*July 2015 Archeology E-Gram*


*NPS NEWS*


*Diving Program Created by NPS Archeologist Receives Historic Preservation
Award*

Diving With A Purpose (DWP), the National Association of Black Scuba Divers
(NABS), the National Park Service (NPS), and the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Marine Sanctuaries were
awarded the Chairman’s Award for Achievement in Historic Preservation by
the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP).



DWP trains volunteer marine advocates to assist in the stewardship of
heritage assets in national parks and marine sanctuaries and introduces
young people to maritime-linked careers. Created by Kenneth B. Stewart and
the late Brenda Lazendorf in 2003, the program trained avocational
underwater archeologists to assist Biscayne National Park staff in managing
its submerged heritage sites.



In its first year DWP trained five NABS divers. To date, DWP has trained
more than 100 people who have documented 14 shipwrecks and contributed more
than 15,000 volunteer hours in Biscayne National Park and other NPS units,
and in National Marine Sanctuaries,. Its Youth Diving With A Purpose
program began in 2013 and has involved 25 young people as underwater
archeology advocates. The program was also recognized as a Preserve America
Steward by First Lady Michelle Obama in 2014.



DWP volunteers work nationally and internationally, and with the Department
of State and Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and
Culture (NMAAHC), as well as its original Federal partners. They have
formed an association with the NMAAHC to document and find artifacts for
its collections and public education efforts, and have been involved in
efforts such as the search for planes related to the Tuskegee Airmen lost
in the Great Lakes.



*By David A. Gadsby*



*Students in National Park Service Youth Program Excavate Site of Freed
Slave Community*

Members of the NPS Urban Archeology Corps, Groundwork RVA, and NPS
archeologists are carrying out an excavation at an archeological site on a
historic property in eastern Henrico County, Virginia, that was owned by a
group of African-Americans freed in the 1700s.



Gravel Hill was a community of freed African-Americans established after a
Quaker named John Pleasants declared their freedom in his will in 1771. His
son, aided by lawyer John Marshall, who later became the fourth U.S. Chief
Justice, argued that his father's wishes be carried out despite opposition.
A few years later, the 78 slaves were legally free and became owners of
about 350 acres. The excavation site is believed to be the home of Richard
Sykes, a descendant of one of the slaves, and a deacon of Gravel Hill
Baptist Church.



Urban Archeology Corps students, from Richmond high schools, researched
maps and written accounts about the site for two weeks before starting to
dig. They also interviewed a descendant of the Gravel Hill freedman
community. Descendants of the Adkins, Sykes, Pleasants and Bagby families
still live in the area and have passed down family stories.



A community day to exhibit the findings will be set for later this summer.



*Project Connects Students to Fort Vancouver National Historic
Site’s History*
Forty high school students participated in *Discover Washington: Youth
Heritage Project *at Fort Vancouver NHS, held from July 15-18, 2015.
Students toured Fort Vancouver, visited an archeological excavation,
learned about cultural landscapes, and visited a reconstructed Cathlapotle
Plankhouse of continuing significance to the Chinook Indian Nation.



The final event of the field school was a town hall meeting. Students
presented group projects to demonstrate strategies to preserve and
communicate the complex and often incomplete histories of Fort Vancouver.
They showcased artifact-based exhibit concepts, living history
performances, and survey-informed infographics that illustrated the value
of reconstruction.



This is the fourth annual Youth Heritage Project (YHP), which is hosted at
a different location each year. This year’s program investigated the role
played by archeology in interpreting history and the strategy of
reconstruction as a method of historic preservation. YHP is coordinated by
the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation in partnership with the NPS
and the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic
Preservation. *Discover Washington: Youth Heritage Project* is oriented
toward four objectives:

   - Connect teachers and youth to historic places and landscapes;
   - Engage students in historic preservation and conservation activities;
   - Expand tools to support teachers’ educational efforts around built and
   natural environments; and
   - Excite the next generation of advocates and stewards of our natural
   and historic resources.

