bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The military munitions rule
Authors: Green David R. , Bell David E.
Published: February 2007

The Federal Facility Compliance Act (FFCA) of 1992 expanded the waiver of sovereign immunity to allow imposition of fines and penalties against federal facilities for violating federal, state, and local solid and hazardous waste management requirements. Section 107 of the FFCA required the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and appropriate state officials, to propose and promulgate regulations identifying when conventional or chemical military munitions become hazardous waste subject to regulation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The authors discuss the development of the EPA Munitions Rule and how environmental and military requirements are addressed in the rule.
Reengineering the federal planning process: A total federal planning strategy, integrating nepa with modern management tools
Authors: Eccleston Charles H.
Published: February 2007

Congress established the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) more than a quarter of a century ago, yet there is a surprising lack of specific tools, techniques, and methodologies for effectively implementing these regulatory requirements. Lack of professionally accepted techniques is a principal factor responsible for many inefficiencies. Often, decisionmakers do not fully appreciate or capitalize on the true potential NEPA provides as a platform for planning future actions. New approaches and modern management tools must be adopted to fully achieve NEPA's mandate.

A new strategy, referred to as Total Federal Planning, is proposed for unifying large‐scale federal planning efforts under a single, systematic, structured, and holistic process. Under this approach, the NEPA planning process provides a unifying framework for integrating all early environmental and nonenvironmental decisionmaking factors into a single, comprehensive planning process. To promote effectiveness and efficiency, modern tools and principles from the disciplines of Value Engineering, Systems Engineering, and Total Quality Management are incorporated. Properly integrated and implemented, these planning tools provide the rigorous, structured, and disciplined framework essential to achieving effective planning.

The goal of a Total Federal Planning strategy is to construct a unified and interdisciplinary framework that substantially improves decisionmaking, while reducing the time, cost, redundancy, and effort necessary to comply with environmental and other planning requirements. At a time when Congress is striving to re‐engineer the governmental framework, and process, a Total Federal Planning philosophy offers a systematic approach for unifying the disjointed and convoluted planning process most federal agencies use. This philosophy has widespread implications in the way federal planning is approached.
Implications of resources management at the nevada test site
Authors: Malone Charles R.
Published: February 2007

The U.S. Department of Energy's Nevada Test Site (NTS) is taking steps to implement the department's policy on long‐term stewardship of land and facilities. They are following an approach consisting of comprehensive resources management based on the federal ecosystem management initiative. Results of the program will be applied to planning new facilities and future land uses at the NTS. One important aspect will be the NTS Environmental Restoration Program, a critical factor in future uses of the site. Information acquired through resources management planning can be used at the NTS for evaluating environmental risks, deciding cleanup priorities and alternative remedial strategies, and for future land use planning. The NTS land and facilities resources management program might serve as a model for other DOE sites.
Designing a pollution prevention procurement (p3) survey: Are we getting the best of what's already available?
Authors: Cooke William J.
Published: February 2007

In order to identify if existing pollution prevention (P2) opportunities are being fully exploited we designed a Pollution Prevention Procurement (P3) survey to examine hazardous materials (HM) procurement practices. The complete HM procurement cycle from procurement initiation, review, and execution through post‐delivery management can be examined using a series of relatively simple questionnaires. Survey questions address such areas as controls and directives requiring the use of certain HM, types and nature of any procurement controls in place (e.g., technical reviews, quantity appropriateness, orders consolidation, etc.), knowledge of alternative materials and supply sources, impediments to ordering alternative material, and feedback from end users to procurement offices.

This article reveals those determinants in the procurement cycle where relatively small and simple changes can lead to reducing HM inventories and hazardous waste (HW) generations. It also highlights HM procurement “drivers” outside a particular command's control. This can help focus P2 efforts, avoiding time and effort on issues with little chance of local resolution. The P3 survey can be usefully applied to installations and activities of almost any size to better exploit existing opportunities.
Environmental noise contouring in the 21st century
Authors: Stewart Catherine M. , Luz George A.
Published: February 2007

Environmental Noise Contouring is used by the military to mitigate noise generated by training missions. More accurate noise prediction models are being developed to improve noise contouring. These models can be used for planning by the military and local governments to ensure the health and welfare of troops and people in surrounding communities. Current noise modeling software used by the Army does not account for the varying terrain surrounding airstrips and weapons ranges. New noise models will utilize digital data, such as topography and vegetation, to create more accurate noise contours that will be displayed with Geographic Information Systems. By using GIS to its fullest potential, military installations will be able to maximize property use and minimize noise impacts to surrounding communities.
National defense center for environmental excellence
Authors: Katz Michael A. , Hudson Jerry R.
Published: February 2007

