*August 2017 Archeology E-Gram*
*NPS NEWS*
*Archeological Investigations at Saint Croix Island International Historic
Site*
During the first week of August 2017, the Northeast Region Archeology
Program (NRAP) joined staff and volunteers from Saint Croix Island IHS and
Acadia NP to conduct high-resolution geophysical surveys across the
southern half of Saint Croix Island, the location of one of the earliest
(1604) French settlements in North America. The team camped on the island
and completed surveys over 7,200
m2
with five different geophysical methods including ground penetrating radar,
fluxgate gradiometry, resistivity, conductivity, and magnetic
susceptibility. The goals of the survey were to locate and identify
cultural resources, and to investigate the integrity of the sedimentary
structure of the eroding bluff edge of the island.
Results from this project will aid decision-making for treatment,
protection, and management of the archeological resources on Saint Croix
Island. The southeastern end of the island is being destroyed at an
accelerated rate due to tidal surges, storm impact, and intense rodent
burrowing. Data collected by the erosion team shows a net loss of 67 cubic
meters from the southern bluff during the five-year period between 2011 and
2015. In 2016, the net loss was 262 cubic meters, a 391% increase over one
year compared to the previous 5 years.
* From a story by Meg Watters Wilkes, Northeast Region Archeology Program*
*Youth Diving With a Purpose Assists Biscayne National Park to Protect
Shipwrecks*
Diving with a Purpose (DWP) partnered with Biscayne NP to organize a week
of underwater exploration for young adults from all over the nation. The
Youth Diving With a Purpose (YDWP) program introduces young people to
experiences that correlate with real-world underwater archeological work.
The goal is to instill an appreciation and understanding of the need to
study and protect submerged cultural heritage.
Participants spent one week in Key Largo, Florida, in a classroom setting
where they learned scientific methods for collecting and interpreting data.
The participants acquired skills such as using trilateration to record and
map artifacts, and drawing in situ artifacts. NPS Latino Heritage interns
and the YDWP participants then surveyed a portion of the reef inside
Biscayne NP to identify historic artifacts, measure and record their
locations, and draw them to create a comprehensive site map.
DWP is a community-focused nonprofit organization dedicated to the
conservation and protection of submerged heritage resources by providing
education, training, certification and field experience to adults and youth
in the fields of maritime archeology and ocean conservation. A special
focus of DWP is the protection, documentation, and interpretation of
African slave trade shipwrecks and the maritime history and culture of
African-Americans.
*From Latino Heritage Internship Program blog*
*Interns Focus on Interpretation at Cowpens National Battlefield*
Cowpens NB hosted two history interns in the first half of 2017. Joel Cook,
from the Greening Youth Foundation, graduated from Fayetteville State
University and is heading to a MA program in Marine Archeology. Trevor
Freeman recently graduated from Appalachian State with a degree in Public
History.
During his internship, Cook became fascinated with the history of African
Americans, especially Loyalists, who supported the British in the Southern
Campaign of the American Revolution. After learning of the Journey Back to
Birchtown Festival at the Black Loyal Heritage Center in Nova Scotia, Cook
spent numerous hours with Ranger Will Caldwell researching and preparing a
first-person, living history program to present at the center in July 2017.
Joel said, “I felt an ancestral connection to the people I was speaking to
and I was standing on the shore where the original Black Loyalists landed
in 1783.”
Freeman utilized his education, science, history, and math skills to
develop a multi-faceted STEM (Science, Technology, Math and Engineering)
unit to complement the history of the Battle of Cowpens. Tied to North and
South Carolina educational standards for 8th grade students, the unit
contains lessons calculating the trajectory and ballistics of muskets and
rifles, the speed of units marching at quick and double-step, and primary
source analysis. At a workshop in June, primary school teachers were
especially excited about an activity that uses a graph overlaid on
archeological bullet scatterings to determine what happened during the 1781
battle.
