Native American Monitoring: What, When, How and Why?

Native American Monitor Training for the Tuolumne Me-Wuk Tribal Council

Tuolumne, California facilitated by

Alan Garfinkel Gold AGG Associates

Cultural Resource Management Consultants Thursday, January 30, 2014, Morning

!Thursday, January 30, 2014

Day 4, Morning (PowerPoint 11) !!

Prayer !!

Native American Monitoring:!When!

!

• When developers (private entities, construction companies, etc.) and public agencies (municipalities, counties, government entities) assess the environmental impacts of their projects, they must consider "historical resources" as an aspect of the environment. !

• This is in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines section 15064.5. !

• These cultural features include Native American graves and associated artifacts.

Native American Monitoring: !Traditional Cultural Landscapes and Properties!

(TCP)!

!• They can also include traditional cultural landscapes and properties (TCPs). !

• What are those? !

• Traditional Cultural Properties and Landscapes have been discussed and tossed around in the literature at length. !

• There are a wide array of books written on this subject.

Native American Monitoring:!TCP!

•Thomas F. King came up with the term (I think). !

• What it means are places that have been used or express (in oral traditions, songs, stories, Native world view, religious rites, etc.) significant meanings and have important cultural values to the Native peoples (both in the present and the past). !

• These can be: areas where eagle feathers were gathered and baby eagles were captured, vision quest sites, creation sites, mountains /valleys / springs that were identified with supernatural beings, or events took place relating to Native cosmology and creation stories and culture heroes, etc.

Native American Monitoring: !TCP!

•This is all open to great interpretation and potential legal and political wrangling. !

•Also natural resource areas used for food gathering, ceremonies or traditional crafts. !

•Also places that have special significance because of the spiritual power associated with them.

Native American Monitoring: !When!

• When projects are proposed in areas where Native American cultural features are likely to be affected, one way to avoid damaging them is to have a Native American monitor/consultant present during ground disturbing work. !

• Remember, this is not always an option considered by the oversight agencies. !

• They must often be gently reminded of this. !

• You get more with sweetness and light than a hammer? !

• Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down…

Native American Consultation and Coordination:!How!

• Also it is common that cultural resource management firms do not practice an earnest and authentic form of Native American Consultation and Coordination. !

• The law is rather explicit but is open to a range of interpretations. !

• Some (many?) cultural resource management consultants just send a letter to the names and tribal entities that they get from the Native American Heritage Commission. That is all they do!


• What is wrong with that? !

• Well, quite a bit… !

• An earnest and authentic outreach or consultation and coordination requires a concerted effort. !

• letters, email and phone calls.


!

!• That means inviting the individuals and tribes to perform a field visit to the project area. !

• It means following up, following up and following up. !

• It means including the full and complete documentation of all of these efforts in an appendix to archaeological survey reports.


!• This means including the responses through letters, emails, and conversations into the formal written record within that appendix to memorialize our conversations and the thoughts, opinions and perspectives of Native people. !!

• This is often a lot of work! And something that many consultants are not aware of nor do they want to bill their clients for. !!

• The cultural resource management consulting business is a business. !

• Because of that it has become rather competitive and sometimes (often) the lowest bid may win the work.


• Doing an authentic and earnest Native American Consultation means your bids will be higher than those that don’t do this. !

• However, it also means that cultural resource managers must act more professional and explicitly acknowledge the rights of Native peoples as respected shareholders in cultural resources. !

• By the way, it is their heritage.

Native American Monitoring: !How!

• In sensitive areas, it may also be appropriate to have a monitor/consultant on site during construction work. !

• Depending on the oversight agency this is becoming more and more the standard for development and construction projects. !

• Historically the first agency to employ or work with Natives in California was the Division of Highways - now known as Caltrans.

Native American Monitoring:!Politics!

• Native American Monitoring and Native American developer and government relations are fraught with politics. !

• The situations are often ripe with different perspectives and different objectives. !

• However, it is possible with time, patience, sensitivity, understanding and much work to create an environment of mutual respect, trust and open communication. !

• That doesn’t necessarily mean agreement on all issues.