The National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence (NDCEE) was established in 1991 to provide environmental solutions for the Department of Defense (DOD). This is being accomplished through the transfer of innovative technologies and implementation of management processes at DOD installations. In response to a wide variety of Defense and other federal agency stakeholder programs, the NDCEE has established an infrastructure in excess of $50 million—including approximately 400,000 square feet of technology demonstration factory. It has conducted projects totaling over $140 million and consists of a staff of nearly 150 professionals. In conjunction with this capability, NDCEE has developed strategic alliances and support from private industry with an investment that currently exceeds $6 million. This partnership has enabled NDCEE to transfer environmental technologies to the private sector and has allowed private sector successes and lessons learned to be effectively and efficiently transferred to DOD operations.

The success of the program can be demonstrated, in part, through its ability to:

• Provide Corpus Christi Army Depot with research, development, test, and evaluation (RDTE) assistance and site‐installed equipment to eliminate ozone‐depleting chemicals (ODCs) from their Depot operations;

• Assist Naval Aviation Depot Jacksonville with coating removal RDT&E to obtain a ten‐month payback on its $1 million investment in an ultrahigh pressure water‐jet (UHPWJ) system;

• Develop an effective Environmental Cost Analysis Methodology to properly evaluate the complete life‐cycle cost of technologies and weapons systems.

• Integrate a facility‐wide monitoring and management system at Tobyhanna Army Deport to ensure einvornmental compliance and toe implement pollution prevention (P2) technologies.
Confronting environmental pitfalls in industry downsizing and dod outsourcing and privatization
Authors: McAleese James
Published: February 2007

Industry and government executives have debated for some time the topic of outsourcing and privatization in the defense industry. Many believe that it is imperative that the obstacles to the Department of Defense's aggressive use of outsourcing and privatization be identified and that solutions be proposed to remove such obstacles. This article was written with the intent to assist organizations in identifying, minimizing, and allocating the potentially massive environmental liability that confronts contractors in any on‐site outsourcing and privatization services (i.e., depot support, coproduction and GOCOs, logistics, maintenance, remedial action contracting, and even generic “ash & trash” services). In addition, this article examines potential sources for recovery of environmental costs that contractors incur in consolidating their own facilities during discretionary downsizing or post‐merger restructuring.
The department of defense's proposed range rule
Authors: Murphy Joseph M. , Waugh Jeffrey H.
Published: February 2007

The management of munitions and unexploded ordnance (UXO) and associated regulatory requirements on ranges are of paramount importance to the Department of Defense (DOD). This article will summarize the key provisions of the proposed range rule as published in the Federal Register on September 26, 1997 and its associated risk assessment methodology.
A comprehensive environmental investigation of an active artillery range
Authors: Hunt John W. , Huntington Gregory N.
Published: February 2007

The Michigan Department of Military Affairs (MDMA) recently completed an environmental investigation of the 27,000‐acre Range 40 artillery and air‐to‐ground complex located at the Camp Grayling Army National Guard Training Site. The study, commenced in 1992 as part of a consent order agreement between the MDMA and state regulators, is an extensive five‐phase investigation designed to measure effects to the environment as a result of over 50 years of military training at this state owned and operated installation. Conducted under a $2.2 million contract awarded to QST Environmental, Inc. (formerly Environmental Science & Engineering, Inc.), this investigation‐commonly referred to as the “Range 40 Study”‐focused on groundwater, surface waters, wetlands, soils, sediments, and fish in and around the 7,000‐acre “impact” area situated in the central northern region of Michigan's lower peninsula.

Findings indicate that surface waters (lakes and streams), lake and stream sediments, groundwater, fisheries, and air quality have not been adversely impacted by explosive‐related chemicals. Findings do indicate the presence of low levels of metals in soils, lake and stream sediments, and groundwater. During the workplan process and subsequent investigations, results were obtained and lessons learned that could have implications on national defense readiness and environmental sustainability. This article will present these results and lessons learned, including:

Sustaining defense readiness through thegeneration and use of defendable scientific data.

Maintaining the training mission while protecting the environment and promoting sustainable range management. Examples include reconfiguration of ranges, realignment of white phosphorous firing boxes, and recycling of excess propellants.

The importance of an open dialogue with regulators, contractors, milita y trainers, local environmental interest groups, and citizens in preparation of sound workplans.

The incorporation of data such as historical use of ranges, soil and geological characteristics, and geographical features in determining an installation's potential for commencing a comprehensive study or sustainable range management plan.

