June 20, 2007

Stephen Morris

Chief, Office of International Affairs (0050)

1201 Eye Street, NW, Suite 550A

U.S. National Park Service

Washington, D.C. 20240

Dear Mr. Morris:

Thank you for your letter of May 18, 2007, explaining why you do not
currently intend to recommend the Meadowcroft Rockshelter for inclusion
in the new World Heritage Tentative List. Your letter cites two reasons
for your decision: (1) lack of adequate comparison in our application to
other known sites in the U.S. and other countries, and (2) the current
lack of an international theme study of such early sites. There is also
an implication that the site does not sufficiently address issues of
universal concern. In response, I would like to offer the following
comments to justify the Meadowcroft site as a viable member of that new
list.

While there are many other closed (i.e., rockshelter or cave) sites in
the Americas and the world at large, Meadowcroft is unique from a
variety of perspectives. As stated in our original application,
Meadowcroft evidences a remarkable depth of deposits (over 4 meters)
which contain a very long occupational record (16,000+ years). Moreover,
the continuous nature of the depositional process at this locality has
effectively sealed hundreds of individual visitation episodes between
culturally sterile deposits. This has allowed for the preservation of
literal "moments in time."

At the recent International Union for Prehistoric and Protohistoric
Sciences conference in Lisbon, Portugal, an international symposium of
cave and rockshelter excavators concluded that the excavations at
Meadowcroft represent a level of scientific precision unparalleled in
any other cave or rockshelters studied to date. As such, the site does
have outstanding universal value. Furthermore, because of the
state-of-the-art recovery and documentation protocols, as well as the
accessibility of the site to visitors, Meadowcroft affords the unique
opportunity to serve as an education and interpretive vehicle which is
second to none on the planet. While several cave sites in the Americas
(e.g., Russell Cave, Alabama) and Europe (e.g., the many sites near Les
Eyzies, France) can be visited by the public, none of them affords the
astonishing micro-stratigraphic record or reflects the level of
excavation precision as does Meadowcroft.

It is important to note that while some consider the debate over the
earliest migrations to the Americas ongoing, the Meadowcroft Rockshelter
transcends that single issue. The long sequence of depositional events
at Meadowcroft is key to understanding the colonization of the western
hemisphere. After more than three decades of active study, Meadowcroft
has solidified its place in the bigger story of the colonization of the
planet by anatomically and behaviorally modern humans. Moreover, the
clear and precise record of the prehistoric climate and environment
provided by the Meadowcroft excavation is of global significance in its
own right. The wealth of evidence from this site reveals important
macro- and micro- floral, faunal, and climatological changes, while also
illustrating the adjustment of people to an ever-changing environment
throughout prehistory. This evidence, although specific to eastern North
America, provides depth, detail, balance, and completeness to the global
human story.

I appreciate the open nature of this process, and I would ask that we be
given the opportunity to revise our application to address your comments
in more detail and to clarify our argument that Meadowcroft would make a
strong nominee for World Heritage Site designation.

Sincerely,

David R. Scofield

Director