Teachng Statement
Objectives of the Course
"Cultural Resources Archaeology" is intended for undergraduate archaeology and anthropology majors or minors interested in learning about how cultural resource management works. I have designed the course for intermediate or advanced students who have already had some courses in archaeology, including a class on archaeological methods. My intention in this course is to provide a solid academic basis for what is, ultimately, a very practical subfield within archaeology. For that reason I believe it is essential to offer the students realistic exercises and experiences, utilizing the actual materials of cultural resources archaeology—including proposals, budgets, contracts, and reports—as well as access to professionals who are currently engaged in the field. I hope that students who have taken this course will be able, if they choose to do so, to move into cultural resources archaeology productively and with a minimum of delay for the "learning curve."
This course has been developed under the auspices of the MATRIX (Making Archaeology Teaching Relevant in the XXIst Century) program. As such it seeks to incorporate as many as possible of the seven principles articulated in the MATRIX program. These principles call for articulation, education, and enhancement of the following themes throughout the undergraduate archaeology curriculum: stewardship, diverse pasts, social relevance, ethics and values, written and oral communication, fundamental archaeological skills, and real-world problem solving.
Stewardship is the essence of this course, which is about the identification, evaluation, and management of cultural resources in the U.S. context. The issue of diverse pasts, and the notion that there are diverse stakeholders in the context of preservation, is dealt with throughout the course, especially in the modules covering Native Americans and the business of archaeology. Social relevance is also an important element of the course, not only in the treatment of stakeholders but also in the historical development of a rationale and theory of preservation, as reflected in legislation, standards, and assessments of significance. Ethics and values are addressed throughout, for example, as the students face the dilemmas of preservation in the entrepreneurial context of contract archaeology. Written and oral communication skills are stressed in practical written exercises such as the preparation of proposals and CRM reports, the requirement of a term paper or research project, and several oral presentations. The development of fundamental archaeological skills for CRM archaeology is also an important part of the course, as students learn the basics of survey, testing, evaluation, and mitigation—all fundamental skills that frequently differ from the traditional methods of research archaeology. Finally, real-world problem solving is emphasized by using actual CRM proposals, reports, case studies, and projects during the class.
I have developed this course for use in the undergraduate archaeology curriculum at Boston University, where I teach. Boston University is a large, urban, private research university. The course modules total 15 weeks or one semester. The ideal instructor for this course is an archaeologist who is currently active in, or has extensive experience in, the actual practice of cultural resources archaeology. In addition, it is critical that the instructor have, or be able to get, copies of actual CRM materials, including requests-for-proposal (RFPs); proposals, contracts, and budgets; Phase I, II, and III reports; field forms; memoranda of agreement, etc.
Structure of the Course
I have designed a series of one- and two-week class modules totalling 15 weeks for the course (see Syllabus). The topics and recommended duration of each module are as follows:
| Topic | Module | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Cultural Resources Archaeology in the U.S. | 1 wk |
| 2. | Historical Survey of Legislation | 1 wk |
| 3. | ARPA and the Federal Program | 1 wk |
| 4. | Federal Mandates: NEPA and NHPA | 2 wks |
| 5. | State and Local Programs | 1 wk |
| 6. | Native Americans and CRM | 2 wks |
| 7. | The Business of Archaeology | 1 wk |
| 8. | Phase I Identification Surveys | 2 wks |
| 9. | Phase II Evaluation Surveys | 2 wks |
| 10. | Phase III Mitigation/Data Recovery | 1 wk |
| 11. | CRM Archaeology as a Career | 1 wk |
The first two classes serve as introductions to the legal and professional context for cultural resources archaeology in the United States. Class 1 surveys the public interest in preservation and describes the current organization of CRM archaeology. Class 2 describes the origins of the preservation movement in this country and follows the chronological development of the major federal legislation that serves as the legal basis for cultural resources archaeology.
The next three classes examine how important federal laws operate to create a complex system of archaeological resource management at federal, state, and local levels. Class 3 analyzes the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and the nature of preservaton at the federal level. Class 4 covers the National Environmental Policy Act and National Historic Preservation Act, including the Advisory Council, National Register, and its famous Section 106 process. Class 5 examines local SHPOs and preservation at the state and local levels, as well as issues relating to protection of sites on private property.