Establishment of reliable statistically based background values.

Advantages of a phased methodology investigation.

Development of a long‐term groundwater monitoring plan.
A transition to mission‐based environmental stewardship of natural and cultural resources in the United States air force
Authors: Lillie Thomas H. , Montague J. Jerome
Published: February 2007

Failure to comply with conservation laws can directly impact military training by limiting or delaying access to training areas because of potential impacts to archaeological sites, endangered species, or other resources. In the late 1980s, the United States Air Force adopted a compliance‐based approach for managing its environmental program. Compliance with environmental laws and regulations became the basis for prioritizing and funding proposed activities including conservation. The annual environmental budget increased and the number of unresolved regulatory enforcement actions dropped significantly during the 1990s. The compliance‐based approach was designed to respond to laws that specify deadlines or quantitative standards and impose some type of enforcement action for failure to comply. An inherent weakness in the approach is that programs must be faced with noncompliance or the threat of legal action to compete for funding. Conservation laws that address stewardship of natural and cultural resources rarely specify deadlines, quantitative standards, or monitoring for compliance. Therefore, installation commanders have limited flexibility to develop a long‐term stewardship program that supports Air Force readiness training through ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation. The purpose of this article is to present and discuss a mission‐based approach to environmental stewardship of natural and cultural resources.
Next steps for management action plans in the department of defense cleanup program
Authors: Turkeltaub Robert , Ferrebee Patricia , Rowe William D.
Published: February 2007

Management Action Plans (MAPs) are documents used to identify and monitor environmental restoration requirements, priorities, schedules, and project funding at Department of Defense (DOD) installations. Each DOD installation with cleanup requirements has a MAP which serves as a consolidated source of information on an installation's past accomplishments, current status, and future strategy through completion of response actions. Regulatory agencies and community stakeholders provide direct input to DOD's environmental restoration program at the installation‐ level through MAP development meetings and a variety of MAP review opportunities. Installation‐specific MAPs are key building blocks for DOD's overall Program Objective Memorandum (POM), environmental restoration program budget, and environmental restoration program Annual Report to Congress. This article highlights recently published DOD MAP requirements and describes the central role that a MAP plays in communicating an installation's overall approach to achieving its environmental restoration goals.
Liability reduction and clean air compliance at air combat command
Authors: Senn Mary Ruth , Spoerer William , Pursley Charles
Published: February 2007

The Clean Air Act requires much action by Air Force bases to comply with its many and varied parts. This article discusses the alternatives used at Air Combat Command Air Force bases to avoid the more onerous requirements of the latest air regulations and reduce the probability of inspection and enforcement by regulators. These methods include pollution prevention initiatives, revision of air emissions inventories to incorporate more recent guidance and remove inaccuracies, modification of permits and permit applications to include limits and the cost avoidance and other associated benefits.
Conserving the department of defense's natural and cultural resources: Recent advances, new challenges
Authors: Peter Boice L.
Published: February 2007

The Department of Defense (DOD) has adopted a far‐reaching and challenging conservation goal. Yet, DOD faces significant challenges in achieving this goal. DOD managers are under increasing pressure from many directions regarding how to use and manage these resources. Recent actions have resulted in decidedly mixed results for the future health of the natural and cultural resources on DOD lands. It will take continued progress through such initiatives as implementing the Sikes Act Improvement Amendments and continuing to fund DOD‐wide conservation initiatives through the Legacy program to ensure the continued health of DOD's natural and cultural resources.
The cost‐benefit analysis of pollution prevention projects—environmental cost analysis methodology (ECAM)
Authors: Thoms John R.
Published: February 2007

This article discusses the implementation of the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program's (ESTCP) Environmental Cost Analysis Methodology at six Department of Defense (DOD) facilities. The article documents the successful application of this methodology on innovative technologies that target urgent environmental needs as identified by the DOD. This methodology successfully identified previously undocumented savings in excess of $1.0 million where it was applied. Highlighted are increased return on investment (ROI), payback, and net present value results quantified in the application of this methodology.