 Read the full press release from the Washington Trust for Historic
Preservation (July 13, 2015) at http://preservewa.org/News92.aspx



*By Hank Florence*



*National Park Service Gets New National Monument*

*On July 10, 2015, President Obama designated three new national
monuments: *Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in California; Waco
Mammoth National Monument in Texas; and Basin and Range National
Monument in Nevada. Waco Mammoth NM will be managed by the NPS in
cooperation with the City of Waco and Baylor University.



The City of Waco has operated the Waco Mammoth Site as a park since 2009,
in partnership with Baylor University and with support from the nonprofit
Waco Mammoth Foundation, Inc. The city donated to the United States
approximately five acres, which includes the excavation site and the dig
shelter, making it possible to establish the monument. Nearly the entire
Waco Mammoth Site will be included within the boundary of the National
Monument. The NPS will work closely with these partners, community
residents, and other groups that have devoted themselves to preserving the
site to develop a management planning process.



The site was discovered in 1978 by Paul Barron and Eddie Bufkin. Over the
next 20 years, Baylor University oversaw the excavation of the site, where
they found the remains of 24 Columbian mammoths, Western camel,
saber-toothed cat, dwarf antelope, American alligator, and giant tortoise.
Many of the bones remain in place, providing visitors an opportunity to
view them.



The site presents a rare opportunity to study the behavior and ecology of
the extinct Columbian mammoth. The oldest fossils are thought to be more
than 65,000 years old. The Columbian mammoths are the largest mammoth
species – larger than its relative, the woolly mammoth – and stood 12 to 14
feet tall and weighed seven to eight tons. Their tusks grew as long as 16
feet. The site remains the nation's first and only recorded discovery of a
nursery herd, consisting of females and their offspring. Of the 24 mammoths
uncovered to date, at least 18 were part of the nursery herd. As a result
of an unknown catastrophic event, the entire nursery herd died at the same
moment in time, which left the skeletons relatively intact. The herd
apparently formed a circular defensive position before death, and juvenile
mammoth skeletons rest atop the long tusks of adults, suggesting that the
adults were trying to save their offspring from rising waters or sucking
mud.



The Antiquities Act was first used by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906
to designate Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. Since then, 16
presidents have used this authority to protect unique natural and historic
features in America, such as the Grand Canyon, the Statue of Liberty, and
Colorado's Canyons of the Ancients.



*San Antonio Missions Becomes World Heritage Site*
The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has designated a group of five Spanish
colonial missions in the San Antonio area – including most of San Antonio
Missions National Historical Park and the Alamo – as a World Heritage Site.
UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee agreed to inscribe the missions on the
World Heritage List at its 39th session in Bonn, Germany, in July.

The San Antonio Missions include Espada, San Juan, Concepcion, Valero, and
the Alamo. Also on the list is Rancho de las Cabras, a ranch outpost of
Mission Espada. The missions were built in the 18th century in and around
the present day city of San Antonio to convert indigenous people to
Catholicism and make them Spanish subjects. The missions and the land
around them became San Antonio Missions NHP in 1983, and all except the
Alamo are still used as Catholic parishes.



The group of former missions includes churches, farmlands, living quarters,
granaries, workshops, kilns, wells, perimeter walls, a cattle ranch, and
irrigation systems (acequias) that are still functioning after hundreds of
years. These achievements were possible through the combined efforts of the
Spanish and indigenous peoples living in the missions. Disease reduced the
native population, accelerating the missions' decline.



The Department of the Interior undertook the nomination of the San Antonio
Missions with the cooperation and support of all the property owners within
the boundaries of the nominated area, including the NPS, the State of
Texas, the Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio, Bexar County, the City of
San Antonio, the San Antonio River Authority, the Espada Ditch Company, the
San Juan Ditch Water Supply Corporation, and Los Compadres de San Antonio
Missions National Historical Park. Officials hope the designation of the
largest collection of Spanish colonial architecture in the U.S. will boost
tourism, already responsible for one in eight jobs in San Antonio.



