Register of Professional Archaeologists

First Continuing Education Course Certified by RPA!

I'm very pleased to announce that the course Advanced Metal Detecting for Archaeologists has been certified by the Register of Professional Archaeologists under our new Continuing Professional Education Program, the first class to do so. You will find details on this course, developed by New South Associates and AMDA, attached here. The course will be first offered on August 22nd and 23rd in Charleston, S.C. Please click here for the course agenda.

As an RPA attendee of this class you will receive a certificate for use in your CV development and for adding to your profile on the RPA site.

This is merely the first of what we anticipate will be an expanding repertoire of CP opportunities RPA will be bringing you in future.

Thanks to our dedicated CPE committee for making this a reality, and to Chris Espenshade of New South for his patience and cooperation during the process.

Sincerely,

Ian Burrow
President

P.S. SAA Memphis attendees: Please don't miss the RPA Awards Ceremony on Thursday April at 5 pm at the Marriott.

Letter to Spike Tv's President On "American Diggers"

February 29, 2012

Kevin Kay
President, Spike TV
1633 Broadway
New York, New York 10019

American Diggers

Dear Mr. Kay:
You will by now be well aware of the widespread concern about your proposed program “American Diggers”, as it has been portrayed by the advanced publicity on your website. The archaeological community, in particular, is expressing its disapproval in no uncertain terms.

I am writing to you as President of the Register of Professional Archaeologists: more than 2500 archaeologists who are dedicated to promoting the highest professional and ethical standards in archaeology in this country and beyond (www.rpanet.org).

Others have already very clearly expressed the concerns that are widely felt about this program, and so I will only briefly revisit them here. Nor will I go into detail about the potential legal and liability issues you might be facing.

1. By focusing on the recovery of artifacts alone, without reference to their “context” (their location and relationships to the soils, occupation surfaces, foundations, environmental evidence and other artifacts on the archaeological site of which they form a part), the project will actually destroy historical evidence rather than discovering it.

This is truly sad, because I do not doubt that Mr. Savage, like many, many other people in this country, are truly interested in the past. Finding ancient objects and holding them in your hands is a thrill that never goes away, but if we really want to understand the people of the past (which is what archaeology is all about) we have to have the context. Really.

2. Financial Gain. In the United States, private landowners are perfectly at liberty to sell any artifacts recovered on their land. Our Historic Preservation laws are respectful of private property in a way which is uniquely American. (Of course, public lands are another matter altogether, and anyone digging for artifacts on historic federal or tribal lands, and also in most states and municipalities, are liable to fines and imprisonment on conviction: Clearly your intention is to avoid such issues). So, provided Mr. Savage has the permission of the landowner, he is not doing anything illegal. So what’s the problem?

Please click here to read the rest of the letter.

Register of Professional Archaeologists Field School Scholarships 2012

The Register of Professional Archaeologists announces its 2012 RPA Field School Scholarships, awarded annually to students from four RPA-certified field schools. One scholarship in the amount of $1000 will be awarded by each of RPA’s sponsoring institutions (AAA, AIA, SAA, SHA) to a director of an RPA-certified field school, who will then award the scholarships to a deserving student. Selection criteria include geographical focus, methodological and theoretical approach, and student opportunity.

All currently certified field schools are automatically eligible for the scholarships. Field schools must be certified by March 16, 2012 to be considered in the 2012 pool.

Scholarships will be announced at the 2012 RPA Awards Ceremony at the Society for American Archaeology meeting in Memphis, TN, on April 19th 2012.

If you have any questions about the process simply contact our Field School Committee chair, Wes Bernardini (wesley_bernardini@redlands.edu), or contact me (ianrpa@comcast.net).

Click here to see all the currently certified field schools eligible for scholarships and to find out more about the field school certification.

Click here for the field school guidelines and standards.

Sincerely,

Ian Burrow
President RPA

The RPA Election Results are In:
Congratulations to the Following Incoming Board Members!

President-Elect: Mr. Patrick Garrow

Registrar: Dr. Danny Walker

Standards Board Member: Mr. Mark Branstner

Standards Board Alternate: Dr. Rochelle Lurie

Nominating Committee Chair: Dr. Julia King

Nominations Committee Member: Mr. Michael Pfeiffer

RPA would like to thank all the candidates and voters who made this election a great success!

On October 28th and 29th a group of 13 registrants, comprising the RPA board, officers, and several invitees, held a strategic planning retreat meeting in Albuquerque, NM. Moderated (pro bono) by Terry Klein of the SRI Foundation, the group developed a series of goals and recommendations. These have a single broad objective: to position the Register to take the archaeological profession to a new level. The Board asked me to prepare and distribute a summary of the meeting, and so here it is.

On December 7th, the RPA Board formally accepted the report of the strategic planning meeting, and has set up work teams to develop an executable strategic plan. These work teams will report to the Spring board meeting at the SAA meeting in Memphis, TN next April. What follows is my personal summary of the key points from a four-page bulleted list, so not all the points are included here.