Native American Monitoring:!Relationships!

!• Native American Monitor relationships with archaeologists, construction workers and the representatives of the development project are often mixed. !

• The developer wants to get approval for his project with as little trouble as possible. !

• Often the ends of the Native people are perceived by the developer as just ways that slow down project development and provide potential stumbling blocks and mine fields for his engineers and construction workers.

Native American Monitoring: !Relationships!

!• The developer must acknowledge and work with Native American interests because often the oversight agency that provides permit approvals for project construction hold the rights of Natives, as key stakeholders over their heads. !

• I have been privy to at least two major projects costings millions of dollars that were shut down because of late discoveries of cultural resources. !

• These shut downs were specifically driven at the requests of the Native Americans.


!• The staff of the construction companies frequently are no nonsense, blue collar sensible and responsible people. They see they have a job to do and they must get in done on time and within the budget. !

• The archaeologists have a mixed role. They are subject to many masters. !

• Sometimes they work for a small or large consulting firm and have allegiances to that firm.


!• The also see their role as serving the client (usually the developer). !

• If things go wrong usually they are the ones that get the blame (rightly or wrongly). !

• The archaeologists sometimes see themselves as potential advocates of Native rights or at least objective third parties


!• However, they also typically have allegiance to their professional or scientific credentials. !

• Additionally they have concerns about their reputations and how they could be viewed by their professional peers. !

• They know they must please their clients and the oversight agencies (sometimes federal and state governments apply).

Native American Monitoring:!Issues that Divide!

• Some of the key issues that divide the Native views from that of archaeologists include. !

• How do we deal with sites that have subsurface remains? Archeologists often want to learn something about the past, Natives often would like to see these sites covered, protected and avoided. !

• What happens to the artifacts?


!• Where do they go to get analyzed. Some Native people object to seeing their heritage relocated away from the places where they were discovered. !

• They want them field analysed and reburied as quickly as possible. !

• The latter is consider unconscionable by many archaeologists. Like ripping through treasure and then throwing it back disturbed.


!• Natives often think of artifacts and sites as their ancestors and sacred ground and with reverence. !

• Archaeologists think of them as outdoor laboratories to perform science! !

• Where do the artifacts go? Back in the ground? To a museum? Which one?


!• There are laws and requirements that speak to all of these issues but there are many gray areas and various cases have been resolved in a myriad of ways. !

• What about when human remains are found? !

• What sort of recovery is considered acceptable and respectable.


!!

• What sorts of analysis is considered acceptable according to Native sensibilities? !

• What classes of artifacts when discovered are considered religious, sacred, or offerings (grave related)? !

• Where do those objects have to come from to be so determined? !

• Many, many thorny questions that have to be worked out. Often this is done in advance through a burial agreement or a treatment plan for human remains.

Native American Monitoring:!Beneficial Knowledge and Background!

!• A sensitive and caring attitude is

critically important. !

• What does that mean? !!

• It means expressing your desire to be a part of the team.


• Showing interest in the character, timing, and intricacies of the project !

• Acting in ways that demonstrate your interest in the overall mission of project construction !

• Showing your interest in learning more from the archaeologists and sharing your personal knowledge, background and life experiences.


• It is recommended that preference for monitor/consultant positions be given to California Native Americans culturally affiliated with the project area. !

• These Native Americans will usually have knowledge of the local customs, traditions, and religious practices. !

• They are also aware of the local tribal leaders, elders, traditionalists, and spiritual leaders. !

• Since it is their traditional area being impacted, culturally affiliated Native Americans have a vested interest in the project.

Native American Monitoring:!Knowledge and Competency!

• The California Native American Heritage Commission recommends that Native American Monitors have the following knowledge sets and core competencies… !

• The on-site monitor/consultant should have knowledge of local historic and prehistoric Native American village sites, culture, religion, ceremony, and burial practices. !

• Knowledge and understanding of Health and Safety Code section 7050.5 and Public Resources Code section 5097.9 et al. !

• Ability to effectively communicate the meaning of Health and Safety Code section 7050.5 and Public Resources Code section 5097.9 et al. to project developers, Native Americans, planners, landowners, and archaeologists. !

• Let’s read these laws as we are supposed to know them. Can I have a volunteer to read?

•Health and Safety Code Section 7050.5

!7050.5. (a) Every person who knowingly mutilates or disinters,!wantonly disturbs, or willfully removes any human remains in or from!any location other than a dedicated cemetery without authority of law is guilty of a misdemeanor, except as provided in Section 5097.99 of!the Public Resources Code. The provisions of this subdivision shall!not apply to any person carrying out an agreement developed pursuant!to subdivision ( l) of Section 5097.94 of the Public Resources Code!or to any person authorized to implement Section 5097.98 of the!Public Resources Code.! (b) In the event of discovery or recognition of any human remains!in any location other than a dedicated cemetery, there shall be no!further excavation or disturbance of the site or any nearby area!reasonably suspected to overlie adjacent remains until the coroner of!the county in which the human remains are discovered has determined,!in accordance with Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 27460) of!Part 3 of Division 2 of Title 3 of the Government Code, that the!remains are not subject to the provisions of Section 27491 of the!Government Code or any other related provisions of law concerning!investigation of the circumstances, manner and cause of any death,!and the recommendations concerning the treatment and disposition of!the human remains have been made to the person responsible for the!excavation, or to his or her authorized representative, in the manner!provided in Section 5097.98 of the Public Resources Code. The!coroner shall make his or her determination within two working days!from the time the person responsible for the excavation, or his or!her authorized representative, notifies the coroner of the discovery!or recognition of the human remains.! (c) If the coroner determines that the remains are not subject to his or her authority and if the coroner recognizes the human remains to be those of a Native American, or has reason to believe that they are those of a Native American, he or she shall contact, by telephone within 24 hours, the Native American Heritage Commission.

• Public Resources Code section 5097.9

!5097.9 - Interference with Native American religion or damage to cemeteries or places of worship, etc., prohibited; construction and exemptions from law. No public agency, and no private party using or occupying public property, or operating on public property, under a public license, permit, grant, lease, or contract made on or after July 1, 1977, shall in any manner whatsoever interfere with the free expression or exercise of Native American religion as provided in the United States Constitution and the California Constitution; nor shall any such agency or party cause severe or irreparable damage to any Native American sanctified cemetery, place of worship, religious or ceremonial site, or sacred shrine located on public property, except on a clear and convincing showing that the public interest and necessity so require. The provisions of this chapter shall be enforced by the commission, pursuant to Sections 5097.94 and 5097.97. The provisions of this chapter shall not be construed to limit the requirements of the Environmental Quality Act of 1970, Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000). The public property of all cities, counties, and city and county located within the limits of the city, county, and city and county, except for all parklands in excess of 100 acres, shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter.' Nothing in this section shall, however, nullify protections for Indian cemeteries under other statutes.

Native American Monitoring:!Knowledge and Competency!

!!• Ability to work with local law

enforcement officials and the Native American Heritage Commission to ensure the return of all associated grave goods taken from a Native American grave during excavation. !

• Ability to travel to project sites within traditional tribal territory. !!

• Knowledge and understanding of CEQA Guideline, Section 15064.5 of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, and Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (NHPA), as amended.

http://www.nahc.ca.gov/Article_5.html

http://www.achp.gov/regs.html

Native American Monitoring:!Knowledge and Competency

!!• Ability to advocate for the preservation in place of

Native American cultural features through knowledge and understanding of CEQA mitigation provisions, as stated in CEQA Guidelines section 15126.4(b)(A)(B), and through knowledge and understanding of Section 106 of the NHPA. !

• Ability to read a topographical map and be able to locate sites and reburial locations for future inclusion in the Native American Heritage Commission’s (NAHC) Sacred Lands Inventory. !

• Knowledge and understanding of archaeological practices, including the phases of archaeological investigation.

!• Knowledge and understanding of archaeological

practices, including the phases of archaeological investigation

Native American Monitoring:!Knowledge and Competency !

!!!!!!

• A knowledgeable, well-trained Native American monitor/consultant can play a crucial role in project construction. !

