq=2)
Projects in Parks: Archeology in Alaska Park Science
Alaska Park Science is a semi-annual journal that shares the results of
research in Alaska's 15 national parks and preserves, and focuses on
cultural and natural resources, and the physical and social environment.
Since the first volume was published in 2002, Alaska Park Science has
published over 14 articles about archeology and prehistory in 10 parks.
Through this research, the NPS manages our vital cultural and natural
resources better.
Read the full story at www.nps.gov/archeology/sites/npsites/akParkSci.htm
Projects in Parks is a feature of the Archeology E-Gram that informs others
about archeology-related projects in national parks. The full reports are
available on the Research in the Parks web page
www.nps.gov/archeology/sites/npSites/index.htm or through individual issues
of the Archeology E-Gram. Prospective authors should review information
about submitting photographs on the Projects in Parks web page on
InsideNPS.
Archeology E-Gram, distributed via e-mail on a regular basis, includes
announcements about news, new publications, training opportunities,
national and regional meetings, and other important goings-on related to
public archeology in the NPS and other public agencies. Recipients are
encouraged to forward Archeology E-Grams to colleagues and relevant mailing
lists. The Archeology E-Gram is available on the News and Links page
www.nps.gov/archeology/public/news.htm on the NPS Archeology Program web
site.
Contact: [log in to unmask] to contribute news items, stories for Projects in
Parks, submit citations and a brief abstract for your peer-reviewed
publications, and to subscribe.
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