1. Anth January 2012

2. Antiquities Act 1906
Its primary focus is the protection of archeological sites from looting, which was widespread in the southwest in the late 1800s, as it is now.
The Act establishes the permit process for archeological excavation on federal and tribal lands in an effort to deter destruction of sites by anyone who is not a professional archeologist.
It establishes fines and punishment for unauthorized excavation or looting.
It also allows the president to declare historic or prehistoric sites or structures as national monuments.
The Antiquities Act also contains a stipulation for the curation of archeological collections, stating that "the gatherings [of artifacts and data] shall be made for permanent preservation in public museums." Importantly, the law implies that decisions for the care and management of the recovered collections should be made before a permit is granted.
Three men excavate a cave in Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde National Park sometime between Photo taken by Jesse L. Nussbaum. Photo from the Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library.

3. Historic Sites Act 1935
This Act declares it a federal policy to preserve historic and prehistoric areas of national significance and establishes the National Historic Landmarks Program
It also empowers the Secretary of the Interior to "secure, collate, and preserve drawings, plans, photographs, and other data of historic and archeology sites, buildings, and objects.“ How and where they are to be curated is not adequately addressed in this law.
The passage of the Historic Sites Act also formalizes National Park Service programs involved in salvage archeology, programs that were designed to put many people to work during the Great Depression.

4. National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966
NHPA is responsible for expanding the National Register of Historic and establishing the State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO).
Section 106 requires federal agencies to "take into account" the effects of a federal or federally assisted undertaking in any state of the Union on "any district, site, building, structure or object that is included in or eligible for the National Register" before federal funding for the project is approved. Archeological sites may be significant because they "have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history."
Section 110 calls for the preservation and use of any historic property owned or controlled by a federal agency.
City Creek ditch flooding on North Temple Street, SLC, 1907

5. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969
The National Environmental Policy Act covers both cultural and natural resource management. It is an authority for managing the impacts of all federal actions on the "human environment."
Cultural resources are collected under Section 101 (b)4, which gives the federal government responsibility to "preserve important historic, cultural, and natural aspects of our national heritage, and maintain, wherever possible, an environment which supports diversity, and variety of individual choice."
Contract archeologists deal with NEPA by preparing either an Environmental Assessment (EA) or an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a federal project.
Acknowledging the fact that impacts on archeological resources are not the only socio-cultural impacts a project may have, NEPA considers the relationships between past cultures and their living descendants.

6. Archeological projects involved in NHPA or NEPA compliance have created vast amounts of archeological collections over the past 30 years. Since many projects were done before the curation standards and guidelines were issued in 1990, appropriate long-term collections care was occasionally set up by knowledgeable and responsible principal investigators.

7. Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) of 1979
An important piece of archeological legislation, the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, was enacted in ARPA strengthened the permitting procedures required for conducting archeological fieldwork on federal lands, originally mandated by the Antiquities Act. It also establishes more rigorous fines and penalties for unauthorized excavation on federal land.
ARPA is important from the standpoint of managing archeological collections because it:
-acknowledges federal ownership of objects excavated from federal lands;
-calls for the preservation of objects and associated records in a "suitable" institution, and
-prohibits public disclosure of information concerning the nature and location of archeological resources that require a permit or other permission under ARPA for their excavation or removal.
An application for an ARPA permit must include authorization and a written agreement between the federal agency and an appropriate repository that will house and curate the collection recovered from the project. This permit process applies to all excavations on federal and Indian/tribal lands.

8. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
Items covered under NAGPRA include:
Native American human remains
associated funerary objects
unassociated funerary objects
4. sacred objects
5. objects of cultural patrimony

9. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
It covers objects in federal or federally funded repositories. It also affects any public museum or repository that received federal funding before or since In the field, NAGPRA reinforces many aspects of ARPA. It also requires consultation (and proof of such) with Indian tribes if any remains or objects that might be subject to NAGPRA are likely to be excavated during fieldwork or are discovered inadvertently.

10. Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)
Museums:
Publish Inventory
Post to National Site
Native American Advisors
Grants
Native Groups:
Formal Contact with Museums
After Agreement, publish Intent to Repatriate
Repatriate