• They may be able to identify an area that has been used as a village site, gathering area, or burial site. !

• They also might be able to estimate how extensive the site might be. !

• Also a monitor/consultant can prevent damage to a site by being able to communicate well with others involved in the project.

Native American Monitoring: Knowledge and Competency!

!!!!!!

• Depending upon the specific protocols set up and these change from project to project, your role could involve. !

• Requesting excavation work to stop so that new discoveries can be evaluated. !

• Sometimes that is reserved for the construction foreman and often you need buy in from the field director, archaeologist.

Native American Monitoring:!Knowledge and Competency!!

!!!!

• Sharing information so that others will understand the cultural importance of the features involved. !

• Ensuring excavation or disturbance of the site is halted and the appropriate State laws are followed when human remains are discovered. !

• Helping ensure that Native American human remains and any associated grave items are treated with culturally appropriate dignity, as is intended by State law.

Native American Monitoring: !Role!

!• The role of the Native American Monitor

is different project to project. !

• For some projects the exclusive role is oversight of the archaeologist and the construction work (if that is when the monitoring is being done). !

• Other times Native American Monitors are intimately involved with the archaeologists.

Native American Monitoring:!Role!!!

!!!

• They can work side by side excavating or screening (if they feel this is acceptable and not offensive to them). !

• Other times they are respected elders and they are asked for their insights and wisdom regarding the language, traditional culture, traditional life ways, oral traditions, etc. !

• The role and relationship with archaeologists and the developers and construction workers varies greatly.

Native American Monitoring: Impression Management!

!• Sometimes Native Californians are seen as distinct adversaries. !

• Often their legal counsel has tendered lawsuits and want the project to be discontinued. !

• That does not necessarily stop the work unless the courts issue an injunction. !

• A recent project I worked on has 6 or 7 pending lawsuits and they went right ahead and built the project anyways.

Native American Monitoring:!Human Relations!

!• Native American Monitor have the potential opportunity and I would say responsibility to represent their tribe and culture in a positive light. !

• Remember that often the people you interact with may have no background, knowledge or sensitivity to Native Americans. !!

• They may be from another part of the country.

Native American Monitoring: !Human Relations!

!!

• They may have never met a Native person. !

• They may have little to no knowledge of their history of Native people with the American Government (I know shocking!) !

• They may have a total misinterpretation foisted on them by the general media as to what goes on with Native people - who they are, where they live, how they think, what has happened to them historically, etc.


! !!

• They may be people who have had bad experiences with Native peoples. !

• Certain ethnicities in the United States sometimes are especially adversarial to Natives. !

• They may be interested in your background or culture but entirely deluded by popular culture or are New Agers who think of Native peoples in a rather peculiar way. !

• They may be scientists who are predisposed to adversarial relations with Native peoples for a number of reasons - their “religion” may be science (with a capital S) and nothing else.


• I have met and experienced all of these circumstances as perhaps some of you have as well! !

• These are the good, the bad and the ugly as they say. !

• So what are we to do:

Native American Monitoring:!Choices!

• OPTIONS… !

• Stop working as Native American Monitors. !

• Don’t start working as a Native American Monitor. !

• Hate all the evil people who you have to deal with day after day. !

• Make everyone’s lives miserable by doing everything in your power to delay and obstruct the development project (if you do this you will most likely be let go…)

Native American Monitoring:!Reflections!

! !!!!

• I would recommend you consider the following. !

• There are good and bad in everyone. !

• Much of the latter is related to education (although some people are evil to the core).

Native American Monitoring: Reflections! !

!!

• You can help some people and win them over to a more balanced perspective by conducting yourself in a professional fashion with a positive personality and make money doing so (not so bad). !

• You can also listen and learn when they have something that may be of interest. !

• We can learn from everyone, even sometimes and in some cases the from our most ardent enemies.

Native American Monitoring: !Honesty!

• It is important to be honest in all of your dealings. !

• You are representing yourself, your family, your tribe and Native Americans in general. !

• It is easy to make a misstep and to perhaps take advantage of a sometimes open-ended and flexible situation.

!

Native American Monitoring: Responsibility!

• It is important to act responsibly in the position as Native American Monitor. !

• What does that mean? !

• To show up when you are expected. !

• To do your job with a smile and to fill out all needed paper work. !

• To follow instructions. !

• To act in a manner that would be considered becoming of a professional. !

Native American Monitoring:!Professionalism!

• What is professionalism? !

• Being a professional means having the proper training. !

• That is part of what you are getting from your tribe and me this week. !

• It means continuing to get additional education.

Native American Monitoring:!Professionalism!

• Reading books, journals, and magazines. !

• Joining and becoming active in organizations that relate to your line of work. !

• Representing yourself as a professional in a courteous, competent, respectful manner. !

• Conducting yourself with an air of professionalism - confident, polite, courteous, diligent, etc.

Native American Monitoring:!Conscientousness!

• What is conscientiousness? !• The root word is conscience. !

• What does your conscience tell you to do. !

• Do the right thing. !

• Be on time, prepared, and do a good job.

Native American Monitoring:!Timeliness!

• There are many inside jokes about running on Indian time as in being late. !

• Nevertheless, it is a blessing to be punctual and in a professional setting, being tardy is considered a grave sin. !

• If it happens too often, I would guess it is likely it would have bad repercussions. Including dismissal. !

• So, it is a good idea to be on time and gain a reputation for showing up and being there when it counts. People are relying on you. Enough said…

Native American Monitoring:!Ethics!

• Ethics - yes I looked it up they said a system of moral principles. !

• Also the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture. !

• Finally and rightfully so, is that it deals with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions.


!• So here we are dealing with the

principals of honesty, trustworthiness and doing the right, moral and just thing. !

• This should be a no brainer. !

• However, not so.


!!

• There are many moral quagmires that regularly come up in complex and big projects relating to monetary expenses, hours, costs, tracking of time, on and on and on. !

• Needless to say this can be endlessly interesting or a real bear to deal with. !

• Let’s try to avoid all the horror stories relating to ethics.

Native American Monitoring: !Conduct!

• The issue of conduct comes up from time to time. !

• Are we doing the job that we were contracted to perform. !

• Have we been diligent in reviewing the excavations.

Native American Monitoring: !Conduct!

!• Are we focused on the task at hand? !

• Do we show that we care through our posture, our conversations and our other behaviors. !

• Are we someone that other people would want to hire to perform this kind of work in the future?

Native American Monitoring:!Diligence!

!•Diligent service is more of the same. !

• It implies showing up and being reliable, but also being there when you are needed in the pinch. !

•This sort of thing speaks volumes to our ability to get a tough job done.

Native American Monitoring:!Preparations and Necessary Equipment!

!• Be prepared, I know this is the Boy Scout Motto. !

• But, prepared for what? !

• Do you have water, sun screen, hat, long pants and long sleeve shirt?


!!!• Do you have insect repellant? !

• Do you have your contact list with you in order to connect with the Field Director, the local hospital, the construction foreman, and the development staff? !

• Cell phone or satellite phone? !


!!• What about a camera? !

• Notebook to take notes? !

• Pens, markers, baggies, pin flags, gps? !


!!

• Rain poncho, warm clothes, second pair of socks? !

• Safety plan, whistle, compass. !

• Hard hat, construction worker vest, snake chaps, steel toed boots, tick gators. !

• Anything else that I am forgetting?


!!

• Yes. What do we need for our vehicles? !

• What about getting stuck? !

• Tow rope.


!!!

• Blanket, in case we are really stuck. !

• Food for overnight stay. !

• Water for overnight stay.


!!

• Flares. !

• Spare tire. !

• Cones.


!!

• Wood to get unstuck. !

• Shovel to get unstuck. !

• Maps, project and area. !!

• What am I forgetting?

Native American Monitoring: !Late Discoveries!

!!• What about late discoveries? !• Late discoveries are a swear word to developers and construction firms. !

• Why do we have late discoveries? What are they? What do we do about them?