*From story by Kathy McKay*
*Preservation work underway at Tumacacori National Historical Park*
A five-year project is underway to conserve Tumacacori NHP’s valuable
heritage. Frank Matero, University of Pennsylvania, is overseeing a team of
specialists on earthen architecture to conserve the original plasters and
painted finishes inside San José de Tumacácori Mission Church.
Tumacacori, which dates to the early 1800s and was never completed, became
the first historic site designated by the U.S. government for its Hispano
cultural importance in 1908. This memorialization predates Arizona
statehood by four years, and the establishment of NPS by ten. Frank “The
Boss” Pinkley was named caretaker of Tumacacori and, eventually, a dozen
more national monuments. He recognized the importance of preservation
instead of restoration. Pinkley’s foresight in replacing the Tumacacori
church's wooden roof, which had collapsed by the late 1850s and exposed the
interior to weather, saved the fabric of the church. He realized the site's
cultural value and worked tirelessly, at times with his own money, to
preserve it.
The present team, mostly post-grad students, is working with NPS
conservator Alex Lim, focusing on the east wall of the nave. Also involved
are the University of Arizona, Arizona State Museum and San Xavier Mission.
Their project is a four-phase process:
•Removing old repairs and reattaching loose adobe.
•Grouting with clay to reattach plaster to the adobe
•Consolidating crumbly plaster
•Edging/ filling broken plaster.
Since 1991, specialists have been visiting the site for research and
student training. The NPS offers opportunities and allows them to help in
their management. While protecting the culturally significant structure,
the NPS offers educational and collaborative opportunities for Americans,
Mexicans, and NPS professionals. Next up in the five-year project is the
preservation of the church's south side in December, west side next August,
and north side in two years, following completion of the nave.
*By Kitty Bottemiller, Green Valley News *
*NPS Park NAGPRA Program Launches New Site on InsideNP*S
Park NAGPRA has launched a new site on InsideNPS. Users report that it is
much easier to use than the Sharepoint site, and has excellent links,
reporting tools, and information on NAGPRA training. Most of the work was
done by NCPE intern, Holly McKee, who subsequently was hired into a
permanent position at the Office of Archaeology & Historic Preservation at
History Colorado.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
provides a process for museums and Federal agencies to return Native
American human remains and cultural objects to affiliated Indian tribes or
Native Hawaiian organizations. Park NAGPRA is the national program that
provides technical and compliance assistance to all national park sites
throughout the United States.
NPS employees can access the InsideNPS Park NAGPRA Program site by going to
https://sites.google.com/a/nps.gov/in2-ensure-compliance-
to-preserve-and-protect-places/home/nagpra?pli=1
*National Park Service Awards $1.2 Million in Battlefield Planning Grants*
The NPS has announced that $1.2 million in American Battlefield Protection
Program (ABPP) planning grants will be used to help local communities
preserve and protect America’s significant battlefields. These grants will
support 19 projects to aid in the research, documentation, and
interpretation of battlefields in 12 states and two insular areas,
representing more than 300 years of history.
A number of the grants include archeological research. ABPP awarded three
grants totaling $171,700 to the Fairfield Historical Society, Mashantucket
Pequot Tribal Nations, and the Old Saybrook Historical Society for projects
related to the Pequot War in Connecticut. Florida Museum of Natural History
received $72,500 to conduct a project to research, identify, and provide
the status of all battlefields associated with the English campaign against
Spanish Florida that culminated the siege of the Castillo de San Marcos at
St. Augustine. ABPP awarded the University of Hawaii nearly $80,000 to help
preserve the site of the Battle of Nuuanu. The Battle of Nuuanu was a key
turning point as King Kamehameha fought for unification of the Hawaiian
Islands. The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation received $72,000 to
help preserve the site of the 1863 Bear River Massacre. Up to 500 members
of the tribe died during the attack by the U.S. Army.
Earlier this month Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced $7.2 million in
additional grants to help identify, preserve, and protect nearly 1,200
acres of battlefield land as part of the American Battlefield Land
Acquisition Grants program.
