La. Admin. Code tit. 25 § I-175

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section I-175 - Archaeological Program

A. The commission, acting through its officers, staff, employees, committees and contractors, in order to implement and supplement the directives of R.S. 41:1607, shall inaugurate a program of activities in archaeology which will include, but not be limited to, the following endeavors:

1. revise, extend, improve, and promote the Registry of State Archaeological Landmarks;

2. contribute to the public awareness and understanding of the state's historic and prehistoric resources by:

a. designing and maintaining a system of exhibits and interpretive displays;

b. issuing regular news releases to the public media;

c. providing a series of accurate and informative publications directed to the nonprofessional audience;

d. cooperating with state archaeological societies;

e. making commission records, files, and expertise available to students from all institutions of higher education;

f. developing a lecture program and audio-visual aids suitable for use by civic and school groups within the state;

3. encourage participation by private landowners in the process of conservation, preservation, and investigation of prehistoric and historic resources;

4. undertake a comprehensive survey of the entire state and its offshore waters to determine the full extent of existing nonrenewable cultural resources;

5. prepare and keep up-to-date a priority list of specific investigations that must be conducted in order to satisfy the objectives of the commission's long-range research strategy. Except in the case of sites threatened with immediate destruction, contracts should be assigned partially on the basis of what the proposed project can contribute to the solution of such overall research problems. Budget requests as well should reflect the priority of investigations;

6. undertake a legislative study exercise to determine the need, if any, for changes in state law to achieve the goals of the commission's program as stated herein;

7. investigate the need for additional regulations to implement Public Law 93-291, adopted May 24, 1974, by the Congress of the United States;

8. standardize the state's archaeological data base by and after interaction and cooperation with all agencies and institutions of higher education actively investigating the history and prehistory of Louisiana. Through standardization of forms used in recording archaeological data and through development of a computer program to process such data, the results of all archaeology conducted within the state shall be made available to and be in a form utilizable by all other archaeologists participating in the system;

9. inform state agencies, departments, and other instrumentalities including subdivisions, special districts, law enforcement officers, and other units of local government of all registered state archaeological landmarks and the regulations pertaining thereto;

10. publish both popular and professional articles of scientific, historic, and prehistoric merit;

11. inform all state agencies, departments, and other instrumentalities of the commission's program, the benefits to be derived from such work, the law pertaining thereto, and the regulations adopted to execute such program;

12. nominate through prescribed channels all state archaeological landmarks determined by the commission to be of major scientific and educational value for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register program will be explained to landowners at the same time sites on private lands are being registered as landmarks;

13. establish and maintain liaisons with archaeological organizations in both the professional and amateur categories for the purpose of:

a. determining the need for action by the commission;

b. identifying new items to include in the program;

c. assessing the need for amendment, repeal or rewriting of the regulations;

d. obtaining input of ideas for better carrying out the purposes, goals, and objectives of the commission;

e. facilitating the preservation, conservation, and proper utilization of the archaeological resources of the state;

14. support federal, state, and private agencies, political subdivisions, and firms in determining the impact of proposed construction projects on all historic and prehistoric resources. The commission may, at its discretion, accept an existing archaeological resources statement, provided that a recent ground survey has been conducted by a professional archaeologist in support of the statement. The commission may also contract with another agency, political subdivision, or firm whose staff includes a professional archaeologist to survey the construction area and to prepare an archaeological resource statement;

15. seek to establish and solicit private support for the Louisiana Archaeological Council. Membership in the council will be open to all professional archaeologists located or working in the state of Louisiana. The council will meet quarterly, whenever possible in conjunction with any other archaeological meeting. The council will serve as an advisory body to the Louisiana Archaeological Survey and Antiquities Commission. It will contribute to a coordinated state archaeological program by providing a medium through which the fruition of on-going investigations can be shared and research assignments can be allocated on a voluntary basis;

16. design, sponsor, and maintain a permanent storage and research facility to be called the "Louisiana Center for the Study of Man". Such a building will:

a. serve as permanent headquarters for the commission;

b. provide safe, atmospherically controlled, and perpetual storage for the state's historic and prehistoric resources;

c. house the central state archaeological survey files;

d. contain efficient and adequate facilities for the treatment, preservation, and processing of recovered remains of all types;

e. be the center for uniform, up-to-date type collections of the state's historic and prehistoric artifacts;

f. supply exhibit space for outstanding archaeological specimens deserving of public viewing;

g. provide safe and accessible storage for photographs, books, records, maps, and documents pertaining to Louisiana history and prehistory;

h. facilitate the utilization of collections and field data in the custody of the commission in a manner which encourages maximum analysis and interpretation;

i. serve as a primary research facility for all professional archaeologists, scientists, and students who are interested in and actively studying the history and prehistory of human settlement in the state of Louisiana.

La. Admin. Code tit. 25, § I-175

Promulgated by the Louisiana Archaeological Survey and Antiquities Commission, LR 1:383 (September 1975).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 41:1601-1613.