!!• I remember with East Sonora this caused a project shut down, cost millions of dollars and yet resulted in the new knowledge of the importance of geoarchaeology to the discipline of California archaeology. !

• Late discoveries are the identification of cultural resources, often significant prehistoric or historic archaeological sites during construction. !

• During my recent stint with AECOM, I directed a project for a wind energy developer.


!! !!• They had made a good and earnest effort to identify the cultural sites through survey and background checks. !

• Yet when they got to construction we found one to two new sites almost every day! !

• I think the cautionary tale, and this is preaching to the choir, that not always does the first pass get all those pesky sites.


!! !!

• Even excellent archaeologists can miss cultural remains, features and sites. !

• It depends on the time of year, the vegetation, and the sunlight as to what we see or can’t see. !

• Mike Moratto told me a story that sticks with me…


!! !!• That being said, what do we do to avoid surprises. !

• Do intensive closely spaced transects. !

• If necessary survey and survey again. !

• We had to resurvey a number of areas for our wind energy developer and we continued to resurvey throughout the project to get it as right as possible.


!! !!

• Do geoarchaeological studies to identify buried deposits of cultural material. !

• What do we do when we find late discoveries, we deal with them the best we can. !

• I guess we should expect them…

Native American Monitoring:!Burials!

!• What about human burials? !

• Human burials are the number one priority and of the greatest concern to Native peoples and to archaeologists. !

• They are the most sensitive and emotional of all the orders of archaeological data that we have to deal with.


• That said, how do we avoid late discoveries of burials? !

• What do we do once we identify human remains? !

• All projects should have a proper burial agreement tendered before excavation starts. That is the way things should be done.


• That said, how do we avoid late discoveries of burials? !

• What do we do once we identify human remains? !

• All projects should have a proper burial agreement tendered before excavation starts. That is the way things should be done.


• That is the way things should be done. !

• However, for a number of practical reasons, that is often not the case. !

• Besides the burial agreement, a human remains treatment plan also needs to be inked and signed off.


•

• Both documents are fraught with issues, political, emotional, ethical, legal, etc. !

• For these reasons, sometimes the people who attempt to get these put together fail miserably. !

• When I was working for Caltrans, I was asked to bail out a number of my fellow archaeologists since they in essence had emotional meltdowns and could not continue in their role dealing with these intensely held issues.


!• Nevertheless, this subject is one near and dear to our hearts. !

• First, the statutes tell us to call the Coroner when we discover human remains. !

• That is the law.


•

• Empirically, sometimes the coroner is not prepared to deal with the remains. !

• They are understaffed. Do not sometimes respond in a timely manner. !

• Also their staff is often not trained in human forensics at the level of the archaeologist.


!• Here’s one you might not have heard, Coroners often ask that the archaeologists identify and determine if the skeletal remains are human and of Native American origin! !

• Yes, that happened to me. !

• Yes, that is an explicit Conflict of Interest


!• What’s the next call after the Coroner. !

• Most would say the Native American Heritage Commission. !

• However, technically it is the Coroner’s job to make that call.


!!!• What about human remains in the middle of a well traveled road (dirt road). Yes this happened to us. !

• Cover the material and put some sort of protection over the material if possible - we used a geotextile cloth.


!• Within 24 hours you should have the Coroner out there and hopefully if all goes well the NAHC will have identified an MLD. !

• The Most Likely Descendant can be an individual or a group of individuals. Both are options. !

• It is likely that they will visit.


• The MLD will recommend the proper treatment of the remains assuming that the coroner and the archaeologists agree that they are Native American in origin. !

• This may require moving the remains and excavating them. !

• Covering the remains in place, if possible. !


!!

• Relocating the remains temporarily and then conducting a repatriation ceremony. !

• An interesting side note to the Repatriation activity. What form of documentation is needed for this? !

• There is actually a form from the NAHC that identifies the location of the human remains re-interment as a Sacred Site. !


!!

•This can be a problem for agencies, developers, and land owners. !

•They don’t want Sacred Sites on their lands. !

•So pick your reburial location very carefully.

Class Exercise• Count off one to three. There should be three groups of

about 4 or 5 people.

