Excavation

If significant cultural resources are found in the project area, excavations may be required. Excavation phases are guided by project-specific plans that describe the project goals, research issues, and field methods. With 30+ years of experience in the Southwest, we construct solid, efficient research designs that anticipate and avoid complications and delays, allowing us to focus on the key issues involved in your project.

Plans are always reviewed and approved by the client and relevant compliance agencies.

Testing/Phase I Data Recovery

Preliminary excavation phases are exploratory and are intended to determine the nature and distribution of subsurface features in the project area and if the resources meet the significance and integrity requirements for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Results provide the necessary information to plan and budget next steps, if necessary. Possible next steps include more detailed excavation or avoidance, if your project has flexibility. Preserving cultural resources through avoidance can result in significant cost savings for many projects.

Data Recovery/Phase II Data Recovery

When significant cultural resources cannot be avoided by development, mitigation strategies are developed. Archaeological excavation, documentary research, and a variety of specialized services are used to recover information, so that the past history of a place is unearthed before construction begins. Our long experience in the region, in conjunction with the results from prior phases of the project, means we can develop targeted plans of work that maximize the scientific impact of the project and that minimize costs.

Preservation Planning

Some types of projects are amenable to preservation planning. This is a strategy that can work well on long-term projects when actual impacts in some portion of the project area may be deferred for decades. Preservation planning projects document cultural resources, consider and mediate the effects of interim impacts, and develop strategies for best uses going forward. Some of our past preservation projects have resulted in construction of interpretative parks in excess rights-of-way, placement of soccer fields on engineered fill, or the creation of easements. In the future, when the construction has more immediacy, the data recovery process will resume.