The site is the 23rd World Heritage Site in the United States out of more
than a thousand inscribed worldwide. The Interior Department’s National
Park Service (NPS) manages all or part of 18 of the U.S. World Heritage
Sites. The NPS is also the principal government agency responsible for
implementing the World Heritage Convention in cooperation with the
Department of State.

Inclusion of a site in the World Heritage List does not affect U.S.
sovereignty or management of the sites, which remain subject only to U.S.,
state and local laws. Detailed information on the World Heritage Program
and the process for the selection of U.S. sites can be found at
www.nps.gov/oia/topics/worldheritage/worldheritage.htm.


*By Jessica Kershaw*


*Publication Issued On Student Research Scholarships*

The NPS, in partnership with the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS), has released *Opening Doors: A Best Practices Guide to
National Parks Scholarship Programs*. The comprehensive guide—an outgrowth
of NPS Call to Action Number 20, “Scholarly Pursuits”—will help create the
next generation of conservation scientists and scholars by providing
strategies, advice, and best practices for building scholarship programs
across NPS parks and programs.



Increasing scholarships for conducting research in NPS units will enable a
younger generation of researchers, including archeologists, to develop the
skills and expertise necessary to help overcome the challenges facing the
National Park System. The national parks’ extraordinary scientific
assets—ecosystems, wildlife, biodiversity, coastal geology, archeological
resources—are invaluable for furthering the knowledge that will help NPS
confront climate change, increase relevancy, and understand our cultural
history.



NPS employees, AAAS members, park friends groups, other scientific
societies, and interested citizens should use the NPS Centennial as an
opportunity to create new and expanded scholarship programs. *Opening
Doors* provides
an important, timely, and practical guide to this worthy endeavor on the
100th anniversary of one of our nation’s “best ideas”—national parks.



The guide can be found at
http://nature.nps.gov/assets/docs/AAAS_guide_web.pdf


*By Kass Hardy*


*National Park Service EvaluatingTechnologies for Archeological Site
Surveillance*

The NPS National Center for Preservation Training and Technology’s (NCPTT)
Archaeology & Collections program is currently undertaking research to
evaluate technologies applicable to the surveillance of archeological
sites. The research emphasizes technology that can aid in the apprehension
and prosecution of those who vandalize and loot archeological resources.
Federal agencies have limited funding and manpower, despite the extensive
landholdings and numerous resources they are tasked to protect. In response
to the strain on resources, surveillance technology is employed to assist
in the protection of archeological sites. Land managers and law enforcement
have used game and trail cameras, complex multisensory systems, and aerial
surveillance to address issues of looting and vandalism, with varying
degrees of success.



However, there is no central source in which managers and law enforcement
can share evaluations of the technology they are using. Sharing of this
information is generally discouraged due to security concerns. Much of the
technology that is currently in place is outdated or incompatible with the
environment. Anyone seeking to update or acquire surveillance tech has no
reference for what is available to meet their needs. This is where NCPTT
comes in. The larger project aims to provide a resource for land managers
and law enforcement aiming to use surveillance technology to protect
archeological sites.



*By Christina Ramazani*



*National Park Service Awards $1.19 Million in Battlefield Planning Grants*

The NPS has awarded more than $1.19 million in American Battlefield
Protection grants to research, document, or interpret dozens of significant
American battlefields representing more than 300 years of history. This
year’s grants provide funding for projects at endangered battlefields from
the Indian Wars, Pequot War, Revolutionary War, Second Seminole War, Civil
War, and World War II.  Awards were given to projects in 16 states
entailing archeology, mapping, cultural resource survey work,
documentation, planning, education, and interpretation.



