Archeological and Historic Data Recovery Program FY1976

Summary

An expanded Federal mandate in archeology and historic preservation, resulting in vast new responsibilities for the Interagency Archeological Program, was vested in the Secretary of the Interior by the Archeological and Historic Preservation Act of 19711- (Public Law 93-290. Current program responsibilities include prompt and thoroughly professional responses to executive and legislative calls for the protection and preservation of the Nation's historic heritage as well as to the technical scientific demands of contemporary archeological work. Most importantly, in the light of increasing public awareness and sensitivity to historic preservation, the program required substantial restructuring before it could begin to meet the challenge of its new legal responsibilities. An immediate task was to extend the procurement of technical services process to a far broader range of qualified institutions as a means of improving, through competition, the quality of salvage archeology. Further measures were taken to insure that archeological salvage authorities were used to compliment rather than conflict with other historic preservation programs and to make the results of investigations available to the public. Approaches taken to deal with these issues, program accomplishments, and significant problems that continue to impede the orderly development of the Interagency Archeological Program, are discussed in the following pages.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Federal Archaeology Program

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