Louisiana’s Cultural Resource Management Survey Coverage in Wetland Environments

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Public Archaeology and CRM in Louisiana: Making Historical Archaeology Matter", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Much of Louisiana’s history and culture connects directly to a dependence on rich wetlands, interweaving waterways, and proximity to the coast. Archaeological survey is one tool used to study past human interactions with these fluctuating wetland environments and is regularly implemented in advance of projects subject to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (as amended), such as marsh creation and restoration projects. The Louisiana Division of Archaeology currently curates over 7,500 cultural resource management reports and employs GIS to link reports to their associated survey coverage area. This paper demonstrates the use of geospatial analysis to compare land cover of Louisiana’s wetlands and coastal zone with the survey reports curated by the Division. The analysis reveals the geographic distribution of archaeological surveys in the subject environments and explores how future surveys may impact our understanding of Louisiana’s past.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025   •
• Public Archaeology and CRM in Louisiana: Making Historical Archaeology Matter

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow