Last updated: February 28, 2023
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Archeology E-Gram December 2022
Archeologist New Superintendent of Effigy Mounds National Monument
Archeologist Susan Snow is the new superintendent of Effigy Mounds NM. She received her BA from the University of Chicago and a MA and PhD from the University of Calgary and University of California, Los Angeles. Snow has almost 40 years of experience on historic and prehistoric sites in the U.S. and Latin America. Prior to joining the NPS, she worked for the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist. Before moving to Effigy Mounds NM, she was the archeologist at San Antonio Missions NHP.
With over 20 years in the NPS, Snow has a wide range of experience that includes service on the NPS Emergency Assessment Team for Hurricane Maria in 2017; and acting Superintendent at Amistad NRA in 2015. She received the DOI Honor Award for Superior Service in 2015 for her work on the World Heritage Nomination for the San Antonio Missions.
Snow assumed her new position in September 2022.
Mia Parsons selected as new Resource Manager at Historic Preservation Training Center
Mia Parsons, Integrated Resources Program Manager at Harpers Ferry NHP, is the new Resource Manager at the NPS Historic Preservation Training Center (HPTC). A 30-year veteran of the NPS, Parsons began her career as an archeological technician at Harpers Ferry NHP. She has served the NPS mission in positions including Supervisory Archeologist, Compliance Officer and most recently as the Integrated Resource Program Manager at Harpers Ferry NHP. Parsons joins HPTC's Program Development section to provide compliance coordination and assistance to partner regions and parks.
Aztec Ruins National Monument to Celebrate Centennial
On January 24, 2023, Aztec Ruins NM will celebrate its centennial! One hundred years ago, Warren G. Harding used authorities granted to the President by the Antiquities Act to protect these important archeological resources. It was private citizens, however, who recognized and made public the significance of Aztec Ruins. The American Museum of Natural History paid for excavation of the ancestral Pueblo site from 1916 to 1923, directed by archeologist Earl Morris. The information gained from the excavations convinced museum officials that the site needed to be preserved.
The ancestral Puebloan community was an important regional center by 1100 CE. Its planned layout reveals that the initial builders conceived of a grand design for their community. When building ceased in the late 1200s CE, the community consisted of great houses and kivas, small residential pueblos, earthworks, roads, and tri-walled kivas. The great houses within the West and East Ruins are large buildings surrounding a central plaza. The West Ruin has at least 400 interconnected rooms of three stories; some of its walls reach 30 feet in height. Visitors can still see the original pine, spruce, and aspen beams used in construction, and the excavated and reconstructed Great Kiva of the West Ruin Plaza.
While the ancestral Puebloans left this area by about 1300 CE many Southwestern American Indians maintain a connection with the settlement. Today, Aztec Ruins NM is part of Chaco Culture World Heritage site. To learn more about Aztec Ruins National Monument, go to https://www.nps.gov/azru/index.htm
To learn more about national monuments and the Antiquities Act, check out National Monument Facts and Figures - Archeology (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov). Here you will find a history of the Antiquities Act, as well as a list of all the national monuments with summary data. The National Monument Facts and Figures webpage is one of the most current and accurate sources of information about national monuments.
Congressional Research Service Releases Report on Antiquities Act
The Congressional Research Service has released National Monuments and the Antiquities Act which explores controversies surrounding the Act. The language in the Act that confers presidential authority has been interpreted in a variety of ways. The authors found that, in the last 50 years, there have been controversies about presidential abilities to modify monument boundaries (particularly in decreasing monument size), designate management authority; designate monument status for sites that are not currently threatened; and to determine the minimum adequate size to protect the resource.
The authors found that Presidents have used the Antiquities Act almost 300 times to establish and modify the boundaries of national monuments. Many of our most iconic national parks, like Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Acadia, and Olympic were first established as national monuments. The authors utilized the National Monument Facts and Figures - Archeology (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) webpage to compile their data.
To read the full report, go to National Monuments and the Antiquities Act (fas.org)
2023 John L. Cotter Award Call for Nominations
The John L. Cotter Award for Excellence in National Park Service Archeology 2023 nomination season is open! This award recognizes the archeological accomplishments of NPS staff or a partnership researcher within a unit or units of the National Park System.
Consider nominating your colleagues for the 2023 Professional Achievement category or your colleagues or non-agency partners for the 2023 Project Achievement category. Nominations are due February 27, 2023. Past winners can be viewed on the Cotter Award webpages. For more information, see the Call for Nominations and Nomination Form
Contact: Award Committee Chair Adam Freeburg (adam_freeburg@nps.gov).
Man Sentenced for Defacing Prehistoric Native American Rock Art in the Black Hills
On December 5, 2022, 56-year-old Balgaroslav Latinow was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to pay $7,156 in restitution after damaging a Native American rock art panel in the Black Hills in March 2019. Latinow carved “Bobby + Diana Latinow” and “2/12/19” into a rock art site in Red Canyon near Edgemont. The markings were discovered by a USFS archeologist on May 30, 2019. The rock art site is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Latinow was indicted for Destruction of Government Property and Unauthorized Damage and Defacement of Archaeological Resource by a federal grand jury in June 2021. He pleaded guilty on October 7, 2022.
From story by NewsCenter1 Staff
Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act Passes
On November 29, 2022, the evening before the White House Tribal Nations Summit, the Senate passed H.R. 2930, the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act of 2021. On December 21, President Biden signed it into law. The STOP Act prevents Native American cultural heritage from being exported and sold overseas. Nearly 3,000 archeologists weighed in with their elected representatives in Congress in support of the measure. There is now an explicit prohibition on the export of objects obtained in violation of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) or the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA).