The Mill Springs Battlefield Association was awarded $57,000 to locate
extant archeological resources at the Battle of Mills Springs, Kentucky,
using light detection and radar, archival research, and artifact analysis.
The Union victory in 1862 on this battlefield broke the Confederate line,
forcing them to abandon Kentucky and regroup in Tennessee.

Federal, tribal, state, and local governments, nonprofit organizations, and
educational institutions are eligible for the battlefield grants, which are
awarded annually.  Since 1996, the American Battlefield Protection Program
has awarded more than $16 million to help preserve significant historic
battlefields associated with wars on American soil.

More information about the American Battlefield Protection Program
Battlefield Panning Grants is available online at:
www.nps.gov/abpp/grants/planninggrants.htm.

*NAGPRA Consultation and Repatriation Grants Awarded to 15 Tribes and 16
Museums*

The NPS announced the award of more than $1.5 million in Native American
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) Program repatriation and
consultation grants. Thirty-seven grants were awarded to 15 Indian tribes
and 16 museums to assist in the identification, documentation, and return
of ancestral remains and cultural objects in museum collections to Indian
tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations.



Projects funded include the repatriation of more than 300 ancestors and
numerous funerary and traditional items to Indian tribes across the United
States, travel by Indian tribal representatives to consultations with
museums holding potentially affiliated remains and other cultural items,
specialized training for both museums and tribes on NAGPRA, and the
development of a tribal coalition to collaborate and facilitate the
repatriation of significant collections currently in museums.



Enacted in 1990, NAGPRA requires museums and federal agencies to inventory
and identify Native American human remains and cultural objects in their
collections, and to consult with Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and
Native Hawaiian organizations regarding repatriation. Section 10 of the Act
authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to award grants to assist in
implementing provisions of the Act.


*Did you #FindYourPark Yet?*

The National Park Service invites you to find your park! In celebration of
the 100th birthday in 2016, the National Park Service is launching a
movement to spread the word about the amazing places managed, the
inspirational stories that the national parks tell, our country's natural
resources, and our diverse cultural heritage.


Join in the action. Visit FindYourPark.com to sample upcoming centennial
events near you, share your stories, and find your park! Participate in
Find Your Park Experiences to learn, discover, be inspired, or simply have
fun in national parks.


*FEDERAL NEWS*


*Public Servants Honored with Historic Preservation Awards*

The Department of the Interior recently honored four government and tribal
employees, including one archeologist, with the annual Secretary of the
Interior Historic Preservation Awards, recognizing their outstanding
contributions to the preservation of historic places. Award winners’
contributions surpass the expected scope of their positions, and their
creativity and expertise foster the overall goals of the National Historic
Preservation Act. This award is distinguished from other historic
preservation award programs in that it focuses on the accomplishments of
individuals and not on programs or projects. The award also recognizes the
contributions of employees at multiple levels of government.



The archeologist winner of the 2014 awards is Vernelda J. Grant, Tribal
Historic Preservation Officer, San Carlos Apache Tribe, in the Tribal
Historic Preservation Office Category. Grant’s dedicated service extends
from tribal preservation efforts within the San Carlos Apache Tribe to
efforts across the country. In 2006, Grant became the San Carlos Apache
Nation’s Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO), in addition to
already being the Tribal Archaeologist and Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act Representative. She then assisted five
other tribes in their efforts to become certified THPOs. Grant also served
as a member of the Native American Advisory Group for the Advisory Council
on Historic Preservation, three terms on the Arizona Governor’s Archaeology
Advisory Commission, as Chair of the National Congress of American Indians
Commission on Repatriation and Burial Sites Protection, and as a member of
the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona’s Cultural Resources Working Group.



Congratulations, Vernelda!



*Archeologists Advise National Geographic Channel on ‘Diggers’*

After protests from archeologists and professional organizations the
*Diggers* production company, Half Yard Productions, invited archeologists
from the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and the Society for
Historical Archaeology (SHA) to view and comment on each of the episodes
for the 2015 season. Making *Diggers* a better, more accurate show has
taken several years and many intense sessions of collaboration between
archeologists and television producers. But the payoff for archeologists
engaging in mainstream media, SHA president Charles Ewen writes in the *SHA
Newsletter*, is in ”reaching a larger demographic that might have an
interest in archeology.”


