Site Potential and Jurisdiction

Navigating the world of archaeological consultation can be confusing.  Some of our developer clients have reported that they were required to do extensive archaeological work on some projects, and then almost no archaeology on other projects of a similar size and nature.  There are two reasons for this -- jurisdiction and site potential.  

Jurisdiction 

There are a number of different laws designed to protect archeological resources.  These laws have been enacted by various government entities, and there is a surprising amount of variation between states and even between counties and municipalities.  For example, a state law in Arizona protects burials equally on both privately and publicly held land, whether the remains are determined to be Native American or not.  Laws in other states vary considerably.  Various developments may also trigger the involvement of the Federal government, invoking an additional set of laws.  Another issue related to jurisdiction is variation in the enforcement of cultural resource laws.  Different counties and agencies have some leeway in how they choose to enforce the statutes.  An archaeological consultant familiar with the area in which your development is occurring can assist you in navigating jurisdiction.  This issue is also discussed by Thomas F. King in his excellent book "Cultural Resource Laws and Practice."

Site Potential

Site potential refers to the probability that an archaeological site is present on a given property based on the previous archaeological work in an area.  A simple way to look at site potential is with the old adage "where there's smoke, there's fire."  Past human activity tended to re-occur in the same places over time, often in places where resources were abundant.  Parcels in places where archaeologists have recorded many sites are considered to have high site potential, and parcels with few or no previously recorded sites are considered to have low site potential.  Exceptions to this can occur in places where archaeologists have previously not looked for sites, in which case, archaeological site potential cannot be assessed.  In some cases, a parcel includes all or part of known archaeological sites.  In these cases, a project has a site or sites, rather than site potential.  Summarizing previously recorded archaeological sites and previously undertaken archaeological investigations are standard procedure for archaeological consultants, but site potential in many areas can be inexpensively estimated before a property is even purchased for development.  There is no need to be surprised when you apply for a permit, have a preliminary site file check performed before you purchase a property for development.