The Archeological Survey: Methods and Uses

King, Thomas

This volume is addressed to two major audiences. One is the audience of State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs), Federal agency planners and administrators, and other nonarcheologists who sometimes express confusion or uncertainty about what archaeological survey is and what it means to them. The other audience is the archaeological profession itself. To the latter audience we will be saying nothing new; we will be discussing things that everybody knows but for some reason seldom writes about. The volume may serve an archaeological purpose by saying these things, as simply as possible, in a single slender volume. To the former audience we will try to convey, in reasonably plain language, the process and problems of archaeological surveying. At minimum they should be able to ask better questions about the process of identifying archaeological sites. Archaeological surveys are obviously necessary in order to identify those archaeological properties that are eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. SHPOs have a lead responsibility for the conduct of surveys, under the authority of section 102 of the National Historic Preservation Act. Because SHPOs have lacked the funds to undertake such surveys with much dispatch during the decade since passage of the act, however, the great majority of the nation's lands remain unsurveyed. When a Federal agency proposes to undertake a project, or assist or permit another party to undertake a project that will disturb such unsurveyed lands, it thus cannot usually receive much help from the SHPO. The agency then has no choice but to conduct a survey itself in order to obtain the data it needs for compliance with section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and other authorities. Basic guidelines for archaeological surveys, as one aspect of general historic properties surveys, will soon be published in the "Federal Register". These guidelines naturally sacrifice detail for legal precision and broad applicability. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate upon the guidelines.