Last updated: June 2, 2023
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Archeology E-Gram May 2023
Laura Kirn Receives Regional Appleman-Judd-Lewis Award for Cultural Resource Specialist
Laura Kirn has been awarded the Appleman-Judd-Lewis Award for Cultural Resource Specialist in the (legacy) Pacific West region. Kirn was instrumental in navigating complex cultural resource and wilderness management challenges at Channel Islands NP. There are 3,000 archeological sites within the park’s boundaries, many sacred to Chumash peoples. The sites are impacted by climate change and visitor activity and many are in wilderness areas. Kirn works closely with Chumash communities that have lived on the islands for 650 generations to navigate these overlapping concerns.
The park developed a cooperative agreement with the Tribe to work together on archeological inventory, trail work, and a plan for traditional plant gathering. Throughout, Kirn has built trust with Tribal partners. Together they are working to honor the Tribe’s cultural and spiritual connections to the land, increasing transparency in data sharing and project oversight and focusing on Tribal priorities. Their efforts have the potential to serve as a model of co-stewardship for other parks throughout the system.
The Appleman-Judd-Lewis Awards have been announced each year for over 50 years. More information about this and past years’ winners can be found at Director's Awards for Natural and Cultural Resources (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).
Passing of Retired NPS Historian Harry Butowsky
Harry A. Butowsky passed away on May 6, 2023. He was born on August 5, 1944, in Philadelphia, PA. He earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He retired in 2012 from the NPS History Program (WASO) where he worked for 35 years as an historian and manager for the NPS History e-Library web site.
Butowsky is the author of six National Historic Landmark theme studies including World War II in the Pacific, Man in Space, WWII Warships in the Pacific, and Astronomy and Astrophysics. He also completed the primary research for the Brown v Board of Education NHS and the Opana Radar Site NHL on Oahu, Hawaii. He participated in several of the commemorations of the attack on Pearl Harbor, interviewed survivors, and chaired a panel on the attack. He has written more than sixty articles on military, labor, science, and constitutional history. Dr. Butowsky taught History of World War I and World War II at George Mason University since 1980.
Butowsky was the manager of two awarding winning websites: NPShistory.com and ParksCanadaHistory.com websites, electronic collections of thousands of public domain documents relating to the history of the NPS, other U.S. Department of Interior components, and Parks Canada. He is also wrote op-ed articles for National Parks Traveler magazine.
Pecos National Historical Park Releases Podcasts on 1999 Repatriation
In 1999, almost 2,000 ancestors and nearly 1,000 objects were repatriated to the Pueblo of Jemez, largely from museums in the northeastern U.S., This is one of the largest repatriations to occur under NAGPRA. When the Pueblo of Jemez reclaimed their ancestors and objects, they reburied them near their original resting in place what is now Pecos NHP.
The park has recently released a series of podcasts, Hollowed to Hallowed Ground, about the planning and implementation of the repatriation. Episode 1-Alfred Kidder examines the circumstances of removal of the human remains and objects. Episode 2 – NAGPRA focuses on efforts of Jemez Pueblo officials to identify and request the return of their community members. Episode 3 – The Repatriation recounts the events of the return and reburial of the human remains and objects.
Listen to all three episodes at Pecos Podcast (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov).
The Federal Archeologist’s Bookshelf: Iridescent Beetle Adornments Suggest Incipient Status Competition among the Earliest Horticulturalists in Bears Ears National Monument by Michael Terlep, Francis E. Smiley, and Randall Haas American Antiquity 88:2-19. 2023.
The authors report the discovery of two Basketmaker Period II necklaces constructed of iridescent green scarab beetle hind leg parts. Their presence suggests a relationship between the establishment of agriculture and the development of social inequality. The authors hypothesize that those and other jewelry items were visually prominent signs of socio-economic capital whose display value emerged during a time of surplus food production and wealth accumulation. Archeologists may have overlooked this behavior due to western biases that privilege precious metals and minerals as prestige objects and biases that tend to view insects as food or agents of site disturbance.
One of the necklaces was identified during an ARPA investigation of a looted site in Bears Ears NM.
NPS Virtual Galleries Launched on Google Arts & Culture for International Museum Day
The NPS Museum Management Program has created three virtual “Pocket Galleries” that feature over 100 landscape paintings from NPS park museum collections in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture [GAC].
These three NPS virtual galleries were launched on May 18, 2023, to celebrate International Museum Day. They are featured together with over 60 other Pocket Galleries from museums worldwide on the Google Arts and Culture “Virtual Museum Day Out” site at goo.gle/pocketgallery. They can also be seen on the NPS channel on GAC.
Correction: Federal Archeology Webpages
The correct link for the new Federal Archeology webpages is Federal Archeology Program (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)
GRANTS AND TRAINING
Scholarships Available for Heritage Tourism Certificate
The NPS offices of Tourism, American Indian Affairs, and Interpretation, Education, & Volunteers in partnership with the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association are pleased to offer ten scholarships for NPS employees to enroll in the Professional Certificate in Cultural Heritage Tourism program at The George Washington University, offered September 11 - November 5, 2023. This is a remote, online program.
The course emphasizes tribal cultural heritage tourism development and management, but the overall content is applicable to any community and useful for a variety of tourism sector professionals, including NPS staff working with community partners, tribal or otherwise, on heritage preservation, visitor experience, interpretation, and tourism management.
More information is available at Professional Certificate in Cultural Heritage Tourism | GW School of Business | The George Washington University (gwu.edu) To apply for a scholarship, please complete the application by close-of-business June 14, 2023. Scholarship recipients will be selected by mid-July.
Contact: Donald Leadbetter (donald_leadbetter@nps.gov).
New Round of ARPA Snapshots
ARPA Snapshots are designed for Law Enforcement and Cultural Resource Professionals who want to refresh their skills, look more closely at a particular topic, or explore new directions that the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) may take them in their work. All members of the ARPA team need to know about the entire process to effectively participate in an investigation and its follow-up. Both CR and LE are encouraged to participate in ALL Snapshot offerings.
Upcoming Sessions
- June 08, 2023 – ARPA Field Damage Assessment (FDA)
- June 22, 2023 – ARPA Resource Damage Assessment (RDA)
Contact: Cari Kreshak, Cari_Kreshak@nps.gov
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 karen_mudar@nps.gov to contribute news items and to subscribe.