Idaho National Laboratory Cultural Resource Management Plan

Appendix C
Standards and Procedures for the Management of INL
Archaeological Properties
INTRODUCTION
This section describes the general professional and program standards for archaeological
investigations at INL. Examples of documents that support performance of archaeological investigations
at INL, referred to as figures, are presented at the end of the appendix.
The INL CRM Office conducts cultural resource advisory, compliance, and research activities for
DOE-ID and manages and coordinates all cultural resource investigations, including oversight of
subcontractors and outside researchers in archaeology, history, and paleontology. Similar standards and
procedures for the management of INL historic architectural resources are provided in Appendix D.
Standards and guidelines have been issued by the Idaho SHPO through the Idaho Archaeological
Survey, Idaho Advisory Council of Professional Archaeologists, national ACHP, and U.S. Department of
Interior National Park Service (NPS). All cultural resource management work at INL is and will continue
to be performed in a manner consistent with these authorities. This protocol will be reviewed annually
and updated as necessary in response to changes in federal, state, and professional guidelines as well as
internal and external feedback obtained from experience conducting cultural resource management and
scientific activities at INL.
INL ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESOURCES
INL contains a great number of archaeological sites from the prehistoric and historic time periods and
even a variety of industrial archaeological sites from the very recent past. Because modern development
within the 890-square-mile facility has been limited in expanse, many of these resources exhibit
remarkable integrity. The majority of these resources are open sites, exposed at the current ground
surface, which consist of campsites, lithic scatters, and rock features from the prehistoric period (13,500
to 150 years ago). A preliminary predictive model suggests that there may be as many as 75,000
additional resources of these types as yet undiscovered within the boundaries of INL (Ringe 1995). Lava
tube caves also contain sensitive archaeological materials on the INL, including Native American
pictographs and burial sites.
Also represented in the inventory of known INL archaeological resources are localities that reflect
more recent activities including homesteads, irrigation canals and canal construction camps, emigrant
trails, stage stops, and railroad sidings, as well as trash dumps and other features associated with U.S.
government use of INL after 1942. Since the early 1970s, DOE and its contractors have been committed
to protecting INL archaeological resources from unmitigated harm during INL activities.
History of INL Archaeological Investigations
Archaeological investigations at INL, initiated in the late 1950s, have passed through four successive
stages. The first stage involved numerous visits to areas where prehistoric sites were known or expected
to have occurred. These initial projects were directed by E. H. Swanson, Jr., of the Idaho Museum of
Natural History, as part of a larger project to examine prehistoric sites in all of southeastern Idaho
(Swanson 1972; Swanson and Bryan 1959; Swanson, Butler, and Bonnichsen 1964; Swanson, Tuohy, and
Bryan 1959; Reed et al. 1987). Later, from 1967 to 1972, additional intuitive surveys were conducted on
INL lands by individuals under the direction of B. R. Butler in an effort to discover the nature and
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