[OR_Archaeology] Interesting news from NPS Archaeology Program

[Susan White]

The National Center for Preservation Technology & Training (NCPTT)
released its Archaeology & Collections Program 2009 Annual Report

http://www.ncptt.nps.gov/beneath-the-surface-ncptt-archeology-collections-program-2009-annual-report/
 
You're invited to "surf" the site, but I thought if you do not have the
time, here's a couple of articles that might peak your interest--

NCPTT Grant for Aerial Thermal Infrared Research Yields Results

Christopher Fennell, University of Illinois, recently concluded
research on the utility of aerial thermal
infrared methodology to identify structural features at historic period
archeological sites. Fennell's work was funded by a 2007 grant from the
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT). 

Working at the 19th century town of New Philadelphia, the first town
platted and legally registered by an African American in the United
States, Fennell partnered with Bryan Haley, University of Mississippi,
and Tommy Hailey, Northwestern State University of Louisiana, to collect
and process survey data utilizing a powered parachute ultralight
aircraft and a high resolution thermal camera. Haley and Hailey
pioneered this survey technique, in part using a prior NCPTT grant. 

The aerial thermal data sets were geo-referenced and integrated using
geographic information systems software, and relatively hot and cold
thermal anomalies were then examined in relation to the 1836 town plan
and other comparative data. Many of the anomalies appear to correlate
with the known locations of buried residential foundations. Time Team
America has investigated one of the anomalies through excavation in
partnership with Fennell and Haley, and Fennell plans to systematically
test other anomalies using a soil corer in his upcoming field schools
funded by NSF and the University of Illinois. Fennell suggests that the
aerial thermal infrared technique holds promise for detecting buried
structural foundations, but less substantial elements of the town
infrastructure, such as buried gravel or earthen roads, were better
detected using terrestrially-based methods of geophysics.

Fennell's grant report will soon be available on the NCPTT website
www.ncptt.nps.gov/.
Haley's report is available at www.anthro.uiuc.edu/faculty/cfennell/NP/

Fennell's full excavation report is available at
www.anthro.uiuc.edu/faculty/cfennell/NP/.
Contact: David W. Morgan, 318-356-7444

Man Sentenced in ARPA Case

In early 2003, a joint investigation begun by the NPS, FBI, BIA, BATF,
USFWS and Colville
Confederated Tribes revealed that Kenneth Milette, 68, of Newport,
Washington, possessed archeological resources taken from Glacier NP,
Lake Roosevelt NRA, Bighorn Battlefield NM, and the Spokane, Coeur
d’Alene, and Nez Perce Indian Reservations. Additionally, Milette
possessed prehistoric Native American human remains and a variety of
prohibited wildlife, including a fully mounted golden eagle. 

In the Fall of 2003, Milette agreed to sell his collection of nearly
1,500 artifacts to an undercover NPS agent for $750,000. Milette also
agreed to sell items whose possession violated NAGPRA, the Lacey Act,
the Eagle Act, and Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). A buy/bust
operation followed by the service of search warrants was completed in
November 2003. A damage assessment valued the Federal and tribal
archeological resources at $58,500.

Milette was indicted by a grand jury in September 2008, on four
felonies (two ARPA counts and one count each for MBTA and Lacey Act
violations) and two misdemeanors (NAGPRA and Eagle Act). In October
2008, Milette pled guilty to two felony ARPA counts, a NAGPRA count and
a felony MBTA count. He was sentenced in December to three years of
probation and six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring,
ordered to pay over $17,000 in restitution and other costs, and directed
to pay for three anti-looting ads in regional newspapers. The artifacts
and human remains will be returned to their appropriate parks and
tribes.

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