October 2006
NPS and Taiwanese experts meet
A delegation from Taiwan met on September 27, 2006, with a group of NPS
experts to learn about management, organizational, and operational issues
related to the designation of national parks, the NPS Maritime Heritage
Program, the National Register of Historic Places, and underwater cultural
heritage. The delegation was led by Dr. Nien-Tsu Alfred Hu, Professor of
Marine Policy and Law of the Sea and Director of the Center for Marine
Policy Studies at National Sun Yat-sen University. Other delegation
members included Ms. Yu-Ling Emma Lin, Executive Secretary of the Center
for Marine Policy Studies; Dr. Chang-Ching James Tsai, Associate Professor
of Tourism Management at National Kaohsiung University; and Mr. Andy
Cheu-An Bi, Senior Executive Cultural Officer of the Taipei Economic and
Cultural Representative Office in the United States.
Maureen Foster, Acting Chief of Park Planning and Special Studies,
explained the process and criteria for designating new national parks.
Kevin Foster provided an overview of maritime history preservation in the
United States, and described the work of the NPS Maritime Heritage Program,
which he directs. NPS archeologist Erika Martin-Seibert provided an
overview of the National Register of Historic Places and National Historic
Landmarks Programs and their criteria, and explained how information about
historic properties is made available to students and the public through
the Teaching with Historic Places and the National Register Travel
Itineraries Programs. NPS archeologist Michele Aubry provided information
about underwater cultural heritage laws, regulations, policies, and
programs relating at the federal, state, and local levels of government;
and described how the NPS manages, interprets, preserves, and protects
underwater sites in units of the national park system. On subsequent days,
the delegation met with experts from other federal agencies including NOAA
and its National Marine Sanctuaries and Maritime Heritage Programs.
Contact: Michele C. Aubry, [log in to unmask]
NPS and Spanish experts meet and sign international agreement
On October 17, 2006, a delegation from Spain's Ministry of Education,
Culture and Sports met at the Spanish Embassy with representatives from the
NPS, the Naval Historical Center, NOAA, the Smithsonian Institution, the
U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Office, the U.S. Department of State, and
the U.S. Department of Justice. The meeting included a signing ceremony of
a long-term loan agreement between the NPS and Spain for curation and
public interpretation of the Spanish shipwreck collection recovered at
Assateague Island NS; and an exchange of information about cultural
resources and heritage management.
Spain was represented by Julian Martinez Garcia, Director General of Fine
Arts and Cultural Heritage; Luis Lafuente Batanero, Deputy Director General
for Protection of Cultural Heritage; Elisa de Cabo, Head of Department for
Cultural Heritage; Jorge Sobredo, Cultural Counselor at the Spanish
Embassy; Captain Juan Carlos San Martin, Naval Attache; and James Goold,
Lead Counsel to Spain at Covington & Burling. The NPS was represented by
Randy Biallas, Assistant Director for Park Cultural Resource Programs,
WASO; Scott Bentley, Superintendent, and Carl Zimmerman, Resource
Management Division Chief, both at Assateague Island National Seashore;
Beth Boland, Historian, Heritage Education Services, WASO; Michele Aubry,
Archeologist, Archeology Program, WASO; and Stephen Morris, Chief, and
Linda Bennett, International Cooperation Specialist, both in the Office of
International Affairs, WASO.
Remarks by NPS Assistant Director Randy Biallas focused on the Spanish
shipwreck collection recovered at Assateague Island NS, the Spanish
Treasure Fleets Teaching with Historic Places Lesson Plan and five National
Register Travel Itineraries highlighting Spanish heritage sites; and the
potential for enhanced cooperation between Spain and the NPS at the 43
parks containing or commemorating Spanish heritage in the United States.
Barbara Voulgaris from the Naval Historical Center and John Broadwater from
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration made presentations
about their respective agency’s cultural resources management programs.
On October 18, 2006, the Spanish delegation traveled to Assateague Island
NS to view their collection of artifacts and plans for construction of a
new visitor center at the park.
Contact: Michele C. Aubry, [log in to unmask]
Government Perspective on Public Archeology in The SAA Archeological Record
The September 2006 issue of The SAA Archaeology Record focuses on the
challenges and rewards of carrying out archeological projects within
municipal, state, tribal and federal government programs. Archeologists
working for the BLM; U.S. Army; White Mountain Apache Tribe; Pima County,
AZ; Calvert County, MD; Minnesota State Historic Preservation Office; and
the NPS discussed recent archeological activities undertaken with their
programs.
The issue also commemorates the centennial of the Antiquities Act, signed
in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt. The commemorative section
features articles by NPS and BLM archeologists that highlight the
significance of the Antiquities Act for archeological resource
preservation, and the legacies that have been created to commemorate this
remarkable law.
Barbara Little, Archeologist, NPS Archeology Program, and Teresa Moyer, who
coordinated the NPS Antiquities Act centennial commemoration, edited this
volume. Past issues of The SAA Archaeology Record are available online at:
http://www.saa.org/publications/theSAAarchRec/.
Contact: Barbara Little, [log in to unmask]
Fall Events at Independence Living History Center--Archeology Lab,
Independence NHP
Staff at the Independence Living History Center (ILHC) Archeology
Laboratory, Independence Park Education program (the Independence Park
Institute) and Ball State University Teachers College collaborated to
develop an Electronic Field Trip (EFT) entitled Freedom in America: Some
Assembly Required. EFT's allow classrooms to visit places on-line, (
www.bsu.edu/eft/). The EFT includes an archeology segment , entitled "This
Piece of History Stinks,” that is available at
http://www.bsu.edu/eft/webisodes/ (Note: This video loads extraordinarily
slowly with approximately 4 minutes of blank screen prior to running).
