N.J. Admin. Code § 7:4-8.4

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 21, November 4, 2024

Section 7:4-8.4 - Requirements for Phase I archaeological survey

(a) All Phase I archaeological surveys shall be sufficient to enable the identification of archaeological sites in the area of the undertaking's potential impact. The standard for survey sufficiency will be met when the archaeological survey provides identification of historic and prehistoric archaeological sites in accordance with the survey elements listed below and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation (Federal Register 48:190, September 29, 1983 (48 FR 44716)), incorporated herein by reference.

(b) The principal investigator(s) for all Phase I archaeological surveys prepared in accordance with this section shall be a trained professional archaeologist who meets the qualification standards of the National Park Service (NPS) as defined in the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for Archeology and Historic Preservation (the Standards) referenced in (a) above.

(c) A Phase I archaeological survey shall include:

1. Background research consisting of:

i. A review of primary and secondary sources to identify the kinds of archaeological sites that potentially exist in the area of the undertaking's potential impact; their likely positioning across the landscape and within site soils; information regarding known historic and prehistoric archaeological sites; previous research in the locality; current environmental conditions; paleoenvironmental conditions; and historic and modern land use to facilitate predictions of the types of archaeological sites that may be present. Relevant sources are listed in chapter Appendix 1, incorporated herein by reference;

ii. A field inspection which includes observations regarding topography, historic land use and disturbance, field conditions, and indicators of potential for archaeological deposits (such as buildings, structures, and surface artifact scatters);

iii. The assessment report of a geomorphologist, pedologist or other soils specialist with expertise in Holocene geomorphology to assess potential for deeply buried artifact deposits within the area of the undertaking's potential impact, if the undertaking's area of potential impact is located within a floodplain, colluvial slope, or alluvial fan depositional context; and

iv. For non-linear projects, and for linear projects greater than 100 feet in width of ground disturbance, a complete deed search for the area of the undertaking's potential impact prior to conducting archaeological testing to provide information regarding historic period land use, date by which buildings were present, ethnicity of occupants, number of households or uses through time, and in some instances detailed information regarding owners' occupations, buildings, and land use, thereby providing valuable information to guide field survey;

2. The development of an archaeological site predictive model based upon the results of the background and deed research and field inspection;

3. A systematic archaeological field investigation, including all field methods designed so that:

i. All portions of the area of the undertaking's potential impact defined as having potential to hold archaeological sites by the archaeological site predictive model referenced in (c)2 above shall be tested through systematic subsurface testing and/or archaeological surface inspection (including mapping, and collection, and augmented by subsurface testing), in accordance with (c)3ii through viii below.

ii. All sediments shall be screened through 1/4-inch or finer mesh hardware cloth for areas that will be shovel tested rather than surface collected;

iii. The intensity of subsurface excavation shall be conducted at a density of 17 one-foot diameter subsurface shovel tests per acre, which is equivalent to testing on a 50-foot rectilinear grid, in order to ensure that archaeological sites are not missed by the survey. While all statistically quantifiable sampling strategies of equal overall coverage of the area of the undertaking's potential impact are acceptable, the sampling strategy selected shall minimally average 17 one-foot diameter shovel tests per acre;

iv. For linear projects such as road widening or installation of buried utility lines, where the area of the undertaking's potential impact is 50 feet or less in width, shovel testing at an overall density of one test for every 50 linear feet shall be performed. For linear corridors where the area of the undertaking's potential impact is greater than 50 feet, the principal investigator shall either estimate the acreage of the linear corridor and the survey density excavated shall minimally total a density of 17 tests per acre, or excavate additional transects (one for every additional 50 feet or less in width) at offsets from the first;

v. Shovel testing shall be maintained in planned density through offsets rather than leaving grid points or other test locations untested, when planned test locations are not testable (for example, because of a rock or other obstruction) or obviously disturbed. Excavation at minimal offsets when necessary will facilitate identification of archaeological sites with minimal to no impact to the validity of the selected sampling strategy. Large offsets and those within archaeological sites should be illustrated in the project and site mapping;

vi. Systematic shovel testing as described in (c)3iii above shall be augmented by judgmentally placed subsurface tests excavated at the discretion of the principal investigator. These tests shall be used to investigate locations that are deemed during the field survey component of the Phase I survey to be likely archaeological site areas that were not identified as such during project planning. Judgmentally placed tests may also be excavated to collect information to supplement that obtained from the planned tests. These tests may prove useful to the survey effort by rendering additional phases of survey unnecessary, or allowing refinement of the recommendations through increased information about a discovery. Therefore, limited additional subsurface testing is necessary when it may provide benefit to the survey and survey recommendations;

vii. All shovel tests shall be excavated adequately deep below the ground surface to penetrate the full depth of intact Holocene sediments to culturally sterile sediments, and to the extent possible, shall be excavated according to visible stratigraphy (either cultural or natural strata);

