Dorothy, what I meant to say, and should have said better, is this: since archaeological properties are most typically considered significant in 106 contexts under criterion D of the NHPA, i.e., that they can contribute or have contributed information....etc, the importance or significance of the "information" value of a site is a judgement that needs to be made partly in consideration of scholarly interests, theory, etc. Archaeology is a scholarly pursuit, even when it is pursued by persons in consulting or civil-service positions. The abiding tradition of scholarship is that the scholar must have current knowledge of recent findings, theoretical debates, etc. in the community of scholars. That's why we cite references, etc., in order to demonstrate we are knowledgable about current scholarship in a given theme, area or what-not. Many archaeologists come to concentrate on the detailed knowledge of review-and-compliance and/or preservation scholarship without necessarily following developments in history and archaeology. I do not think we should permit these persons to set the agenda for research--and we ARE talking about research. Research agendas proceed from discourse among research scholars. The example in question revolved around "ethnicity." Ethnicity is, in today's scholarly jargon, a "problematic;" that is, it is the subject itself of the quest for knowledge/information. It is not something that is given. It is a fluid, changing, dynamic, situational cultural and behavioral dimension of human life. This sense about what ethnicity is has developed over about 15-20 years in anthropology and culture studies. If one has not followed these discussions, one is not, in my humble opinion, in a position to determine the "significance" of an archaeological site based on its perceived ethnic characteristics. I guess what I am saying is that we need agency and SHPO archaeologists who choose not to participate in scholarly research to give those who do the right to excercise their expert judgements about such things. Dan