Since 1996, the American Battlefield Protection Program has awarded 579
planning grant awards totaling $19,621,000 to help preserve significant
historic battlefields associated with wars on American soil. Federal,
tribal, state, and local governments, nonprofit organizations, as well as
educational institutions are eligible for the battlefield grants, which are
awarded annually.
For more information about American Battlefield Protection Program
Battlefield planning grants, go to www.nps.gov/abpp/grants/
planninggrants.htm.
*National Park Service Releases Additional Historic Preservation Funds*
The NPS has distributed an additional $21 million in historic preservation
grants to every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and
partnering nations, as well as $4.6 million for historic preservation
grants to 169 Tribal Historic Preservation Offices. This funding, along
with $32.6 million awarded earlier this year, represents a total of $58
million that the NPS has invested in the preservation efforts of states and
tribes this year.
Administered by the NPS, these funds are appropriated annually by Congress
from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF). The HPF funds preservation
programs at State Historic Preservation Offices and ensures local
involvement by passing 10% of state funding through competitive sub-grants
to Certified Local Governments. All funding to the states and the District
of Columbia requires a 40% non-federal match, which leverages state, local
and private dollars to do even more with the federal HPF investment. Tribal
grants do not require a match, although all tribes supplement their funding
to accomplish their Tribal Preservation Office mission.
Since its inception in 1977, the HPF has provided more than $1.2 billion in
historic preservation grants to states, tribes, local governments, and
non-profit organizations. Funded at $80 million in 2017, the HPF does not
use any tax dollars. It is supported solely by Outer Continental Shelf oil
lease revenues.
*FEDERAL NEWS*
*New Guidance for Working for Non-federally Recognized Tribes*
The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation has issued new guidance on
working with non-federally recognized tribes in the National Historic
Preservation Act Section 106 process. The guidance fulfills the ACHP’s
commitment to support the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples which applies to all indigenous peoples. The guidance encourages
federal agencies to include non-federally recognized tribes in Section 106
consultations when they have important information to share and when
historic properties of religious and cultural significance to them may be
affected by an undertaking. The guidance also clarifies that inviting
non-federally recognized tribes to participate in the process does not
substitute for consultation with federally recognized Indian tribes nor
does it diminish their role in consultation.
The guidance is also available online at http://www.achp.gov/docs/
Working%20with%20Non-Fed%20Rec%20tribes%20Guidance%20-%208-11-17.pdf .
*The Federal Archeologist’s Bookshelf*
The July issue of American Antiquity offers two articles related to the
NPS! We report on one this month, and one next month.
*Feasting, Ritual Practices, Social Memory, and Persistent Places: New
Interpretations of Shell Mounds in Southern California* by Lynn H.
Gamble. *American Antiquity *82(3), 2017, 427-451.
As a student in the 1970s, I and fellow classmates worked our way through
site reports on shell mounds and other midden sites for research projects
and class assignments. On occasion, the authors noted anomalies –
interments or caches of unexpected artifacts. We pondered the significance
of these findings, but usually concluded, along with the excavator, that
the burial or pit was ‘intrusive’ and returned to solving whatever problem
New Archeology had set for us.
Given the same site reports today, students have more than two decades of
research that has moved beyond taphonomy and subsistence to situate shell
middens and features associated with them within the context of feasting,
cultural landscapes, ritualization, and other aspects of memorialization.
Author Lynn Gamble draws on this literature, especially the body of work
coming out of the American Southeast, to situate her investigations of El
Montón, a shell mound on Santa Cruz Island in Channel Islands NP.
And what a shell mound it is! The location is stunning, on a low ridge on
the far western tip of the island, with views seaward and landward in all
directions, and access to a wide array of marine resources. Three vertical
meters of cultural debris caps a hill, spreading for 4.5 hectares. The site
contains 50 house pits and 2 cemeteries.