Governance
One key discussion was the composition of the board itself. At present, the board comprises the appointed representatives of our four sponsoring societies and some of the elected officers. This works well, but does not allow for active participation by other registrants. The board will therefore consider whether the time has come to have elected at-large members.

The committee structure of the RPA is also overdue for an overhaul. As times and requirements have changed, some of our committees are now less important, while others have become dormant but are now needed again. One of these needs is for an active and effective communications committee that will reach out both internally to the body of registrants, and externally to the wider archaeological community.

Sponsors and Sponsorship
The four sponsoring societies (SAA, SHA, AAA, and AIA) were crucial to the establishment of RPA. We plan to seek to strengthen the connections with these organizations in various ways. In January 2012, I and the President-elect, Lynne Sebastian, will be meeting with the Board of the AIA to renew ties there. We also plan, for example, to take a more prominent role in the SAA’s popular and important Ethics Bowl, which we have long sponsored.

Also emerging is a wish to have a more prominent presence at these societies’ meetings. Starting with the SHA in January 2012, we will have RPA ribbons available at the Registration desk (rather than at our table in the bookroom), and there will also be a flyer about RPA in the registration packet. There will be a have a daily drawing for registrants and new applicants, and other incentives to encourage people to sign up for registration.

Public Positions
RPA has not generally seen itself as a body that regularly comments on broadly political issues relating to archaeology. We have however occasionally taken strong stands on such matters as inappropriate portrayal of archaeology in the media, and the need for high-profile archaeological positions to be filled by RPAs.

The meeting recommended that RPA develop a formal policy to determine under what circumstances we will respond to issues potentially affecting the profession or the resource, and how to make our expertise available.

The Grievance Process
Our grievance process is the best-kept secret of the RPA, and it shouldn’t be. In many ways it is the justification for the Register, but confidentiality concerns have in the past prevented the dissemination of information on grievance issues. We plan to look seriously at the possibility of producing a “lessons-learned” publication that will be useful to registrants while maintaining confidentiality requirements.

Application Process
The expansion of graduate degree programs that reflect professional qualifications and standards is providing a steady stream of new registrants for RPA. However, the increasing diversity of these programs is presenting us with some challenges. There remains a perception that master’s degrees requiring theses are privileged in the application process, and that non-theses applications are held to a higher experience standard on the “long-form” application. We will be looking into these issues, and into the possibility of developing a level of registration that students who have not yet obtained their master’s degree but can already demonstrate a level of commitment and experience to the discipline.

Increasing Registration and Retaining Current Registrants
One immediate change you will notice in the coming months is that we will all, from now on, receive a new registration certificate each year. This will clearly indicate the year we are registered for, and so will help us to remember to re-up our registrations.

It is clear that only a portion of those who could be registered as RPA have chosen to do so. We currently stand at over 2500, but by various estimates there are probably at least three times that number of eligible archaeologists in the United States alone. We have provisionally identified certain target groups that are under-represented (particularly government archaeologists), and plan to target them more specifically in recruitment efforts.

Establishing and Encouraging High Standards of Archaeological Practice
Our recently launched Continuing Professional Education Program (CPE) is intended as part of a more general initiative that will establish and encourage high standards in the profession. Our discussions in Albuquerque left some of us feeling that there is some rather poor archaeological work being done around the country, and that this is something that needs to be addressed. The meeting made several recommendations. These included:

• incentives in the form of awards for best archaeological practice, and for government-based archaeologists who are outstanding “curators” of the resource.
• expansion of the scholarship program
• accessibility of CPE
• the production of more detailed guidelines for best practices.

Establishing RPA as the Accepted Professional Credential in US, Canada, and Internationally
Ambitiously, the meeting felt that RPA is now well placed to establish itself as a touchstone for archaeological credentials both in the U.S. and internationally. At a minimum, American archaeologists working abroad should be able to use their RPA registration as a guarantee to their host country that they are recognized, qualified professionals. This is a real issue is some countries, where there are no standards against which to assess the qualifications of either local or incoming American archaeologists. We have established a relationship with the International Committee on Archaeological Heritage Management (ICAHM) of ICOMOS, which will provide us with an opportunity to promote this message.

Your reactions and questions in response to this will be most welcome. I look forward to hearing from at least a few of you in the coming weeks.

Ian Burrow
President

RPA in Albuquerque Strategic Planning Meeting
RPA board members, officers, and guests met in Albuquerque, New Mexico on October 28th and 29th 2011 for a Strategic Planning meeting. Under the skilled guidance of Terry Klein of the SRI foundation, we spent a day and a half developing a vision and plan for RPA, using a five-year time frame. Look out for a report here in the near future, giving details of the proposals.

Caption:
The RPA Strategic Planning Team in Albuquerque, October 29th 2011. From left to right: Jeff Altschul (Past-President), Kay Simpson (immediate Past-Grievance Coordinator), Amanda Evans (Board Member: Society for Historical Archaeology), Kim Redman (Secretary/Treasurer), Amy Ollendorf (Registrar), Nancy Wilkie (Board Member: Archaeological Institute of America); Jim Bruseth (Grievance Coordinator-elect), Ian Burrow (President), Bill Lees (Past-President), Lynne Sebastian (President-Elect), Charles Cobb (Board Member: American Anthropological Association), Joan Deming (Grievance Coordinator), Terry Majewski (President, American Cultural Resources Association).

