Chapter 17
Caring for America’s Cultural
Heritage
Outline
• The Development of Cultural Resource
Management
• Historic Preservation Comes of Age
• The National Historic Preservation Act
• The Archaeological Resources
Protection Act
Outline
• Challenges Facing CRM Archaeology
• International Efforts to Protect Cultural
Resources
• The Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act of 1990
Cultural Resource
Management
• Threats to America’s cultural heritage come
from those who loot archaeological sites and
from relentless development across the
country.
• The federal government has passed laws to
protect archaeological sites, historic
buildings, and landscapes.
• These laws have created an important new
direction for archaeology, known as cultural
resource management (CRM).
Cultural Resource
Management
• Prior to the 1960s, nearly all American archaeologists
worked for universities and museums.
• Today, the number of archaeologists in the United
States not only vastly exceeds those working in the
1960s, but well over half of them work in the
framework of cultural resource management.
• CRM projects account for about 90% of the field
archaeology conducted today in United States.
1906 Antiquities Act
• Although individual sites were protected
through specific pieces of legislation or
by the actions of concerned citizens, the
first legislation to protect all sites on
public lands was the 1906 Antiquities
Act.
1966 National Historic
Preservation Act (NHPA)
• The first systematic effort to preserve cultural
resources.
• The act required the government to inventory
historic structures and archaeological sites
and ensure that development projects
consider effects on archaeological sites.
• The act established the National Register of
Historic Places and State Historic
Preservation Offices.
1979 Archaeological
Resources Protection Act
• This act provided further safeguards against
the destruction of archaeological sites on
federal and tribal land by increasing the
penalties for excavating without a permit.
• Looting still continues to be the major threat
to the nation’s cultural resources.
Rosetta Stone
• A black basalt stone tablet found in 1799 that
bears an inscription in two forms of ancient
Greek and ancient Egyptian.
• By working from the Greek texts, scholars
were able to decipher the ancient Egyptian
hieroglyphs.
• Napoleon took the Rosetta Stone from Egypt
as part of the spoils of war.
Illegal Antiquities
• The United States and many nations around
the world are working to stop the flow of
illegally acquired antiquities.
• Although many measures have been put into
place, most countries still find it difficult to
stop antiquities from entering a country where
buyers are willing to pay high prices for them.
UNESCO Convention of
1970
•
Requires that signers create legislation and
the administration to:
1. Regulate import and export of cultural
objects.
2. Forbid museums from acquiring illegally
exported cultural objects.
3. Establish ways to inform other nations
when illegally exported objects are found
within a country’s borders.
UNESCO Convention of
1970
4. Return of cultural objects stolen from public
institutions.
5. Establish a register of art dealers and
require them to register.
1990 Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act
• Often seen as human rights rather than
archaeological legislation.
• Protects Indian graves on federal and
tribal lands.
• Recognizes tribal authority over
treatment of unmarked graves.
• Prohibits the commercial selling of
native dead bodies.
1990 Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act
• Requires an inventory and repatriation of human
remains held by the federal government and
institutions that receive federal funding.
• Requires these institutions to return inappropriately
acquired sacred objects and other important
communally owned property to native owners.
• Set up a process to determine ownership of human
remains found on federal and tribal property after
November 16, 1990.
NAGPRA Inventories
• Inventories showed that American
institutions held more than 117,000 sets
of human remains,
• Most were from Native American
burials.
NAGPRA Inventories
• The inventory covered skeletal remains as well as
three special classes of objects:
– Funerary objects placed with a human body as
part of a death rite or ceremony or made to
contain human remains at the time of burial.
– Sacred objects necessary for current practice of
traditional Native American religions.
– Objects that have ongoing historical, traditional, or
cultural importance central to Native American
culture.
Courses That Prepare You for a
Career in Archaeology
• Major in anthropology and
take courses in biological,
linguistic and cultural
anthropology.
• Courses in geology, biology,
chemistry
• Geomorphology
• Advanced chemistry
• Vertebrate anatomy
• Ecology, paleoecology
• Introductory business
• Math - at least through
calculus II
• Statistics(multivariate
statistics)
• Computer modeling and
geographic information
systems
• Technical or Creative writing
• Humanities courses
• Foreign language
Quick Quiz
1. The biggest threats to America’s
cultural heritage come from those who
loot archaeological sites and from
relentless development across the
country.
A. True
B. False
Answer: A. True
• The biggest threats to America’s cultural
heritage come from those who loot
archaeological sites and from relentless
development across the country.
2. _____ ______ _____ projects account for
about 90% of the field archaeology conducted
today in United States.
Answer:
Cultural Resource Management
• Cultural Resource Management projects
account for about 90% of the field
archaeology conducted today in United
States.
3. Which act requires an inventory and
repatriation of human remains held by the
federal government and institutions that
receive federal funding:
A. 1966 National Historic
Preservation Act (NHPA)
B. UNESCO Convention of 1970
C. 1979 Archaeological Resources
Protection Act
D. 1990 Native American Graves Protection
and Repatriation Act
Answer: D
•
The 1990 Native American Graves
Protection and Repatriation Act
requires an inventory and repatriation
of human remains held by the federal
government and institutions that
receive federal funding.