Gamble argues that El Montón was “a persistent place that became a
significant feature on the landscape that served to create social memory
among many generations of people” (Gamble 2017: 430). Discussion of the
evidence supporting this argument is compressed, and the author assumes
that the reader is familiar both with the literature on site
memorialization and the prehistory of the Channel Islands. Readers not
familiar with research on persistent places and collective memory might
consult Van Dyke and Alcock (2003), who list four broad categories of
archeologically accessible material media through which social memories are
commonly constructed: ritual behaviors, narratives, objects and
representations, and places.
Although not explicitly stated, Gamble identifies ritual behaviors in the
mortuary treatments of specific individuals in the cemeteries; and
figurines placed in burials as a line of evidence for memorialization of El
Montón. She also attributes deposits containing unusual proportions of red
abalone shells and sea mammals, as well as stacked and whole abalone shells
and sea urchin tests, to feasting behavior. Feasting, when it is a ritual
behavior, can also contribute to the construction of persistent places.
Cemetery dates ranging from 6,000-2600 B.P. support a conclusion that El
Montón was a commemorative place.
There is a number of tantalizing loose threads for the reader to tug on.
Gamble demonstrates that there is inequality in the distribution of grave
goods more than a thousand years before other elements of social complexity
are demonstrated. Is there a connection between unequal distribution of
grave goods and later social complexity? There is also variation in house
size. Does this variation represent inequality, different household sizes,
conflation of non-domestic architecture with communal buildings, or
something else?
Gamble’s analysis provides another perspective for interpreting the
archeological data, and allows us to think more deeply about human
dimensions of landscape. Research on the transformation of behaviors into
material media has provided insights into the ways that information is
‘fixed’ in collective memories. Myths and legends can contain important
information about famine resources for infrequently –occurring events.
Perhaps commemorative places served similar functions, especially in
pre-literate societies. El Montón is situated near critical natural
resources and provided views of other islands whose conditions may have
been better. As a cemetery and persistent place, El Montón may have been a
means to maintain information about crisis resources in the collective
memory of distant communities.
Understandably, it is not possible to convey the results of almost a decade
of research at El Montón in a short article. Further publications will add
immense information about the site and history of the island. Ironically,
in an article about persistent places and memorialization, the name of the
national park that manages the site is never mentioned.
*GRANTS AND TRAINING*
*National Park Service Offers Webinar on Archeological Site Condition
Assessment App*
Staff from the NPS Midwest Archeological Center (MWAC) will present a
webinar about technological developments in collecting site condition data
on September 14, 2017, from 2-3pm ET. Anne Vawser, Amanda Renner, and
Austin Butterfield will give There's an App for that? Collecting
Archeological site condition assessment data using Collector for ArcGIS.
MWAC received funding through the NPS National Center for Preservation
Technology and Training in FY2016 to develop and test a mobile data
collection workflow for archeological site condition and monitoring at
Midwest region parks. Using the NPS Geospatial Portal for ArcGIS Online and
the Collector for ArcGIS app, MWAC’s workflow simplifies data collection,
allowing archeologists, law enforcement rangers, and other park staff to
navigate to site locations, fill in a form, take photos, and sync the data
from their NPS mobile device. It has potential to decrease the time staff
spend conducting assessments. This presentation will discuss general
workflow, map-based data collection form, and plans going forward to
continue testing and implementation at parks in the Midwest region.
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3696159354560273666
*Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Offers New Training*
The ACHP is offering new online courses with training in the use of
National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 to protect historic
properties. Two courses cover integration and coordination of Section 106
reviews with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review process,
which is of particular importance as policy makers at all levels of
government search for new ways to create efficiencies in regulatory
processes and advance infrastructure projects.
The course catalog also includes a FREE online course, “What is Section
106?” Designed for the general public, it provides a broad overview of the
Section 106 review process and the opportunities for the public to play a
role in such reviews. A fourth offering, Successfully Navigating Section
106 Reviews: An Orientation for Applicants, targets applicants for federal
permits and assistance to help better understand, support and participate
in Section 106 reviews. A forthcoming course will further explore the
circumstances under which NEPA can serve as a substitute for Section 106.
