Abstract
ABSTRACTMitigation of adverse impacts to archaeological resources within cultural resource management (CRM) is commonly achieved through a data recovery plan. Under this venue, the primary significance of a given site is its evaluation under NRHP Criterion D—its information potential. Rarely is consideration given to the emotional, psychological, and spiritual values descendant Native American communities attribute to these places in relation to their importance under other criteria. The associative relationships and integrity of traditional religious and cultural practices connected to sites are often overlooked because the identification of significance and values of archaeological sites is defined by Euro-American intellectual and value-laden frameworks. Even if one claims “scientific objectivity” as one's guiding principle, implementation of such practices without regard for Native American perspectives are clear violations of NHPA mandates. Balanced design of mitigation measures is seriously lacking from CRM practice, resulting in descendant communities being continually disenfranchised through the silencing of their voice in the management of their own heritage and inheritance. This article examines this issue from the perspective of the Pueblo of Zuni and how Zuni successfully worked with the Bureau of Reclamation to design a strategy for resolving adverse effects that is meaningful and beneficial to the Zuni.
Highlights
Mitigation of adverse impacts to archaeological resources within cultural resource management (CRM) is commonly achieved through a data recovery plan
While mitigation is often filtered through a lens of the past, disenfranchisement is doubled in the present in relation to the development and implementation of supposed mitigation measures for places detached from their social, cultural, and spiritual contexts and for the future, as capacities for associative integrity are eroded for future generations by the neglect and marginalization of tribal understandings and practices—of the very sociospatial connective tissues—of people-places and human-environment continuity. It is in this context that I wish to share a constructive example of a federal agency—the Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Region—and the Pueblo of Zuni negotiating the design and implementation of a strategy for mitigating adverse effects to Zuni traditional cultural properties (TCPs) that were inclusive of Zuni psychological and emotional associated values, resulting in a relevant and meaningful product and outcome for the Zuni community
Archaeological excavation as a form of mitigation only addresses the historic properties significance under Criterion D—its information potential—and does not sufficiently consider the Zuni psychological and emotional values ascribed to these sites as traditional cultural properties
Summary
Mitigation of adverse impacts to archaeological resources within cultural resource management (CRM) is commonly achieved through a data recovery plan. It is in this context that I wish to share a constructive example of a federal agency—the Bureau of Reclamation, Upper Colorado Region (hereafter Reclamation)—and the Pueblo of Zuni negotiating the design and implementation of a strategy for mitigating adverse effects to Zuni TCPs (ancestral archaeological sites) that were inclusive of Zuni psychological and emotional associated values, resulting in a relevant and meaningful product and outcome for the Zuni community.
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