Mike Rodeffer's initial question, which he was merely passing along in
     behalf of a friend, asked only if any states maintain registers of
     archeologists.  The simple answer appears to be that many states
     (usually through the State Historic Preservation Office) maintain
     lists of archeologists qualified to bid on contract projects, which
     can be passed along upon request to those who require contract
     archeological services.  I know that was the case a decade ago when I
     ran a contract program in Illinois (the list was kept by the Illinois
     Archaeological Survey in that state), and several others indicate that
     that their states have the same sort of arrangement today.  I would
     imagine, however, that any such compilations indicate only that those
     listed meet the Secretary of Interior's standards in archeology,
     making them eligible to offer on most federally mandated requests for
     proposal.
 
     That is a far cry from an equivalency with either the Society of
     Professional Archeologists (SOPA) or its successor, ROPA, that some
     have suggested.  Those organizations not only have and will set basic
     standards for the admission of professionals to their ranks, but also
     address broader ethical and performance issues that go far beyond a
     mere statement of qualifications in terms of education and experience.
     More important, they include disciplinary procedures to investigate
     and sanction or absolve, as appropriate, those accused of being in
     violation of ethical norms.  To my knowledge, there are not many
     states in which such a formal mechanism exists to deal with such
     allegations.
 
     Indeed, the SOPA Directory, and any future Registry of Professional
     Archeologists, may serve as a quick reference to find people who are
     qualified to do contract archeology (since they will all at least meet
     the Secretary's standards), but appearance on those lists means a
     great deal more.  It means that those registered have voluntarily
     subscribed to a Code of Ethics and, further, that they are subject to
     established disciplinary procedures and their consequences.  That does
     not guarantee quality research from them, of course, but at least
     there is a means to sanction those who do not perform in keeping with
     accepted standards.
 
     It is also worthy noting that neither SOPA nor ROPA were set up
     exclusively for contract archeologists.  To the contrary, a
     substantial percentage of SOPA's membership was in the academy or only
     marginally involved with contract archeology, and organizers expect
     that to be true of ROPA, as well.