Section 106, FCC Guidelines, and Small Project Area Archaeology: Little Footprints can Find Significant Sites

Summary

This paper explores the role of Section 106 compliance in small projects, such as telecommunications facilities, city parks, and fiber routes. Often thought of as less significant by regulatory agencies, state historic preservation offices, and CRM firms themselves, small scale archaeology is capable of identifying national register eligible sites, and can play a critical role in examining areas that have been heavily developed by the private sector and therefore not previously subjected to the 106 process. This paper gathers analytical data from different states to illustrate variances in the rate of identification of archaeological sites by small scale projects versus large scale projects. Additionally, case studies of National Register eligible sites identified by small scale compliance projects, such as the Constance Avenue site (44JC1333) in Williamsburg, Virginia, will be examined. If National Register eligible sites are identified regularly by consultants completing this type of compliance work, what large scale implications does this have for the regulatory framework?

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage