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Interpreting the 50-Year Rule

How A Simple Phrase Leads to a Complex Problem

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2017

David T. Yoder
David T. Yoder*
Affiliation:
Behavioral Science Department, Utah Valley University, OremUT 84058 (davidtyoder@gmail.com)
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Abstract

For over 40 years, some archaeologists have labored under a distorted interpretation of the 50-year rule in which anything more than 50 years of age becomes “archaeological” and therefore must be recorded and evaluated for eligibility to the National Register of Historic Places. A reexamination of federal law shows that this is a mistaken interpretation. Data from the Intermountain Antiquities Computer System indicates that, if this practice continues, the number of featureless historical sites requiring documentation in the West will greatly increase at a large expense to the public and that most of these costs will be associated with sites not considered significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, engineering, or culture. Solutions are presented that will give archaeologists greater flexibility in recording material culture more than 50 years of age, allowing us to redirect our efforts to resources of greater interest while making the practice of archaeology more defensible to the public. These problems are symptomatic of a larger issue that relates to how cultural remains from the latter part of the twentieth century and beyond will be valued. The discipline of archaeology must begin candid conversations about the relative importance of such recent material culture and its management implications.

Durante más de 40 años, algunos arqueólogos han trabajado bajo una interpretación distorsionada de la regla de los cincuenta años, en la que cualquier cosa que tenga una antigüedad de más de cincuenta años se considera “arqueológica” y por lo tanto debe ser registrada y evaluada para determinar su elegibilidad ante el National Register of Historic Places. Una revisión de la ley federal demuestra como ésta es una interpretación errónea. Los datos de la Intermountain Antiquity Computer System indican que de seguir esta práctica, el número de sitios históricos sin ninguna característica especial que requiere de documentación en el occidente de los Estados Unidos aumentará de manera considerable a expensas del público y que la mayor parte de estos costos estarán asociados a sitios que no son considerados significativos para la historia la arquitectura, la arqueología, la ingeniería o la cultura americana. Las soluciones que se presentan darán a los arqueólogos una mayor flexibilidad en el registro de la cultura material de más de cincuenta años de antigüedad, lo que nos permite redirigir nuestros esfuerzos a los recursos de mayor interés, al mis o tiempo que se justifica la práctica arqueológica ante el público. Estos problemas son sintomáticos de una cuestión mayor que se relaciona con la forma en la que se valorarán los restos culturales de la segunda parte del siglo 20 y los posteriores a éste. La arqueología como disciplina debe iniciar conversaciones francas en torno a la importancia relativa de la cultura material más reciente y las implicaciones para su administración.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in Archaeological Practice , Volume 2 , Issue 4 , November 2014 , pp. 324 - 337
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2014

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