The 1998 University of Wyoming/Grand Teton National Park Cooperative Archaeology Program

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As of this writing we have completed the third year of a cooperative UW/GTNP archaeological project, with 1998 being the first season. The primary purpose here is to provide a brief overview of some of the accomplishments of that first field season. This basic "UW/NPS Research Center Annual Report" format then will have two more installments for 1999 and 2000. More attention is given in this first report to background such as the history of archaeological research in Grand Teton National Park, while subsequent reports will emphasize other types of information. No attempt is made here to provide detailed discussions of field methods, project environmental settings, or individual sites, features, and artifacts. Such description would be standard in some archaeological reporting formats, but much more detailed discussions, and more synthesis of regional prehistory, is being assembled in a series of project­ specific compliance reports, conference papers, seminar papers, a graduate student thesis, and journal articles. The possibility of a cooperative University of Wyoming/Grand Teton National Park venture was first proposed by Robert Schiller, Director of the Science and Resource Management Division at Grand Teton. It was apparent that a series of mutual benefits could result, where University archaeologists would aid the Park with its increasing number of federally-mandated compliance projects while at the same time providing student training and employment opportunities. In addition, nearly 400 sites had been located in Grand Teton National Park and the adjacent Rockefeller Parkway at that time, but very little current information was available for many of them and modem re­evaluations were needed. At the same time, these various "applied research" compliance surveys and site revisit projects could contribute to broader theoretical frameworks relevant to our research throughout the region. The investigation of prehistoric settlement patterns and other aspects of landscape utilization is enhanced even by basic surface evidence, for example. The 1998 UW/GTNP CAP crew included the writer, UW Anthropology graduate students Alan Bartholomew and Mike Peterson, and volunteer archaeologist Jill Anderson. All work in Grand Teton has been coordinated with Park Historian Mike Johnson and USFS/GTNP Archaeologist Merry Haydon. Dave Hammond with the GTNP GPS unit and several other individuals aided with our projects. Yellowstone National Park Archaeologist Ann Johnson provided needed advice and materials on several occasions. All of our work was only possible because of the availability of the AMK Science Camp facilities, and the hospitality provided there by Hank and Mary Ann Harlow and their staff.