Vanished Villages
This announcement is to provide public notice of the National Park Service (NPS), intention to fund the following project with University of Alaska Fairbanks under a Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU) program. CESUs are partnerships that provide research, technical assistance, and education. The project intended modified award is $77,500.00. This is a modification for continuation of an existing agreement, number P10AC00020. STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Agreements Concerning Cooperative Research and Training on NPS Resources (16 U.S.C. § 1a-2(j)): The Secretary may enter into agreements with public or private educational institutions, States and their political subdivisions, for the purpose of developing adequate, coordinated, cooperative research and training programs concerning the resources of the National Park System, and pursuant to such agreements, to accept from and make available to the cooperator such technical and support staff, financial assistance for mutually agreed upon research projects, supplies and equipment, facilities, and administrative services relating to cooperative research units as the Secretary deems appropriate. STATEMENT OF JOINT OBJECTIVES/PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN: The purpose of this project is to address much needed systematic evaluation and mapping of identified but minimally documented substantial Late Prehistoric age (and earlier) village sites. These sites are located adjacent to lakes within the Brooks Range of northern Alaska and are significant because they contain rare types of features, such as large, stone-ringed communal structures (qargi) and petroglyphs, and exceptionally dense concentrations of house, storage, and hunting-related features. The purpose of this project is to build on existing survey and inventory documentation to systematically document significant Late Prehistoric age (and earlier) village sites located along Brooks Range lakeshores within NOAT and GAAR. These sites are significant because they contain rare types of features that demonstrate a prolonged human presence in an area marked largely by temporary encampments of mobile peoples. Sites targeted in Phase I include Burial, Desperation, Feniak, and Kikitaliorak Lakes located in the northern reaches of Noatak National Preserve. The project will build on existing survey and inventory level documentation to systematically record the lakeside archeological sites and cultural landscapes. This Modification Request is issued to: Three years of field work at the three different sites (XHP-00004, XHP-00017, and MIS-00352) resulted in subsurface testing of 34 features. Data derived from these investigations include stratigraphic descriptions, radiocarbon samples, faunal remains, and lithic, ceramic, and organic artifacts. A total of 12 cubic feet of collections were generated and these include 7 cubic feet of faunal remains and 5 cubic feet of lithic artifacts, organic artifacts, ceramic artifacts, wood samples, and charcoal samples. All of the wood and charcoal from 2010 and 2011 has been identified and the analysis of the 2012 assemblage is currently underway. The wood and charcoal is the only group of collections to be analyzed up to this point. The entire project assemblage contains 655 cataloged specimens including several uncounted faunal and flake lots. This assemblage has been fully processed, cleaned, rehoused, and cataloged according National Park Service curatorial guidelines and is now ready for analysis. Processing and organizing field data is another main component of this project and includes typing field notes, digitizing soil profiles, annotating photographs, and downloading and editing GPS data. Field data processing for 2010 and 2011 is largely finished and we are currently processing data collected during 2012. The partner, in cooperation with the National Park Service will: ¿ Complete a basic description of the lithic and faunal assemblages ¿ Create maps and other graphics such as artifact plates, site photos, rock art illustrations, and stratigraphic profiles in a publication quality format. ¿ Write an introductory context that includes a regional review for Late Prehistoric sites in the central Brooks Range including relevant research questions. ¿ Write the main body of the report with a narrative for the work accomplished at each site including: site location and description, stratigraphy and sampling, radiocarbon results, faunal and lithic analysis results, petroglyph descriptions, and overall site interpretations. ¿ Assemble text and graphics into a monograph style final report. ¿ Make castings of the rubber molded petroglyph from Feniak Lake for NPS visitor center in Kotzebue and UA Museum of the North. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE INVOLVEMENT -Substantial Involvement : The successful completion of this project involves a substantial degree of cooperation between the National Park Service and the proposed principal investigator. The principal investigator for this project will need to conduct initial field assessments with the park archeologist to identify features and review existing mapping and other data compiled in past decades using less sophisticated instruments than are currently available. The UAF archeologist will need to reconcile existing data with input from the park archeologist who was involved in the initial documentation efforts and work together to formulate a research documentation strategy to address data deficiencies and specific resource and park management needs. The NPS will also interface between the cooperator and regional NPS programs that must be tied into the research project: NPS Cultural Landscapes Program and the List of Classified Structures Program. The NPS will provide an archeologist to assist in the 2011 field efforts and will provide housing for the UAF crewmembers while in Kotzebue. The NPS will also conduct any necessary government to government consultations with tribal organizations (e.g., as required for NAGPRA - Inadvertent Discovery of Human Remains Plans of Action for archeological testing). Modifications to research methodologies, testing localities and other areas will be made collaboratively between the NPS and UAF researchers throughout the project as necessary. SINGLE-SOURCE JUSTIFICATION: Department of the Interior Policy (505 DM 2) requires a written justification which explains why competition is not practicable for each single-source award . The National Park Service did not solicit full and open competition for this award based the following criteria: Continuation - The activity to be funded is necessary to the satisfactory completion of, or is a continuation of an activity presently being funded, and for which competition would have a significant adverse effect on the continuity or completion of the activity. Technical contact information: Michael Holt, Michael_holt@nps.gov, 907-442-8316, National Park Service, Alaska Region End of FOA
Office: National Park Service
Tina_Spengler@nps.gov