• The first is Group 1, second Group 2, and third Group 3.

• Each group will have a scenario and will need to present the following information.

• Introduce yourself full name and title, your position and affiliation. What is the nature of the problem (dispute)? What is the background of the problem (how did we get here)? Who are the parties to the dispute?

• What are our options in terms of resolving the problem? How can we develop systems and practices to avoid having this problem occur again?

• What is your recommendation in terms of dispute resolution as a negotiated arbitration? All parties have agreed to let you decide.

• You will need a spokesperson. A secretary/notetaker. The notetaker will develop all the answers and material for the above. The spokesperson will present the material developed by the group.

• You will have 20 minutes to review the problem and come up with the material to address our questions.

Class Exercise• Group One.!

• You have a very complicated project. You are in the midst of construction for 100 wind turbines. The project is a CEQA compliant project. You have trained and hired 6 Native American Monitors. You are finding on average 1 new site, late discovery a day!

• You can’t keep up with the paperwork and the County is threatening to close the project down if you don’t do a better job of coordinating with Native people and addressing their concerns.

• The Natives are mad. The developer is mad. The County is mad.

• Natives are made because sites are being destroyed before they have a chance to save them or identify them (not enough monitors).

• The developer is mad because the estimates for construction monitoring are several orders of magnitude higher than their original budget.

• The County is mad because they keep getting complaints from the head of cultural resources for the affiliated tribes that are doing the monitoring.

• The sites that are being found are both surface and subsurface sites. The materials are flake scatters, bedrock mortars, and occupation sites with midden.

• One site is a large village where shell beads and ornaments and fragmentary human remains have been identified.

Class Exercise• Group Two.!

• You have a simple project a cell phone tower. It is being installed on a ridge that has very little soil development and is mostly exposed bedrock.

• The project is a CEQA compliant project. You have no Native Americans as monitors as this is thought to be a rather simple straight forward project with little potential for Native American concerns.

• However, you conduct a pedestrian survey and begin to find a few blue and glass trade beads. That date from the 1860’s to the mid-1870’s. They are blue faceted and red with white centers. These are trade beads brought in by the Euroamericans and used by the Native people after being introduced by the settlers.

• The Archaeological Field Director learns of this discovery and touches bases with the County and they ask him to discuss this with the Cultural Director of the Local Native American Tribe.

• The Native American Cultural Resource Director asks for a field visit and brings along a local elder who has lived in this area for her whole life on an allotment just off the Project area.

• She says she knows this area and remembers this is a place of religious importance. The beads show this. They are said to represent an offering and she says this is a place of religious significance.

• The construction company disagrees there is nothing in any of the Information Center or NAHC archives or any literature to support the designation of this place as religious. There cannot be an burials since there is no soil deposit. The archaeologists identify this place as simply having what they call isolates. The archaeologists side with the developer and argue that the cultural material is not significant and they can simply collect it and move forward and construct their tower.

Class Exercise• Group Three.!

• You have a site that was recently excavated by a contractor for Caltrans.

• They found a very limited archaeological assemblage. The total number of objects recovered from the subsurface study was 3,000 items.

• The Native peoples who acted as Monitors during the study reviewed the cultural materials.

• They want all of these artifacts re-interred back in the ground from where they were originally retrieved.

• This is a NEPA compliant project.

• The archaeologists are intransigent and say they cannot abide by this request as it goes against the spirit of the law.

• The Natives say Caltrans has in the past done exactly this when the Native peoples requested that the artifacts be repatriated.

• They say that in fact it is very likely that many of the objects are of religious significance and specifically they argue that red ochre, shell beads and ornaments, quart crystals, and projectile points - all are likely grave related offerings and are required by law to follow the MLDs direction.

• Since there were six small pieces of human bone found in one of the excavations units it is very possible that these materials were related to some of the graves that had been disturbed over the years at the site.cultural resources for the affiliated tribes that are doing the monitoring.

• The sites that are being found are both surface and subsurface sites. The materials are flake scatters, bedrock mortars, and occupation sites with midden.

Date post:	05-Mar-2023
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Native American Monitoring: What, When, How and Why?

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