Photographer: Terry Klein

EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF ARCHAEOLOGISTS MEETING, OSLO, NORWAY, 2011
AND DISCOVERING THE ARCHAEOLOGISTS OF EUROPE:
RPA PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Please click here to read more.

2011-2012 RPA Directory is Now Available!

Please click here to view the downloadable and printable directory.

Announcing the 2011 Register of Professional Archaeologists’ Scholarship Awards to Field Schools in Florida, Michigan, Nevis and Italy

Each year, the Register of Professional Archaeologists awards up to four scholarships, each of $1000, to RPA-Certified Field Schools. Our Sponsoring Organizations - the American Anthropological Association, the Archaeological Institute of America, the Society for American Archaeology and the Society for Historical Archaeology – review the applications and recommend the recipients. Each successful field school Director has discretion in awarding the scholarship to one or more students on his or her field school.

We are pleased to announce that the following RPA-Certified Field Schools have been awarded scholarships for 2011:

Florida Gulf Coast University: Swamp Safari Tree Island Project . Dr. Michael McDonald, RPA (Society for American Archaeology award).

Michigan State University: Campus Archaeology Program . Dr. Lynne Goldstein, RPA (American Anthropological Association award). Student recipients: Eve Avdoulos and Nancy Svinick:

Eve will be entering her senior year at Michigan State University. She studies anthropology, art history, and museum studies and focuses on ancient history. Her passion for history stems from all of the secrets and lessons that it holds. Eve has held positions as a research assistant in the MSU Archaeology Lab, as well as an intern at the MSU Archives and Historical Collections. Both of these experiences, as well as being a student on the Campus Archaeology Field School, have deepened her love for archaeology and history. She loves MSU history and feels privileged to be studying at this university. She is also a resident mentor in West Circle Complex, a Dean’s list student, and an active member of the Greek-American community. After her undergraduate career, Eve plans on attending graduate school to pursue a doctorate degree in classical or ancient Mediterranean archaeology.

Nancy just graduated from Michigan State University, with a Bachelor's of Science in Geological Sciences and an additional major in Anthropology. Her special interests include archaeology of Britain and Ireland, as well as cultural anthropology and geoarchaeology. After completing the MSU Campus Archaeology Field School this summer, Nancy will be seeking employment with a mining company in the western United States for several years. She then plans to return to university to complete her graduate degree in geoarchaeology.

San Jose State University: Bush Hill Sugar Plantation, Nevis. Dr. Marco Meniketti, RPA (Society for Historical Archaeology award). Student Recipient: Chris Keith, San Jose State University

Chris attended West Valley Community College for the first leg of his post-high school education. Eventually he discovered a passion for anthropology and especially archaeology. Chris transferred to San Jose State University in 2010, as an archaeology major. He is currently in his 2nd and final year at San Jose State. The Bush Hill Field School on Nevis Island was Chris’ first field school (though not to be his last). He hopes to specialize in bioarchaeology, which would allow him to continue work as an archeologist through the study of human remains.

University of Michigan, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology: The Gabii Project, Central Italy. Dr. Jeffrey A. Becker, RPA ( Archaeological Institute of America award). Student recipient James Crooks, University of Auckland.

James is in the final year of a conjoint Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Sciences at the University of Auckland, New Zealand . He writes: “Ever since I began Latin at the start of High School, I have been fascinated by the classical world; however, for someone living on the other side of the world, a career in this field seemed not to be the most practical of paths. But still, I continued with Latin and picked up both Ancient History and Anthropological Sciences when I began University.
I first learned about the Gabii Project in late 2009 thanks to a lecturer at my University, Dr Jeremy Armstrong, who was acting as my unofficial careers advisor after learning of my interest in Roman archaeology. Unfortunately, after returning from our Summer (Christmas) Break, I found that I had missed the initial application date but after applications re-opened, I promptly applied and was soon after accepted for the 2010 season.

Gabii was my first archaeological dig and, as such, I owe all my practical archaeological knowledge to the staff of the Gabii Project. I was also taken aback at the calibre of both the staff and volunteers on the Project; not one of whom I could ever fault in terms of skill or credentials. Most of all, the Gabii Project proved to me that a career in classical archaeology could be a very realistic goal, even for someone from as far away as New Zealand. For these reasons, I jumped at the opportunity to return to Gabii for the 2011 season and will continue to return for as long as I am wanted”.

These four Field Schools were selected from an impressive field of applicants and we congratulate them and their students on these scholarship awards.

We will announce the names of the students receiving the awards when we have been notified of them, and we plan to honor them at our Annual Awards Ceremony. This will be held during the Society for American Archaeology’s 77^th Annual Meeting in Memphis, TN, April 18-22, 2012.

Do you run an archaeological field school? We invite you to apply for RPA certification so that the <