Infrastructure Surveys

The OSA conducted 188 archaeological and architectural projects in FY 2023, significantly contributing to the enhancement of statewide economic development. In addition to 76 Phase IA and Desktop evaluations, OSA staff conducted 79 Phase I surveys, recording or supplementing information on 35 archaeological sites. A total of 39 Phase IA and six Phase I architectural history surveys were completed. The FY 2023 efforts included projects in 59 different Iowa counties and served 34 different sponsors. Local government clients included the cities of Bondurant, Coralville, Council Bluffs, and Davenport, and the counties of Johnson, Marshall, Polk, and Union. State and federal agency clients included the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the US Department of Agriculture. Three non-profit affordable housing clients, including Cedar Valley Habitat for Humanity, Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity, and Matthew 25 were provided CRM compliance support.

Iowa Department of Transportation

FY 2023 marks 53 years of contracted services with the Iowa DOT for archaeological investigations and 34 years of historic architectural evaluations. A total of 134 Phase IA Cultural Resource Evaluation reports was submitted, along with eight technical reports pertaining to planning assistance, Phase IA archaeological and historic architectural reconnaissance, and Phase I intensive surveys. Among other efforts, the OSA assisted in planning and execution of the Iowa DOT’s Tribal Summit on Cultural Preservation and Transportation.

Architectural History

One of the more interesting architecture history surveys we performed in FY 2023 was for 13 proposed antenna poles planned for Pella, Iowa. Historically Pella was a magnet for Dutch and other Low Country immigrants who conserved a lot of their old country culture and language. These cultural ties are reflected in much of the downtown business district architecture, which often blends well-preserved early 20th-century prosperity with flourishes of Dutch design. The Old-World charm and historic architecture of Pella are what makes it one of the larger tourist draws in Iowa, and adding 13 new antenna poles might affect that charm, even if improved telecommunication service was badly needed in Pella. Compounding this problem was the reality that although Pella’s downtown is widely recognized as historic, it was never formally listed as a National Register of Historic Places district. This meant any evaluation of new poles for architectural significance required taking into account a hypothetical, undefined, historic district. The OSA worked with telecommunication companies, the City of Pella, and SHPO to make recommendations on how new poles could be added without adversely impacting the historic character of Pella.

US61 Highway Site Excavations in Southeast Iowa

Two precontact archaeological sites in southeast Iowa were excavated by the OSA for the Iowa DOT ahead of planned construction improvements to US61 highway. In the fall of 2022 through spring of 2023, excavations revealed ancient pottery and many lithic tools and manufacturing waste. All artifacts larger than 1 cm were recorded in 3 dimensional space to recreate the spatial association with mapping software during analysis.

Site 13LA904 sits on low terrace of a creek and yielded over 23,000 artifacts, including a Koster projectile point and Louisa phase Burris ware pottery pieces. Both the artifacts and radiocarbon dates indicate that the occupants of the site were there during the Late Woodland period, roughly 1000 years ago.

Site 13LA921 sits on the edge of an upland agricultural field as it slopes down toward the creek. Approximately 2,500 artifacts were recovered during the excavation. While no identified projectile points or other diagnostic artifacts were discovered at this site, radiocarbon dates point to the Late Archaic time period, nearly 4,000 years ago. One interesting find during the field excavation included a curiously rounded stone found in the immediate vicinity with other precontact lithic artifacts. This round rock was likely shaped naturally through an abrasion process, but its presence at this site indicates that someone a very long time ago brought it there for some unknown purpose, perhaps to use as a weight or a game piece.

Analysis of artifacts and research is ongoing for this project with an expected completion during the spring of 2024.

Loans

During FY 2023, OSA facilitated seven loans for archaeological research and analysis, formal exhibition, and informal displays accompanying presentations. The loans included 1,558 artifacts from 11 accessioned collections, representing material from six sites and one notable location. Individuals borrowing OSA materials include researchers from the Office of the State Archaeologist, Iowa Department of Transportation, Kansas Geological Survey, Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center, Putnam Museum and Science Center, and North Lee County Historical Society.

Collections

The archaeological collections at the OSA are used for many different purposes including outreach and education, loans, and research. In FY 2023 over 117 accessions, representing at least 93 sites, were accessed. The majority of these collections were accessed during a funerary object consultation with representatives of nine tribes and descendant groups, held at the OSA in October 2022. 

Other users of collections during FY 2023 included 14 individuals with a range of affiliations such as the OSA, UI Department of Anthropology, UI Pentacrest Museums, Iowa Department of Transportation, Sanford Museum, and Iowa Archeological Society. These collections were used for background research related to future archaeological excavations, videography and photography of artifacts for educational resources, selection of artifacts for exhibition, short-term display of artifacts for student groups, and current research projects. Several chipped stone tools from the OSA Reference Collection were used to create silicone molds which in turn were used to create chocolate projectile points which decorated desserts served at a celebration luncheon honoring Shirley Schermer’s selection as a University of Iowa honorary doctorate degree recipient.

Special Projects

In FY 2023, an effort was undertaken to make potential funerary objects more accessible to tribal representatives. A NAGPRA Documentation/Consultation grant awarded in FY 2018 resulted in the identification of potential funerary objects and a funerary object consultation event in October 2022. Following feedback from the consultation event, all items identified as Unassociated Funerary Objects were removed from their accession’s boxes in the repository and rehoused in new, clearly labeled boxes in an area of the repository reserved for funerary objects. A new tag was created for each object, identifying it as an Unassociated Funerary Object and communicating its catalog and provenience information. It is our hope that separating these items from the non-funerary objects in the repository will facilitate their access by Tribal and descent group representatives while helping establish more considerate research, loan, and exhibition practices with respect to these sensitive objects.

Field School-related Materials

Artifacts from the Cornell College Archaeological Field School were added to the State Archaeological Repository in FY 2023. These artifacts represent collections from two sites: 13CD15 and 13CD244. These collections were processed and cataloged by three Cornell College interns.

Two University of Iowa students spent the fall semester of 2022 cataloging and working with artifacts from the 2022 Lakeside Laboratory Archaeological Field School at 13DK9, the Gardner Cabin Site. Their research resulted in two presentations.

Comparative Collections

The head and paws of a black bear were added to the Comparative Collection during FY 2023. These specimens, acquired from a friend of Senior Curation Assistant Seraphina Carey, were processed during the summer of 2022. Many thanks to Seraphina and volunteer Pat Collison for preparing these specimens for inclusion in the OSA’s comparative collection.

Archives

OSA’s archives program supported three work-study students and one part-time staff in FY 2023. Led by Teresa Rucker, the archives team added 2,764 new records to iArc, including reports, books, conference papers, manuscripts, journal articles, newspaper articles, and photographs. iArc continues to be important to research at OSA and outside agencies, firms, and individuals.

Teresa continued her service on the Society for American Archaeology’s (SAA) Archives Committee. The committee is tasked with creating a documents retention and destruction policy to aid the SAA in determining what to curate at the National Anthropological Archives (NAA).   

iArc Stats for FY 2023:

297,315  total records,  94% available digitally on iArc

• 3,881 legacy documents were accessed 927 times
• 1,317 reports submitted to Iowa DOT were accessed 1,142 times
• 1,394 reports submitted to Iowa DNR were accessed 1,300 times
• External iArc users accessed 26,720 documents a total of 12,608 times

OSA’s commitment to conducting and disseminating modern high-quality archaeological research requires a significant investment in research technology. From maintaining complex databases, to deploying a suite of scientific instruments and equipment, to supporting an array of Internet and other social media, the OSA’s involvement in research technology covers the gamut of twenty-first century breakthroughs in archaeology.

Iowa Site File

Most archaeological sites are recorded in the Iowa Site File as a result of cultural resource surveys conducted by professional archaeologists. Some, however, are reported by landowners, avocational archaeologists, and other non-professionals. 

Significant steps were initiated in FY 2023 to decolonize key terms used in recording sites in the Iowa Site File. These changes require considerable programming and database restructuring but are important advancements in the way data are collected and interpretations about the past are framed.

Field and Laboratory Technology

Many of OSA’s research endeavors require the use of highly specialized scientific technology in both the field and laboratory setting, including robotic laser transit with data recorder, high resolution GPS units, tablets for mobile data collection, and small drones (UAS) to fly over archaeological sites to create surface models and for infrared thermographic analysis. In FY 2023 OSA Research Technology Director Mary De La Garza and Professor Susan Meerdink (UI Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences) entered into a partnership that includes both technology sharing and instruction by De La Garza, who taught in UI’s Edge of Space program.

Website and App Development

During FY 2023 the OSA maintained portals for the Plains Anthropological Society and the Midwest Archaeological Conference, Inc., as well as support for I-SitesPro, I-Sites Public, I-SitesGov, and Ancient Trails in Iowa. OSA also manages development and content for the Iowa Archeological Society and Iowa Archaeology (publications) websites.