These courses are part of the ACHP’s broader training program that includes
onsite courses and webinars. On-demand courses are available any time of
the day or night for a nominal fee.
For more information about the courses and instructions to register, go to:
http://www.achp.gov/elearning.html.
*SLIGHTLY OFF-TOPIC: Researchers Discover Earliest Evidence of Wild Potato
Use in North America** by Science News staff*
Archeologists and anthropologists, led by the University of Utah, have
discovered potato starch residues in the crevices of a 10,900-year-old
stone tool in Escalante, Utah — the earliest evidence of wild potato use in
North America. At least twenty tuber-bearing, wild species of Solanum are
known from North and Central America, yet their importance in ancient diets
has never been assessed. The prehistory of potato use, leading to its
domestication and diversification, has been confined to South America.
The potatoes we buy at the grocery store are all varieties of a single
species (Solanum tuberosum) that was domesticated in the Andean highlands
more than 10,000 years ago. Since then, Solanum tuberosum has diversified
into thousands of other potato types. The study deals with Solanum jamesii,
a species found in the shelter of oaks, sagebrush and piñon pines in the
southwestern U.S. Also known as the Four Corners potato, it is most
abundant in the New Mexico highlands, where its green leaves and delicate
white flowers are scattered throughout piñon-juniper woodlands.
Several Native American tribes, including Apache, Hopi, Kawaik, Navajo,
Southern Paiute, Tewa, Zia and Zuni, consumed Solanum jamesii. The groups
used various cooking and processing techniques, including boiling, grinding
into flour or yeast, and mixing with clay to reduce bitterness. Some groups
still tend their potato populations in cultivated gardens.
Lisbeth Louderback and Bruce Pavlik analyzed stone tools from the
11,000-year old North Creek Shelter in the Escalante Valley. The
researchers examined large sandstone metates and manos, the ancient food
processors on which people prepared meals. They found microscopic starch
granules that previous archeologists never suspected were present.
Louderback and Pavlik identified the potato species from characteristics of
the starch granules. Starch granules have concentric circles that grow
outward like tree rings. The origin of the growth is called the hilum. The
majority of plant species have starch granules with hila at the center of
the grain. However, the hila of granules filling the team’s microscope
slides were off-center. Only a few species from the Four Corners region
produce starch granules with that specific characteristic; Solanum jamesii
is one of them.
The scientists analyzed granules from modern-day Solanum jamesii to
establish a set of five characteristics that accurately identified the wild
potato, starting with the off-center hilum. Starch granules with five out
of five characteristics were a verified wild potato. They checked for the
characteristics on granules found on the ancient stone tools from North
Creek Shelter. Out of the 323 total starch granules, 122 had the off-center
hilum. Of those, nine were verified Solanum jamesii and another 61 were
either likely or possibly Solanum jamesii.
The oldest granules were found in substratum 4k (10,900–10,100 cal B.P.).
Younger deposits, dating to ∼6,900 cal B.P., also contained tools with S.
jamesii granules, indicating at least 4,000 years of intermittent use.
Ethnographic and historical accounts extend the period of use to more than
10,000 years from the archeological past to the ethnographic present. The
question then arises as to whether some S. jamesii populations could have
undergone transport, cultivation, and eventual domestication over such a
long period of time.
The findings appeared in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences*.
*Starch granule evidence for the earliest potato use in North America* by
Lisbeth A. Louderback & Bruce M. Pavlik. PNAS, published online July 3,
2017; doi: 10.1073/pnas.1705540114
*Correction*
In our profile of Alice Dewey last month the individual with Dewey in the
photograph was identified as retired NPS employee Earl (Buddy) Neller. The
individual in the photo was actually University of Hawaii student Jim
MacDonald. Neller
took the photograph
.
Archeology E-Gram, distributed via e-mail on a regular basis, includes
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