The oil and gas boom of the West has also opened vast lands to discoveries by an unlikely group: archaeologists such as Kevin O'Dell.
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With crews spaced 100 feet apart, O'Dell and other archaeologists are walking thousands of acres of sagebrush highlands, valleys and hills, and they're achieving a remarkable increase in identification of prehistoric and historic sites - from those of ancient Native Americans to the homesteaders of the last century.
Because the Bush administration is pushing for more energy extraction on federal property, and because laws require cultural resource surveys before any such drilling, private archaeologists are enjoying a boom of their own.
At one site, old postholes, charred seeds and burned bones of small mammals were deemed remnants of Native American dwellings during autumn gatherings from about 6260 B.C. to 2640 B.C. Bone fragments from a 7,290-year-old burial structure nearby are believed to belong to an old woman with severe arthritis, who was laid to rest with a funerary offering of cactus.
Since 2000, the archaeologists have been discovering so many sites - several thousand a year - that Wyoming has become the top state for new sites that are deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, said Tim Nowak of the Bureau of Land Management's Wyoming office.
This year, 1,234 sites were considered eligible for the National Register, said Nowak, deputy preservation officer. Those discoveries came after 121,494 acres in Wyoming were inventoried by archaeologists, he said.
Officials say the archaeological bonanza is occurring on federal property throughout the country.
"We are experiencing a boom in archaeology, especially in the energy-producing states," said Kate Winthrop, acting federal preservation officer of the Bureau of Land Management.
Wyoming State Historic Preservation Officer Sara Needles said her 13-person office can barely fathom the wealth of the archaeological findings.
The office doesn't even have the time to nominate the most significant sites for the National Register, said Needles and her deputy, Mary Hopkins. Still, the very act of designating them historic or prehistoric provides legal protection, they said.
Some energy companies find the gamut of federally required surveys to be a burden. Archaeological surveys can cost $100,000 for a group of wells over 3 to 4 square miles and take 6 to 12 months to complete, partly because the archaeologists are so busy, said M. John Kennedy of Kennedy Oil in Gillette, Wyo.
Sites that are older than 50 years, generally going back to 1720, are considered "historic" - a definition that Kennedy finds objectionable. A horse watering tank or debris left behind by a sheepherders' camp - as long as it's more than 50 years old - will force a redirection in drilling plans, he said. "
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Directory of cultural resource and historic preservation firms.
Gray & Pape, Inc. Archaeology**History**Historic Preservation
Serving your cultural resources needs since 1987.
Ohio -
11-03-11
New South Associates, Inc. New South Associates is a women-owned small business providing cultural resource management services, both nationally and internationally. Our specialities include archaeology, history, architectural history, preservation planning, and public interpretati
Georgia -
03-25-11
Kerns CRM Consultants Cultural and Historical Resource Management Services
Maryland -
01-10-11
Paula S. Reed and Associates, Inc. Paula S. Reed and Associates, Inc. is a small, woman-owned corporation organized in the State of Maryland, which provides cultural resource evaluation on a nation-wide basis, specializing in National Historic Landmark nominations. We meet qualifications o
Maryland -
11-23-10
SWCA Environmental Consultants Acquires Northwest Archaeological Associates SWCA Environmental Consultants has acquired Northwest Archaeological Associates, expanding SWCA's Pacific Northwest presence with a new Seattle office offering cultural and natural resource management and environmental permitting and compliance consulting.
04-04-11
ACHP Section 106 Essentials two-day course which explains the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act.
02-02-11
