Idaho National Laboratory Cultural Resource Management Plan

distribution of archaeological resources in the desert region of the northern Snake River Plain (Butler
1968; Butler 1970; Butler 1978).
The early intuitive surveys directed by Swanson and Butler were important in establishing the
archaeological research potential of the INL region, particularly with regard to its prehistoric resources.
Many important archaeological sites within caves, atop buttes, and near the margin of Pleistocene Lake
Terreton were recorded through their efforts. However, these early surveys stand in contrast to the later
systematic inventory projects because the latter have shown that INL not only holds many large and
complicated prehistoric sites, but also contains thousands of smaller resources that are equally important
in understanding prehistoric lifeways. They have also brought attention to INL’s inventory of important
archaeological resources from the historic period, particularly those related to Carey Land Act-sponsored
settlement.
Beginning in 1974, INL entered into the modern era of cultural resource management and the second
stage in development of the current CRM Program. The cultural resource inventories conducted during
the past 25 years are generally more intensive and systematic than previous work. This is largely due to
the fact that most have been conducted with the specific goal of meeting regulatory requirements to
identify and assess impacts to all cultural resources, rather than simply discovering the largest, oldest, or
most unique sites.
The first surveys of this modern era were supervised by S. J. Miller from 1974 to 1984 and included
many small construction projects as well as several larger projects such as INL Perimeter and Grazing
Boundaries, the Diversion Area, and the New Production Reactor Areas. Over 400 INL archaeological
resources from early prehistoric through historic time periods were systematically recorded as a result of
this work (Miller 1983; Miller 1984; Miller 1985; Reed et al. 1987).
Beginning in 1985, the INL Cultural Resource Management Program moved into a third stage of
development with the initiation of a subcontract with the Idaho State University Department of
Anthropology for large cultural resource inventory projects. R. N. Holmer directed most of these projects
through an organization named variously as the Swanson/Crabtree Anthropological Research Lab, the
Northern Intermountain Quaternary Institute, and the Center for Environmental Anthropology (see Ringe
1993 for a summary). The first projects involving systematic archaeological test excavation at INL were
also completed under this agreement (Wright 1988; Ringe 1988).
The Idaho State University surveys are important because they set a methodological precedent for all
subsequent archaeological investigations at INL. The standardized methods employed during these
projects are still in use today because they are of sufficient rigor to ensure that all cultural resources with
visible surface remains are identified in all project areas. Many large INL survey projects were completed
by the teams from Idaho State University from late 1984 through July of 1991, with 1,050 cultural
resources recorded. Significantly, subsurface testing was also conducted at 64 prehistoric site locations
during this period (Ringe 1988; Wright 1988; Ringe 1990; Henrikson and Holmer 1991; Thompson 1991;
Sammons and Furniss 1992).
The fourth and most recent stage in the development of the INL CRM Program began in 1989 with
the formation of the INL Cultural Resource Management Office to serve as a focal point for information
flow and action regarding cultural resource compliance and research at INL. Since the creation of this
team, most archaeological surveys at INL have been conducted in-house. Attention has been directed
beyond basic compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act to the full spectrum
of cultural resource issues, including public education and outreach, American Indian consultation, site
monitoring, compliance with NHPA Section 110, and long-term stewardship (INL CRM 2004, 2005,
2007, 2008).
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