American archaeology is conducted under cultural resources protection laws, but how does archaeology meet the challenge of openness? The past decade saw development of the “open government” digital information paradigm for public availability of information that underpins the functions of governance. Open government data provide a base …
The North Carolina Office of State Archaeology (OSA) was created by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1973 to coordinate and implement a statewide archaeological preservation program. This program includes prehistoric, historic, and underwater archaeology, and is implemented by staff in five offices throughout the state. Central to …
Leigh Anne Ellison Francis Pierce-McManamon
Archaeologists are busy all the time. Often stretching to meet a variety of professional obligations. CRM and government agency archaeologists are among the most stretched given the different directions that pull upon their professional lives. Scholarly pursuits; administrative, bureaucratic, regulatory, and public outreach responsibilities …
Since being one of the first State Historic Preservation Offices to adopt electronic records management in the late ‘80s, the Virginia Department of Historic Resources has worked through several iterations of databases and web applications. These systems manage basic site information, details about physical collections, and now digital …
Cecilia Smith
Texas A&M University
Principle 6 of the Society of American Archaeology’s Principles of Archaeological Ethics emphasizes archaeologists’ responsibility to publically report archaeological investigations with the stipulation that “An interest in preserving and protecting in situ archaeological sites must be taken in to account when publishing …
Sustainable accessible data storage is as important to archaeologists as tractors are to farmers. In 2001, the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA) was archiving 20GB of data on a 100GB server and recognized that the addition of a staff member to focus …
In October of 2004 the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, Office of Cultural Development (OCD) and the LA Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) signed an interagency agreement to develop a comprehensive statewide cultural resources GIS system, the Louisiana Cultural Resources Map. The State Historic Preservation …
Maryland Archaeological Synthesis Project
Introduction
Since passage of the National Historic Preservation Act fifty-three years ago a growing body of valuable data has been generated by state agencies, CRM professionals, and preservation officers. Unfortunately, this data is usually trapped in an archaic paper-based format, restricted geographically to a …
For over a century, the National Park Service (NPS) has worked to preserve natural and cultural resources in more than four hundred park units for future generations. In addition, the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) requires all federal agencies to maintain inventories of their historic properties. For decades …