viii. The archaeological field investigation shall be adequate to identify and investigate deeply buried cultural deposits (such as riverine settings where flooding has resulted in deep deposition of sediment). This shall be ensured through incorporation of an additional complementary testing and sampling strategy. The testing and sampling strategy shall be developed in consultation with the Historic Preservation Office and a geomorphologist, pedologist and/or other soils specialist with expertise in Holocene geomorphology. The individual or individuals shall have sufficient training to adequately evaluate the sedimentology, stratigraphy, and pedology of the deposits in the field and be able to describe and analyze the deposits using standard terminology and methods. The individual or individuals shall possess post-graduate degree(s) in an earth-science field (geology, physical geography, pedology, quaternary studies) or have demonstrated professional expertise in field geomorphology through experience and publications. Previous field work experience in the northeastern United States is necessary;

ix. Machine or mechanical-assisted excavation of soil shall be treated in the same manner as manually excavated soil matrices. For example, soil cores shall be recorded stratigraphically, to the extent possible, and the soil matrices screened for artifacts. For backhoe excavations, a sample of the soil matrices may be screened for artifacts; and

x. Deviation from the testing density specified in this paragraph shall be approved by the Historic Preservation Office in advance of the field survey. Unless necessitated by specific circumstances related to the area to be surveyed, such as fill depths greater than six feet or a test area under a building or highway, deviations will not be approved;

4. In contexts where it can be demonstrated that all Holocene sediments are contained within a plow zone, surface inspection supplemented by broad interval subsurface testing may be substituted for 17 tests per acre to identify archaeological sites in the area of the undertaking's potential impact, provided that rainfall subsequent to plowing or other cultivation has been sufficient to wash obscuring sediments from exposed artifacts and that the ground surface visibility is at minimum 50 percent. When surface inspection is employed, the following methods shall be adhered to:

i. Cultivated or formerly cultivated fields shall be plowed or disked in order to eliminate ground cover; however, the cultivation shall not extend deeper than previous disturbance;

ii. If surface visibility does not meet or exceed these criteria, the field area should either be shovel tested or surface inspected after sufficient rainfall and/or cultivation to produce a minimum of 50 percent visibility;

iii. The survey lane spacing shall not exceed 10 feet;

iv. Information on pedestrian survey transects and conditions that may have impacted the recovery of artifacts and/or future survey including lane spacing and orientation, soil type and condition, surface visibility, vegetative cover, lighting conditions, and presence of hazardous material or other impediments to survey shall be recorded;

v. The locations of recoveries shall be recorded, mapped, and the recoveries retained by provenience (either recovery grid or point provenience) for analysis; and

vi. The absence of potentially artifact bearing deposits below the depth of plowing shall be adequately documented by subsurface testing, especially within the limits of identified sites and at the base of knolls and hills;

5. Analysis of data generated from the archaeological testing and field survey components of the Phase I archaeological survey to include, at minimum, the analyses specified at 5i through v below. Additional analyses to clarify the principal investigator's recommendations regarding the nature and structuring of additional phases of survey or the principal investigator's recommendation of no further consideration of archaeological properties within the area of the undertaking's potential impact shall be conducted, if applicable. Required analyses and treatment of artifacts shall include:

i. Comparison of the types, number, and positioning (vertical and horizontal) of archaeological sites across and within the area investigated that were identified during the Phase I archaeological survey with those archaeological sites anticipated after background research and development of the archaeological site predictive model;

ii. Analysis of artifacts in accordance with basic classifications for historic period and prehistoric period artifacts including chronology, cultural affiliation, technology; and function;

iii. Recording of artifacts of all categories quantitatively;

iv. Cleaning recovered artifacts (except in cases where this might damage fragile artifacts or impair future analysis such as starch grain analysis of Native American stone tool surfaces), and labeling and packaging the artifacts to clearly indicate the provenience from which they were recovered; and

v. Discard of only limited categories of artifacts and only after they have been identified and recorded as to provenience and classification. This shall be solely limited to modern objects and bulk items such as concrete, asphalt, and coal that have no diagnostic value beyond identification of their presence and depositional context (that is, their vertical and horizontal positioning across the landscape, within site soils, and relative to other identified archaeological artifacts and features). Representative specimens of these latter items shall be retained. No prehistoric artifacts shall be discarded during the Phase I survey;

6. Provisions for the permanent curation of the artifact collection and records at a repository that meets the National Park Service's curation standards, 36 CFR Part 79, incorporated herein by reference, (for example, the New Jersey State Museum) as part of the Phase I survey project design. The receiving institution shall be contacted in advance in order to ascertain its requirements for preparation of the artifacts for curation within that facility. It may be possible to discard artifacts not associated with a potentially National Register or National Register eligible archaeological site at the conclusion of all phases of an archaeological investigation, but this decision shall not be made prior to the conclusion of all phases of archaeological survey and the explicit approval of the Historic Preservation Office and other reviewing agency, including the repository slated for receipt of the artifact collection and associated records; and

7. Reporting of all research, survey, and analysis required above for Phase I survey in accordance with 7:4-8.5.

N.J. Admin. Code § 7:4-8.4

New Rule, R.2008 d.261, effective 9/2/2008.
See: 40 N.J.R. 1428(a), 40 N.J.R. 4945(b).