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Significance and Other Frustrations in the CRM Process

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

William B. Butler
William B. Butler*
Affiliation:
National Park Service; Interagency Archeological Services, P.O. Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225
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Abstract

National Register of Historic Places criterion (d) for significance is based solely on the theoretical and substantive knowledge of the discipline. Archaeologists continue to misuse and abuse the term and do not understand its meaning in terms of the cultural resource management process. In so doing, archaeologists often place federal agencies and state historic preservation offices in a quandary as to proper management decisions. Misuse of the concept of significance in the formulation of a research design may seriously jeopardize or curtail making important contributions to the discipline. In addition, the failure to understand the concept of significance may not provide the basis for rational decisions concerning data redundancy, collection strategies, predictive modeling, and mitigation. Problems are compounded when archaeologists employed by federal and state agencies do not understand significance and the cultural resource management process.

Type
Forum
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , October 1987 , pp. 820 - 829
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1987

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References

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