NAGPRA Work

This year the Bioarchaeology Program finalized our NAGPRA Consultation/Documentation Grant (awarded in 2018) with a consultation event held along with the Iowa DOT Tribal Summit in October 2022 – summaries of all potential NAGPRA items identified were submitted and we now have a comprehensive list of items subject to repatriation in the OSA’s general collections.

Four Notices of Inventory Completion were also published in the Federal Register for individuals originally interred in what are now Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Twenty-one ancestors and 11 funerary objects were repatriated to the Pawnee Nation and Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska for reburial in Nebraska in November 2022.

Other Projects

The Bioarchaeology Program carried out its usual work with landowners who serve as site stewards, and local, state, and federal agencies in upholding our responsibilities for ancient burial site and inadvertent discovery investigations and reporting, and the protection of sites potentially impacted by development.

We also made significant progress on our statewide survey of post-contact Indian cemeteries in Minnesota; Sam Murphy has recorded and mapped in GIS 399 cemeteries and other significant places (i.e. boarding schools, removal routes, reservation boundaries). In consultation and collaboration with descendant communities the main goal of this project is to foster the protection of these important places through comprehensive documentation.

Lara Noldner was promoted to Adjunct Associate Professor and selected to teach Human Osteology.

Exploring Iowa Archaeology in K-12 Education

A total of 569 K–12 students participated in in-person and virtual archaeology presentations, activities, and tours with OSA staff.

Educators continued their long-time, award-winning Exploring Iowa Archaeology in the K–12 Classroom presentations virtually and in-person. Requests for classroom programming came from teachers, museums, and scout groups.

Beyond the classroom, the OSA staff promoted Iowa’s education program successes and contributed to the field education on a national level through serving on the Project Archaeology National Leadership Team.

Bringing Archaeology to Iowa Communities

Engaging with the Interested Public through Virtual and In-Person Programming

The OSA continues to foster strong relationships with heritage preservation organizations across the state. OSA participated in its 8th Project AWARE, which involved 348 participants who paddled 61 miles on the West Fork of the Des Moines River in northwest Iowa. OSA participated as “resident archaeologists” and assisted with educational programs at the event.

Outreach activities in partnership with the History and Culture tent at the Meskwaki Powwow recommenced this year, and OSA was delighted to be back in action with Johnathan and Suzanne Buffalo. Other major events for in-person outreach by OSA staff were the Iowa Archeological Society (IAS) spring meeting at the Sanford Museum in Cherokee, an exhibit launch at Jester Park Nature Center in Polk County, Archaeology Day at Calkins Nature Center in Hardin County, and teaching volunteers lab work basics at the Sioux City Railroad Museum.

Connected for Life: Object-based Digital Programming to Foster Active Minds for Senior Living Communities

The Connected for Life project, supported by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the Coronavirus Aid, Relieve, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, due for completion on September 30, was extended through December 31. Over the duration of the project, the partnership of presenters from OSA, Stanley Museum of Art, UI Libraries, and UI Pentacrest Museums reached 1,006 participants at senior living communities and senior centers in Iowa via 114 Zoom programs. The team also added new themed pages with photo galleries to the project website.

The Community Engaged Scholars Partnership

In June, OSA successfully completed a year-long grant project for the University of Iowa (UI) Community Engaged Scholars Program, supported by the UI Office of the Vice President for Research. OSA began collaboration during the fall of 2021 with the Historical Society & Museum located in Elgin, Iowa (EHS), and introduced EHS leadership to our colleagues with the Meskwaki Nation and UI Department of Anthropology to share knowledge about archaeological and historical sites along the Turkey River in northeast Iowa, which is archaeologically very dense but sorely under documented in the Iowa Site File. OSA worked with the grant partners to organize four community events, including an initial collaboration that capitalized on the July 2022 Elgin RAGBRAI stop and two “Archaeo-blitz” events where local residents could work with professional archaeologists and our student interns to identify their artifacts, record new site locations, and learn collections care tips. Raising awareness about Indigenous connections, both past and present, to the Turkey River was a key goal of the community engagement aspect, so the grant partners collaborated to insure the Archaeo-blitz events included presentations, exhibits, and performances by Meskwaki and Ho-Chunk historians, artists, and dancers. Between the four events, the team connected with over 500 attendees and participants and recorded 21 new archaeological sites in Fayette County. OSA staff and interns produced two ArcGIS StoryMaps to document project events and resources.  

@IOWAARCHAEOLOGY

The education and outreach content on the OSA website remained a vigorous, interactive conduit between the public and the OSA. The OSA’s social media pages were an important venue for disseminating news and program information in FY 2023. Active social media platforms administered by the OSA include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.