In discussions with the production team, the archeologists “stressed
contextual documentation, the value of data from objects and their
relationships rather than objects’ commercial value,” as well as issues
“regarding landowners’ rights and prospection.” There is an archeologist
on-screen in all episodes, and he talks to the hosts about research
strategy, provenience, and significance of the finds. The dollar value of
the artifacts that are found is no longer shown. Instead, there are pop-ups
that explain the show has permission to metal detect on private land, that
the artifacts are property of the landowner or a museum, and that locations
can be designated as historical sites. The show has also sought
professional archeologists to partner with for episodes.


The first episode takes place at President James Madison’s home at
Montpelier, and the *Diggers* team gets help from Montpelier director of
archeology Matthew Reeves along with senior research archeologist Terry
Brock. Reeves got involved with *Diggers* when he was invited to be on the
SHA/SAA advisory panel. As part of that panel, Reeves had “a lot of
discussions with the executive producers, field producers, and the head and
directors at National Geographic Channel.”


SAA President Diane Gifford-Gonzalez comments that the episodes this season
that include close involvement between archeologists and metal detectorists
from the outset, such as tonight’s Montpelier episode, “are excellent
examples of how collaborative work can use the complementary skills of the
two communities to enhance understanding of events at a locality.”



*From story by Kristina Killgrove, Forbes*



*Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Posts Section 106 Success
Stories*

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP) is preparing to
celebrate the 50th anniversary of the National Historic Preservation Act
(NHPA) in 2016. An important part of this celebration will include the
collection of “106 Success Stories” that illustrate how Section 106 of the
NHPA has been used to engage people in the discussion about protecting
historic properties that matter most to them. These stories are examples of
ways that Federal agencies have used the Section 106 process to protect
historic properties, improve Federal planning, and raise awareness of the
benefits of historic preservation.



Many examples have already been posted, but your story is missing! Send
your nominations to [log in to unmask]
<[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">https://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&fs=1&tf=1&[log in to unmask]>,
and check out the collection at http://www.achp.gov/sec106_successes.html.


*U.S. Grants Federal Recognition to Virginia's Pamunkey Tribe*

The 200-member Pamunkey community, living on a 1,200-acre reservation in
rural King William County about 25 miles east of Richmond, has been granted
Federal recognition. The Pamunkeys were part of the Powhatan paramount
chiefdom that included more than 30 tribes, estimated to total 10,000 to
15,000 people at the time of British colonization. The tribe has occupied a
remote land base on the Pamunkey River since the Colonial era in the 1600s.
Today, the area exists as a state reservation with few amenities.



The Pamunkeys are the second tribe nationwide that met all criteria for
Federal recognition under the Obama administration, U.S. Assistant
Secretary of Indian Affairs Kevin K. Washburn said. The tribe’s path to
recognition was filled with roadblocks.  The Interior Department first
announced the Pamunkeys met requirements for recognition in January 2014
and a final decision was expected in March, but the decision was delayed
after public opposition arose.



*SLIGHTLY OFF-TOPIC:*  *DNA links Kennewick Man to Native Americans*

Last year, scientists published a comprehensive book, co-edited by
Smithsonian Institution forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley, which
concluded that Kennewick Man appeared to be more closely related to the
indigenous Ainu people of Japan and today’s Polynesians than to modern
Native Americans. Kennewick Man, known to Native Americans as the Ancient
One, is a set of human remains discovered on the northern bank of the
Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington. Intentionally buried and
disinterred through erosion, the remains are 8,500 years old.



