Phase I Field Documentation Standards

Phase I Field Documentation Standards The choice of methods for recording Phase I survey field data are to be based on a research design and enable independent interpretation and recordation. At a minimum, the following information shall be recorded: STP documentation is to include the following: 1. Identifier; 2. Name of excavator; 3. Date; 4. Description of cultural material; 5. Soils; 6. Profile; and 7. UTM coordinates (for both positive and negative STPs). 8. Project maps are to include the following: 1. Orientation and scale (written and scale bar); and 2. Location of all STPs and all above-ground cultural features, including cultural landscape features and any previously disturbed areas. Photographs are to be taken of: 1. All site locations; 2. All cultural features/items extant on the surface (for example, mounds, cellar depressions, chimney falls, etc.); and 3. All cultural evidence beneath the surface (for example, hearths, pits, clusters/concentrations of diagnostic artifacts, or significant stratigraphy). Monitoring, Phase II, and Phase III Mitigation Projects In compliance with NHPA standards, which consultants should be familiar with, research designs and project completion for all monitoring, Phase II, and Phase III Mitigation projects should contain a public outreach component. This component will include a redacted report for public consumption or a report specifically edited for the general public. It will also include at least one group of printed/web materials that includes things like posters, brochures, lesson plans, coloring pages, webpage, podcast, YouTube video, etc. for the general public. This component will be turned in to MDAH with the final report and archaeological site cards. Oral History Interviews Formal Interviews: Should be conducted whenever possible, especially for 20th century sites, for sites whose occupants may still have living descendants in the area, that are associated with identified living community traditions, or with strong community involvement (like TCPs or Mound Bayou, MS). Oral histories recorded should include information about the location and time of the interview as well as the interviewer and interviewee. A digital recording along with a transcript of the interview should be turned in along with the report to MDAH. This recording should be on archival materials (archival CD). The interviewer shall adhere to the professional qualifications used by the NRHP for Professional Qualifications: Ethnography (Bulletin 38, Appendix II Professional Qualifications: Ethnography). When seeking assistance in the identification, evaluation, and management of traditional cultural properties, agencies should normally seek out specialists with ethnographic research training, typically including, but not necessarily limited to: 1. Language skills: it is usually extremely important to talk in their own language with those who may ascribe value to traditional cultural properties. While ethnographic fieldwork can be done through interpreters, ability in the local language is always preferable. 2. Interview skills, for example: a. The ability to approach a potential informant in his or her own cultural environment, explain and if necessary defend one's research, conduct an interview and minimize disruption, elicit required information, and disengage from the interview in an appropriate manner so that further interviews are welcome; and b. The ability to create and conduct those types of interviews that are appropriate to the study being carried out, ensuring that the questions asked are meaningful to those being interviewed, and that answers are correctly understood through the use of such techniques as translating and back-translating. Types of interviews normally carried out by ethnographers, one or more of which may be appropriate during evaluation and documentation of a traditional cultural property, include: i.semi-structured interview on a broad topic; ii.semi-structured interview on a narrow topic; iii.structured interview on a well defined specific topic; open ended life history/life cycle interview; and iv.genealogical interview Skill in making and accurately recording direct observations of human behavior, typically including: 1. The ability to observe and record individual and group behavior in such a way as to discern meaningful patterns; and 2. The ability to observe and record the physical environment in which behavior takes place, via photography, mapmaking, and written description. Skill in recording, coding, and retrieving pertinent data derived from analysis of textural materials, archives, direct observation, and interviews. Proficiency in such skills is usually obtained through graduate and post-graduate training and supervised experience in cultural anthropology and related disciplines, such as folklore/folklife. Informal Interviews: This includes things like landowner information, local informants, and anyone else that you may run into while doing fieldwork. These conversations should have a minimum of the full name of the informant, date(s) talked to, and contact information (phone number/email address) recorded for each conversation.