Highlighted Project
PAL has an
excellent professional relationship with the all of the federally recognized
Native American tribes and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPO) in
New England. Over the past decade we have worked closely with the Wampanoag
Tribe of Gay Head/Aquinnah, Massachusetts in addressing their concerns
regarding Wampanoag cultural resources and traditional cultural properties
on tribal lands and private/public lands on Martha’s Vineyard. This work has
included archaeological survey and evaluations on 160 acres of tribal lands
in the town of Aquinnah, as well as the development of a historic
preservation plan for all their landholdings on the island. The preservation
plan includes an inventory of the cultural resources on tribal property
along with a discussion of the steps that are taken by the tribe to ensure
the protection and long-term preservation of these resources.
Recently, PAL worked with the Wampanoag Tribe and the Aquinnah Planning
Board Review Committee to perform archaeological surveys and site
evaluations under the island’s first archaeological resource protection
bylaw, passed in May 2001. The bylaw ensures that all new construction is
reviewed by the committee and that archaeological surveys of sensitive lands
are conducted where necessary. The Planning Board, in consultation with the
Tribe and the Massachusetts Historical Commission, determines what actions
should be taken to avoid, minimize, or mitigate for any damage to an
archaeological resource in the context of the local building permit
process.
PAL has conducted hundreds of
investigations in the ancestral territory, based in Rhode Island, of the
federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe. Since 1995, more than 125
surveys have been completed on the islands, in the interior, and along the
waterways and shores of the bay named for the Native occupants. These
include study, evaluation, and mitigation throughout the limits of the
tribe’s ancient homelands, and survey and planning investigations within the
National Register Historic Village of
the Narragansett in
Charlestown, and the ± 1,800 acres of their Reservation Lands, established
in 1978.
PAL and the Narragansetts have a solid relationship based upon 20 years of
dialogue and a resulting foundation of trust. We have worked closely with
the Tribal Council, the Narragansett Indian Anthropological and
Archaeological Committee, and the Narragansett Indian Tribal Historic
Preservation Officer in the consideration of proposed gaming facilities on
and off the Reservation, in compliance with consultation processes under
Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended,
and in the repatriation of affiliated skeletal and grave-related materials
for repatriation under the Native American Graves Protection and
Repatriation Act of 1990. Most recently, the Narragansett Tribe and PAL
archaeologists have worked together to develop protocols to identify,
preserve and protect ancient and historic burial grounds, and to recover and
repatriate graves inadvertently exposed during construction-related
projects.
PAL has consulted with the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot Tribes in Maine and Abenaki Nation tribal representatives in Vermont for projects conducted within the boundaries of their respective ancestral lands.
PAL is also working with regional indigenous peoples who have yet to gain federally recognized tribal status. We are currently working in Massachusetts with, and for, the Nipmuc Nation in the archaeological investigation and planned recovery of two submerged dugout canoes. In Rhode Island, PAL has coordinated archaeological survey of Rhode Island Department of Transportation projects with representatives of the Pokanoket Wampanoag Federation Tribe and Bands, and the Council of Seven/ Royal House of Pokanoket/ Wampanoag Nation. PAL has conducted archaeological investigation in Cranston, Rhode Island, in response to concerns of the Sovereign Abenaki Nation Massachusetts Area Office of Tribal Judge, Cowsuck Band of the Republic of the Abenaki Nation.