Protecting Our History Underfoot: Filling in the Regulatory Gaps Through Local Archaeological Review

Abstract

This study identifies the regulatory gap created when federal and state cultural resource management laws do not apply to local or private development actions, resulting in the loss of significant archaeological resources in municipalities across the United States. Incorporating archaeological review into the local development process is the most efficient and practical way to ensure impacts to archaeological resources are considered prior to private development activities. Baltimore City, Maryland, is used as a test case to explore existing and potential solutions for protecting archaeological resources from the impacts of this regulatory gap. Effective local archaeological review practices are identified through an examination of a series of municipalities who have prioritized the protection of their archaeological resources through such a process. Based on this examination, a series of recommendations and next steps is presented for Baltimore City.

Vital to the success of a local regulatory review program is support from public officials and citizens. This is only achievable through public engagement and archaeologists’ ability to convey the relevancy of archaeology – using municipal-level archaeology as a tool to connect citizens to their past and to each other and recognizing the power that personal and collective identity has to foster civic pride. As products of municipal government, local regulatory review practices allow for consideration and incorporation of the priorities and contemporary values of local citizens in the archaeological process. With proper and meaningful planning efforts from the city and preservation partners, local regulatory review can successfully fill data gaps in Baltimore’s archaeological record while also contributing to the collective identity of its citizens.