Owsley and colleagues concluded that Kennewick Man came from the frozen
north; he conceivably was born in Siberia, descended from a population of
coastal-dwelling East Asians that not only reached North America but also
gave rise to the Ainu and the Polynesians. A recent report published in the
journal *Nature* has rejected that scenario, citing the first successful
analysis of genetic material extracted from Kennewick Man. He was, the
report said, a Native American after all. The report linked the remains to
the Colville tribes.



The genetic findings could have legal ramifications in the long battle
between scientists, who say the remains are a national scientific treasure,
and Native American tribes that claim the mystery man as an ancestor and
seek to rebury him.



The genetic evidence directly challenges conclusions based largely on
measurements of the skull. From the very beginning, the people studying
Kennewick Man argued that he didn’t look like a Native American, but
morphologically resembled Ainu or Polynesian individuals. Scientists such
as Owsley viewed Kennewick Man as most likely a member of a population
distinct from the ancestors of Native Americans. Modern Native Americans
are descended from people who traveled to Alaska from Siberia.



After analyzing the degraded fragments of DNA from a hand bone, the authors
of the Nature paper concluded that Kennewick Man shared close ancestry with
Native Americans — especially the Colville tribes — rather than with
populations in Japan or Siberia.



“Kennewick Man is more closely related to Native Americans than to any
other population worldwide,” said Morten Rasmussen, a post-doctoral fellow
at Stanford University and the University of Copenhagen, who was the lead
author of the report. “We specifically tested Polynesians, Ainu, Europeans
. . . and, in all cases, Kennewick Man comes out closest to Native American
populations.”



So why doesn’t his skull look like that of a Native American? Rasmussen
said it’s likely just a case of natural variation in appearance. His team
does not believe that it is possible to take the anatomical features of one
individual, such as Kennewick Man, and draw broad conclusions about a
relationship to a larger population of people. “Because there’s large
variation within populations, a single individual is not representative,”
he said. But there’s another possible explanation that’s perhaps even more
dramatic: Native Americans may have changed in their appearance over the
course of the past 8,500 years, said Deborah Bolnick, an associate
professor of anthropology at the University of Texas, who was not involved
in the study.



Autosomal DNA, mitochondrial DNA, and Y chromosome data all consistently
show that Kennewick Man is directly related to contemporary Native
Americans, and thus show genetic continuity within the Americas over at
least the past eight thousand years. Identifying which modern Native
American groups are most closely related to Kennewick Man is not possible
at this time, since the comparative DNA database of modern peoples is
limited, particularly for Native-American groups in the United States.
Rasmussen
concedes that most Native American groups have been reluctant to
participate in genetic testing. The Nature report shows a genetic
relationship with the Colville group, which agreed to participate in the
study, but four other tribes that also have claimed Kennewick Man as an
ancestor did not participate. However, among the groups for which there is
sufficient genomic data, the Colville, one of the Native American groups
claiming Kennewick Man as ancestral, show close affinities to that
individual or at least to the population to which he belonged.



The genetic analysis could not conclusively state that Kennewick Man was a
direct ancestor of the modern Colville people; one interpretation of the
data suggested they had a common ancestor who lived about 700 years before
Kennewick Man roamed the Pacific Northwest.



The discovery of the human remains led to a protracted court fight between
scientists and Native American tribes who wanted the bones returned, as
usually required under the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act. The scientists won, at least temporarily. The remains are
now in the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle and the
Army Corps of Engineers has legal custody.



“The Corps will certainly review those findings, and will be using this
review and other information to determine if, and if so how, NAGPRA
applies. We will do this as quickly as possible,” Army Corps spokeswoman
Michael A. Coffey said.



*From story by** Joel Achenbach, The Washington Post*



To read the DNA article, go to
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vnfv/ncurrent/full/nature14625.html



*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 *
pagewww.nps.gov/archeology/public/news.htm
<http://www.nps.gov/archeology/public/news.htm_> on the NPS Archeology
Program website.



*Contact*: Karen Mudar at [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> to contribute news
items, stories for *Projects in Parks*, and to subscribe.