In addition to the export restriction, the STOP Act increases the maximum penalty for violations of NAGPRA; creates an export certification system to facilitate legitimate trade in tribal art; confirms the authority of the President to request from foreign nations agreements to prevent damage to Native American cultural heritage; establishes a federal framework to support the voluntary return of tribal cultural heritage; establishes an interagency working group to facilitate communication between federal agencies to implement the STOP Act and a working group of tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to assist in the implementation of the STOP Act and other statutes that protect tribal cultural resources.
From report by David Lindsay, Government Affairs, Society for American Archaeology
The Federal Archeologist’s Bookshelf: What we are learning from Natael Na’
Excavations at the Natael Na’ site, in the upper Copper River basin, Wrangell-St Elias National Park and Preserve, have provided new insights into the peopling of Alaska from northeast Asia. The 13,000 year old settlement was located along the shores of Glacial Lake Atna, in an ice-free valley. The location and timing of occupation suggest that the climatic changes during that period were not the initial motivator for human populations to move into and south of the Alaska Range. The occupations at Nataeł Na’ join a growing body of evidence suggesting that the early inhabitants of eastern Beringia were geographically more widely dispersed than previously documented.
This site, and others, were identified as a result of Section 106 compliance work to improve the Copper Lake Trail.
White, J. T., A. Henry, S. Kuehn, M. G. Loso, and J. T. Rasic. 2022. Terminal Pleistocene human occupation of the upper Copper River basin, southern Alaska: Results of test excavations at Nataeł Na’. Quaternary International.
What we are learning from Nataeł Na’ (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
GRANTS AND TRAINING
Interdisciplinary Resource Protection and Law Training Course
This interdisciplinary course provides an understanding of the resource mission of the NPS through the primary laws, legal authorities, case law interpretation, and policies used to protect park resources. At the end of this course, students will have knowledge required to apply legal authorities to safeguard natural and cultural resources, understand the broad range of threats to park resources, and have strategies to recognize and respond appropriately when resources are injured.
Students will practice using skills and roles for effective interdisciplinary group work through resource protection case studies. They will learn about the diversity of natural and cultural resources throughout the national park system and explore the threats these resources are vulnerable to. Methods for implementing resource protection, and visitor education and management will be presented.
Pre-work includes 7 self-paced on-line modules (~4 hours) and the web-based course Introduction to the Incident Command System (ICS 100) or higher-level ICS training. Details will be provided after students have been selected. Instruction consists of 2 2-hour webinars and 28 hours of in-person training.
Course Objectives:
- Develop a working knowledge of the legal framework that safeguards natural and cultural resources in the National Park System.
- Explain why knowledge of park resources and values is central to each employee’s responsibility.
- Describe why every employee has a responsibility to contribute to the protection of resources.
- Use an integrated approach to identify and communicate threats to resources.
- Demonstrate effective group processes to ensure interdisciplinary and cooperative actions among NPS staff, partners and the public.
Who should attend? Recommended for commissioned employees, interpreters in resource education and public information, resource management discipline specialists, and facility management employees who will work in interdisciplinary teams. Priority for facilities employees will go to students in the Facilities Management Leadership Program (FMLP). Other disciplines are encouraged to apply. Permanent and term employees receive priority for attendance. Law enforcement refresher credit hours are available.
Dates: March 9 and 15 1:00-3:00 EDT – webinar; March 21-24 – in-person class in Hot Springs NP. You MUST attend both webinars and complete all the on-line learning before the in-person class.
Tuition & Travel Costs: No Tuition. Lodging in Hot Springs is $103; M&IE is $64, paid by home unit.
Registration Deadline: Applications close January 16, 2023. To Register, enroll through DOI Talent.
Contact: Cari Kreshak, e-mail us
Implementing a Successful Citizen Science Effort
The FWS will offer a distance learning course about implementing citizen science projects consisting of live, instructor-led webinars (Zoom) accompanied by an on-line classroom (DOI Talent). Participants start, end, and progress through the course together and with course instructors. Regardless of where you are in your citizen science efforts – planning your first project, expanding an existing program, using citizen science data to make natural resource decisions or to enhance educational outreach programming – this course has much to offer. Federal scientists interested in working with visitor services and outreach staff to implement a citizen science program or project will especially benefit.
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Describe the benefits of citizen science to accomplish your Agency's mission
- Identify a resource management issue and a target audience for your project
- Identify components of successful citizen science projects from case studies
- Know where to access resources and toolkits for your project
Dates: April 11 - May 16, 2023 (Session 1 - April 11; Session 2 - April 18; Session 3 - April 25; Session 4 - May 2; Session 5 - May 9; Session 6 - May 16) All sessions are 2 - 4 PM ET.
Location: On-line through live webinars and an on-line classroom.
Tuition: Free for FWS, NPS and USGS employees; $398.00 for other DOI agencies.
To register for the course, go to DOI Talent.
Contact: Laurie_Heupel@fws.gov
Tribal Consultation Webinar Series
Federal agencies are required to engage in regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with Tribal officials. Government-to-government relationships should include regular and timely communication so that tribes may provide input on issues that may have a substantial direct effect on them. The Tribal Consultation Webinar series is being offered for NPS employees looking for an introduction into the Tribal consultation process, or those who want to refresh their skills or ask experts for advice on best consultation practices for managing park resources.
January 10, 2023 - Applied Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)
These webinars are offered on the second Tuesday of the month, using the MS Teams platform, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm ET. Register through the Common Leaning Portal. The link registers you for the full series but you may attend as few or as many as you wish. Speakers for each session and additional information are available on the Common Learning Portal.
Contact: Cari Kreshak, e-mail us
SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC: will be back soon.
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 E-Gram archive is available at https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1038/archeology-e-gram.htm.
Contact: Karen Mudar at e-mail us to contribute news items and to subscribe.