In collaboration with the Philadelphia Archaeological Forum (PAF), the ILHC
Archeology Lab sponsored a day-long event on October 14, 2006, entitled,
Discover Philadelphia's Hidden Past: An Archeology Month Celebration, 2006
(http://www.phillyarchaeology.org). The event included eight archeological
presentations, a mini-archeological film festival, and an open house at the
ILHC Archeology Lab. Results of research from the National Constitution
Center site at Independence Park was exhibited and the documentary film, In
The Shadow of Liberty: The Search for James Oronoco Dexter, directed by
Mitchell Smith and funded in part by NPS, was shown.
PAF and the IHLC Archeology Lab staffed an Archeology Information Table in
the Independence NHP Visitors Center on weekends throughout October in
honor of Pennsylvania's Archeology Month. Copies of an Archeology Month
activity sheet (
http://www.phillyarchaeology.org/Kids/images/Archaeology%20Month%20Activities.pdf
) created by the Independence Park Institute and ILHC Archeology Lab staff
were provided for use, as was a poster and accompanying brochures that were
created by the ILHC Archeology Lab to assist Independence Park in
commemorating the Antiquities Act centennial.
Jed Levin, Archeologist with the NPS Northeast Regional Office, assisted
the Philadelphia Mayor's Office with resources for the city's public
website about the upcoming President's House Excavation, The President's
House: Freedom and Slavery in Making A New Nation (
http://www.phila.gov/presidentshouse/index.html). A joint undertaking of
the City of Philadelphia and the NPS, The President's House project
provides an opportunity to tell an important national story -- the birth of
the United States side-by-side with the institution of slavery. The
archeological project will conduct excavations at the site of the Executive
Mansion for the American nation, 1790-1800, located today within
Independence NHP. Following the excavations, a permanent installation will
be placed at the site to commemorate those who lived and worked at the
President's House, including the nine enslaved African Americans who
resided there during George Washington's years as President. The web site
allows visitors to track the project's progress and communicate their
comments and opinions. In addition, it includes links to an archeology
briefing paper about the project, a temporary virtual interpretive wayside,
the texts of several Community Roundtable Discussions, content related to
the memorial competition, historical documents, and news articles about the
President's House history, re-discovery, expanded interpretation, and
commemoration.
Contact: Patrice L. Jeppson, [log in to unmask]
Plans to add land, archeological sites to Virgin Islands NP
The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a nonprofit land conservation
organization, has announced plans to purchase and preserve 415 acres on the
Island of St. John, to be added to Virgin Islands National Park.
"The property, known as Maho Bay, will be added to the park when federal
funds are made available," said Greg Chelius, director of TPL's Land Trust
in Florida and the Caribbean.
"The National Park on St. John is one of the world's greatest treasures,"
and, " We are very excited to be part of the effort to preserve its
incredible natural beauty," Chelius said in a TPL press release.
The property has more than a quarter-mile of beachfront on pristine Maho
Bay and rises to 1,000 feet in height. Significant ruins from the Danish
colonial era, 1700-1860, are located on the property. There is also the
possibility that pre-Columbian cultural resources from the Taino Indian
people may be present.
"Development of this watershed would have had considerable impact on the
natural and cultural resources of the park as well as the residents and
visitors to St. John," said native St. Johnian Rafe Boulon, chief resource
manager for the national park.
The property was owned by 11 heirs in one extended family, each owning 1/11
percentage of the total acreage. In the end, the parties involved felt
strongly that the property should remain accessible to the community and
the public. Once the acquisition is complete, Virgin Islands NP will
comprise 70 percent of the land on the small island.
(Original story by Susan Mann)
Projects in Parks: Prehistoric Archeology Research at C&O NHP
From 2003 through 2005, the Cultural Resource Group of the Louis Berger
Group carried out a program under contract to the NPS, National Capital
Region to identify and evaluate archeological resources within the lower
59-mile segment of the C&O Canal NHP. This segment extends along the
Potomac River from Georgetown in Washington, DC to Sandy Hook just east of
Harpers Ferry, WV. This work implements the Systemwide Archeological
Inventory Program for the park.
Geoarcheological testing and archeological surveys resulted in
identification of 16 new sites and relocation of 14 previously known sites.
Several deeply stratified sites are potentially eligible for listing on the
National Register of Historic Places, certainly at the regional and perhaps
at the national level.
NPS employees who can access the NPS intranet can learn more about this
project by going to Projects in Parks <
http://inside.nps.gov/waso/custommenu.cfm?lv=3&prg=279&id=3670> on
InsideNPS.
“Projects in Parks” is a feature of the Archeology E-Gram that serves to
inform others of interesting archeology-related projects in a national
park. Past reports are available on the Projects in Parks webpage,
accessed through the Archeology homepage, 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 National Park Service and other public agencies.
Recipients are encouraged to forward Archeology E-Grams to colleagues and
relevant mailing lists and new subscribers are accepted. Past issues of
the Archeology E-Gram are available on the Archeology E-Gram webpage,
accessed through the Archeology homepage, on InsideNPS. Contact Karen
Mudar, Archeology Program, NPS, at (202) 354-2103, [log in to unmask] to
contribute news items, stories for “Projects in Parks,” and to subscribe.
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