Archeology E-gram December 2021

National Park Service Welcomes a New Director

Charles (Chuck) Sams III was sworn in on December 16, 2021, as the 19th NPS director. Sams joins Interior Secretary Deb Haaland as the first Native Americans appointed to their posts. A native of Pendleton, Oregon, he is a member, Cayuse and Walla Walla, of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. No stranger to public service, Sams was an intelligence specialist in the U.S. Navy and has filled a variety of executive positions in state, local, and tribal government.

This is the first time in four years that a permanent NPS director has been selected. NPS staff appreciate the efforts of acting Directors Mike Reynolds, Daniel Smith, David Vela, Margaret Everson, and Shawn Benge maintaining the Service since 18th Director John Jarvis retired.

National Park Service Archeologist Allen Cooper Retires

After nearly 40 years with the NPS, former Northeast Regional Archeologist Allen Cooper retired at the end of November. While a graduate student at Florida State University, Cooper started his career with the NPS Southeast Archeology Center. In 1987, Allen moved to the former Mid-Atlantic Regional Office as the Principal Investigator for the second year of the Conway’s Brigade Encampment archeological investigations at Valley Forge NHP. From there he accepted a promotion to Archeologist where he provided technical services and support to over 25 parks.

It is difficult to outline Cooper’s career without mentioning the numerous reorganizations that the NPS and the region have undergone. In 1995 the North Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic Regions were combined into the Northeast Region. To preserve positions, some of the architectural and archeological staff were relocated to a newly formed center at Valley Forge NHP. Cooper’s position remained in the Park Archeology Program in the Philadelphia Support Office where he helped parks throughout the Chesapeake & Allegheny Clusters to meet their archeological compliance needs. He also oversaw several Section 110 projects, including a multi-park French and Indian War Sites evaluation.

In 2000, the region realigned the regional archeology programs, which were then in four offices in two states. Cooper became the Northeast Regional Archeologist, and in 2001 the programs were combined to service over 80 park units. Five years later, the decision was made to move all regional cultural resources positions, including archeology, to the northern portion of the region. Implementation began in 2010. Cooper became the Program Lead and regional Planning Portfolio Manager. This allowed him to continue to use his park knowledge along with his research and management skills to, among other things, oversee the production of park foundation documents.

Allen’s friends and colleagues in NPS all wish him the very best for his retirement!

By Gail Frace, NPS Archeologist

US House of Representatives Passes STOP Act

On December 2, 2021, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2930, the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony Act of 2021 (STOP Act). The vote was strongly in support of the Act, 364–57. This legislation would allow the U.S. to take steps to halt overseas auctions of illicitly procured tribal objects of cultural patrimony and encourage the voluntary return of such items to their rightful owners.

The measure creates an explicit prohibition on the export of NAGPRA cultural items and ARPA-protected archeological resources whose trafficking is prohibited domestically under existing federal law. The Act will make it possible for tribes to access other countries’ law enforcement mechanisms to regain their stolen property under an existing international treaty to which the U.S. is a signatory. The bill will establish an export certification system and increase penalties for violations of NAGPRA.

From Notes from HQ – December 2021, Society for American Archaeology

American Battlefield Protection Program Awards Grant for Civil War Site

The NPS American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) awarded a $4.6 million Battlefield Land Acquisition Grant to protect 250.84 acres of the Williamsburg Battlefield in York County, Virginia. The wooded property witnessed several centuries of occupation and struggle, including fierce fighting during the Civil War’s 1862 Peninsula Campaign. Archeological investigations have revealed key details of this battle and promises to expand and enrich our understanding of the people—enslaved and free—who lived and worked there. Virginia’s Departments of Conservation and Recreation and Historic Resources, in partnership with the American Battlefield Trust, will use the grant to purchase and interpret the site.

NPS ABPP’s Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants empower partners nationwide to acquire and preserve threatened battlefields on American soil. This financial assistance generates community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels.

For more information, go to https://www.nps.gov/orgs/2287/index.htm

Ohio Museum Repays Nez Perce Tribe $600,000 for Artifact Collection

An Ohio museum is reimbursing the Nez Perce Tribe after the tribe paid for a collection of its own artifacts more than two decades ago. In 1996, the Nez Perce Tribe raised $608,100 to buy from the Ohio Historical Society 21 artifacts crafted by its people in the 1800s. Under different leadership, the historical society had loaned the collection to the NPS, but the museum requested the items returned in 1993.

After celebrating the 25th anniversary of the collection’s return to Idaho this summer and renaming it the, the museum repaid the tribe. Wetxuuwíitin means, “something that has been returned.” Burt Logan, executive director and CEO of Ohio History Connection, said he and other leaders at the museum weren’t aware of the sale in the 1990s until he received an invitation from the tribe to the anniversary celebration. Logan arranged for the return of the funds.

Missionary Henry Spaulding traded these artifacts for supplies after he arrived in Ohio in the 1830s and 1840s, which eventually ended up with Ohio History Connection. The artifacts include clothing, saddles and a bag shaped like a deer’s head.

The Wetxuuwíitin Collection is currently on loan to the Nez Perce National Historical Park.

From report by James Dawson, Boise State Public Radio News

Secretary of the Interior Takes Action to Remove Derogatory Names from Federal Lands

Secretary Haaland, through Secretarial Order 3404, has established two entities to assist the Board on Geographic Names (BGN) to remove derogatory names from geographic features on Federal land. The BGN, established in 1890, maintains uniform geographic name usage throughout the federal government. In 1947, the Secretary of the Interior was given joint authority with the BGN and has final approval or review of its actions.

The Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names will facilitate a proactive development and review process of proposed changes. Currently, the (BGN) acts on a case-by-case basis through a process that puts the onus on the proponents to identify the offensive name and to suggest a replacement. The process can often take years to complete. Currently, there are hundreds of name changes pending.

SO 3404 also formally identifies the term “squaw” as derogatory and creates the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force to find replacement names for geographic features on federal lands. There are currently more than 650 federal land units that contain this offensive term.

Categories of derogatory names have previously been identified by the Secretary of the Interior or the BGN and have been comprehensively replaced. In 1962, Secretary Stewart Udall identified the N-word as derogatory, and directed that the BGN develop a policy to eliminate its use. In 1974, the Board on Geographic Names identified a pejorative term for “Japanese” as derogatory and eliminated its use.

The Federal Archeologist’s Bookshelf:

Gathering Sweetgrass and Renewing the Past. Catherine Schmitt, December 2021, Park Science 35(1).

(After a hiatus of several years, Park Science is again being distributed! The NPS Cultural Resources Partnership and Science Directorate welcomes its return and encourages cultural resources practitioners consider Park Science when publishing research.)

This article reports on the steps completed to re-establish sweetgrass gathering by Wabanaki people in Acadia National Park. Gathering sweetgrass was once a common ritual along the shores of what is now the State of Maine. For most of the last century, the federal government has prohibited Wabanaki people –– the Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot –– from harvesting sweetgrass within the boundaries of Acadia National Park.

In 2015, the National Park Service issued regulations for the gathering of certain plants or plant parts by federally recognized Indian tribes. It opened a path for Indigenous people to renew cultural practices and relations with valued places in their homelands. Under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970, any harvesting agreement requires an environmental assessment and determination that there will be “no significant impact” to park resources. Scientific experiments must show that harvesting won’t harm plant populations or the surrounding ecosystem.

In conducting the environmental assessment, researchers realized that sampling impartial transects was not going to yield useful data; they let sweetgrass gatherers lead the way. A key component of the Wabanaki-led approach was to listen to the gatherers,” said Acadia National Park program manager Rebecca Cole-Will.

The Wabanaki-led research, focused on plots where people actually gathered rather than a random sample of plots, demonstrated that just as a lawn grows back thicker after being mowed, stem density increases after harvest of sweetgrass. Plots selected by the gatherers had, on average, a 30 percent increase in stem density after harvest.

This important finding contributes to a favorable outcome for the permit process.

To read the full report, go to https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/gathering-sweetgrass-and-renewing-the-past.htm

To read the gathering regulation, go to 36 CFR § 2.6 - Gathering of plants or plant parts by federally recognized Indian tribes. | CFR | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)

GRANTS AND TRAINING

NAGPRA Grants Now Available for FY22
The National NAGPRA Program is currently accepting applications from museums, Native American Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations to support consultation, documentation, and repatriation efforts on their non-Federal NAGPRA collections.

More information is available on the NAGPRA Grants website: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nagpra/grants.htm. Deadlines to apply are March 11, 2022, for Consultation/Documentation grants, and May 13, 2022, for Repatriation grants.

Contact: Sarah Glass, Notice and Grant Coordinator, National NAGPRA Program, 202-354-2201 or [e-mail] (email preferred due to telework).

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC:

How We Rescued the Ascension of Our Lord Church in Karluk, Alaska, from Falling off a Cliff. Shina DuVall, December 2021, Park Science Vol. 35 (1).

In 2021, the NPS assisted in the move of the historic Russian Orthodox Church in Karluk, Alaska. The Ascension of Our Lord Church was dangerously close to the edge of an eroding sea cliff. Today, the unique identity of the Karluk community is intricately tied to this place. Built in 1888, Ascension of Our Lord Church is one of the oldest standing, still-used Russian Orthodox churches in Alaska.

The structure and surrounding cemetery were quite literally built amidst an already densely occupied settlement. Besides the church building and associated structures, there are archeological remains associated with the site’s more than 6,000-year occupation. The surrounding community cemetery contains upwards of 600 graves. There are multiple headstones and crosses, supportive wooden structures, fencing, and raised mounds.

The church sits on a gradually sloping hill above the Karluk River and Karluk Lagoon, overlooking Shelikof Strait. The hillside was protected by a spit until a 1978 storm breached the spit, causing new outflow from Karluk lagoon. The bluff began to erode during high tides at an annual rate of about three to five feet. By the summer of 2021, the dramatically undercut bluff was within 10 feet of the church.

In 2020, a working group of Karluk residents began to plan for moving the building inland. Guided by residents and parishioners in Karluk and the Karluk Tribal Council, the working group included representatives from the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, Russian Orthodox Sacred Sites in Alaska, Alaska Association for Historic Preservation, Alaska Office of History and Archaeology, NPS and BIA. NPS Alaska Regional Archeologist Shina DuVall assisted in the planning process and monitored the move.

Members of the community worked tirelessly to carefully pack, remove, and store all iconography and sacred objects from inside the church.

Professional building movers transported necessary equipment and supplies by road from Wasilla to Homer, Alaska. Once there, they loaded everything onto a barge headed for Kodiak. In Kodiak, everything was unloaded and reloaded onto another barge destined for Karluk. They placed the church on rollers and used two bobcats to pull the building first to the south, then east, then south again. GPR survey showed the team where burials were located and how to best avoid adversely affecting them during the move. When completed, the building was set down securely about 80 feet from the bluff’s edge. The church will be moved again when a final location has been selected.

To read the whole article, go to https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/how-we-rescued-the-ascension-of-our-lord-church-in-karluk-alaska-from-falling-off-a-cliff.htm

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