Class 6 deals with the special case of Native Americans, and focuses on the topic of repatriation and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Class 7, "The Business of Archaeology," introduces the students to practical aspects of professional employment of archaeologists in the public and private sectors, and offers a detailed look at business aspects of cultural resources archaeology, including the contracts, scopes of work, and budgets.
The next three classes, totalling five weeks in all, stress a hands-on approach to the basic three-part phasing of cultural resource archaeology projects. Class 8 explains the essentials of Phase I identification surveys and gives the students an opportunity to prepare a Phase I proposal, complete with budget. Class 9 explores the Phase II process of site evaluations and significance determinations; in this class the students review actual Phase II reports and develop their own Phase II research designs. Class 10 looks at approaches to mitigating adverse impacts to cultural resources, and analyzes data recovery projects and memoranda of agreement.
The last class offers practical guidance on what it is like to have a career in cultural resources archaeology and includes information about professional organizations.
Lesson Plans
Each lesson plan contains a brief description of the module; learning objectives; required readings; and content.
Readings: Ten years ago designing a course like this one would have been extremely difficult owing to a lack of available sources. CRM reports remain a notoriously "gray" area in the archaeological literature, but a lot of other information is now accessible either in print sources or online (see Select Bibliography). For example, online information includes federal laws and regulations; state laws and regulations; preservation documents such as National Register bulletins; information and guidance from agencies like the National Park Service and Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; and profiles of federal agencies, SHPOs, and tribal programs. Numerous print sources now deal with issues of cultural resources archaeology, including the Heritage Resources Management and Archaeologist's Toolkit series from AltaMira Press (the latter tends to be rather elementary but is helpful for students with limited background in archaeology). In addition, books like Heritage Resources Law (New York: Wiley), 1999 offer detailed case law and may profitably be used as a reference work by instructors of this course.
In selecting the readings for the class modules, I have tried to choose not only important and relevant works but also those that are readily accessible.
Content: I have designed each module around a series of key topics that follow a logical but flexible trajectory, so as to give instructors the opportunity to use whichever of my elements they choose while substituting others of their own. I have included not only factual and topical information but suggestions for Class Discussions and Class Workshops, which are designed to elicit meaningful participation by the students. In many cases the Discussions are based on student review of actual CRM documents such as field forms, proposals, and reports. The Workshops give the students an opportunity to work in teams and to gain practical experience in subjects like designing proposals, generating budget estimates, or creating research designs.
I am a firm believer in grounding the students in the legal foundations of cultural resources archaeology. Students who may become practitioners need to know what an ARPA permit is; how the Section 106 process works; how to apply the National Register criteria for evaluation; and with whom they must consult on a repatriation issue. If they don't they are doing a disservice to the field and may harm their firm and their clients. For these reasons I have included the texts of most of the important federal laws in the reading assignments. Apart from the Antiquities Act and perhaps the Historic Sites Act, of course, one cannot expect undergraduates to read through all of the text of these laws; nor should they have to. As the instructor, you should highlight the most important sections for them to read. The same is true for the federal regulations that accompany most of the federal laws and appear in the readings.
I also strongly recommend that you schedule several class visits or field trips. Invite the local SHPO, a federal agency archaeologist, and a consulting archaeologist to class. Arrange a visit to a contractor's facility, or to the local National Park Service labs. Students really enjoy hearing from and talking to others who are actively involved in the field; they benefit from seeing outside facilities and they usually ask great questions (among them, inevitably, they want to know about job possibillities).
In sum, the more you can involve actual CRM practitioners, and engage your students in actual documents, projects, and reports, the better appreciation they will have for the field and the better prepared they will be for working in it. The last thing you want to do is make this a dry academic course.
Suggested Oral Reports/Class Papers: At the end of the first six lesson plans I have included a series of suggestions for student oral reports or class papers. In most cases a student might present a 10 or 15 minute report on the topic or expand it into a term paper for the course. Any number of topics might be suggested for the later classes, too, but I have already designed those classes to involve intensive student participation and so do not recommend that oral presentations be included there.