Through the efforts of the ESTCP and the National Defense Center for Environmental Excellence (NDCEE), operated by Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC), and Coopers & Lybrand, L.L.P. (C&L), the Environmental Cost Analysis Methodology (ECAMSM) was developed to provide users with a consistent and accurate tool for conducting financial analyses, especially where new technologies are being considered. Discussed in ECAM are activity‐based costing (ABC) methods and techniques used in the analysis and evaluation of new or modified technologies. The ECAM significantly improves the identification and assignment of conventional and environmental costs.
Cleaning it up and closing it down: Land use issues at rocky flats
Authors: Lowrie Karen , Greenberg Michael
Published: February 2007

Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, a former nuclear weapons production plant near Denver, Colorado, is scheduled for complete closure within the next decade. A number of important land use issues remain unresolved. High levels of uncertainty about future uses and dependence on decisions from Department of Energy (DOE) headquarters regarding the fate of plutonium make it difficult to produce a land use plan to guide cleanup and reuse decisions, and threaten the site's ability to achieve the accelerated cleanup milestone set for 2006. We recommend a scenario‐based participative land use planning process where competing interests, costs, risks, and benefits of alternate future uses are made apparent to all on‐site and off‐site stakeholders.
Integrated framework for assessment of site remediation options
Authors: Regens James L. , Hodges Donald G. , Wilkey Patrick L. , Zimmerman R. Eric , Armstrong Anthony Q. , Kelley Linda , Hall Timothy A. , Hughes Eugene A.
Published: February 2007

An integrated Technology Evaluation Framework was developed to help environmental managers select and deploy remediation technologies. The Technology Evaluation Framework allows managers to identify and systematically compare conventional and innovative remediation technologies to assess site remediation options. The Framework integrates eight criteria that are relevant to the technology selection and deployment decisions in order to assess site remediation options. The results of a pilot application of the Technology Evaluation Framework to data from four sites are presented.
Determining if a change to a proposal requires additional NEPA documentation — the Smithsonian solution
Authors: Eccleston Charles H.
Published: February 2007

Proposed actions tend to evolve over time. Once National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation is completed, agencies are at risk that subsequent changes may not be adequately covered or that existing NEPA documentation may be completely invalidated. Neither NEPA nor its subsequent regulations provide sufficient direction for determining the degree to which a proposed action may change before preparation of new or supplemental documentation is necessary. Yet, decision makers are routinely involved in determining if a change to a proposed action departs to such an extent from the description presented in the NEPA document that additional documentation is necessary. Experience demonstrates that no two decision makers will completely agree; one decision maker might believe that a particular change would not require additional documentation, while the other concludes the exact opposite.

Lacking definitive direction, decision makers and critics alike may point to a universe of potential considerations as the basis for defending their claim that a change in an action does or does not require new or additional NEPA documentation. Assertions are often based on equivocal opinions that can be neither proved nor disproved. Moreover, decision makers are frequently placed in the dilemma of justifying a decision, for which there is no generally accepted methodology on which to base it.

Lack of definitive direction can prolong the decision‐making process, resulting in project delays. This can also lead to inappropriate levels of NEPA documentation, inconsistencies in decision making, and increased risk of a legal challenge because of insuficient documentation. Clearly, a more sys tematic and less subjective approach is needed. A tool for streamlining the NEPA process, by reducing this degree of subjectivity, is presented in this article.
Coming full circle: The department of defense, American Indians, and Alaska natives
Authors: Leonard Richeson H.
Published: February 2007

As we move into the twenty‐first century, it is appropriate that the Department of Defense (DOD) has come full circle in its relationship with American Indians and Alaska Natives. Our evolution from adversary to partner culminated in the newly announced American Indian and Alaska Native Policy. This policy promotes the development of a government‐to‐government relationship between the DOD and federally recognized tribes and calls for the implementation of meaningful consultation and communication with tribes. The new policy also mandates that DOD be proactive in protecting tribal cultural and natural resources, and it is particularly strong in committing the agency to fulfilling its trust responsibilities to tribes. This was not always the case.
Environmental justice implementation stalled
Authors: Yamada Gerald H.
Published: February 2007

This article analyzes environmental justice approaches relying on the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and risk assessments. The article's author, Gerald H. Yamada, was the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) principal deputy general counsel for 13 years and was acting EPA general counsel for the first ten months of the Clinton administration. He concludes in his article that environmental justice implementation by EPA is stalled. His article provides an insightful perspective in support of his conclusion and suggests a way for EPA to rethink its approach to environmental justice.
Locations and environments of U.S. army training and testing lands: An ecoregional framework for assessment
Authors: Doe William W. , Shaw Robert B. , Bailey Robert G. , Jones David S. , Macia Thomas E.
Published: February 2007

The U.S. Army manages over 12 million acres of federal training and testing lands contained within military installations throughout the 50 United States. These lands are a critical national asset for defense readiness, dedicated to providing realistic training and testing environments for army units and equipment. The locations and physiographic diversity of the Army's current land inventory is a function of historical precedent, modern‐day land expansions, and requirements for strategic projection of forces. Many Army lands are relatively undeveloped, providing important ecological settings for a variety of flora and fauna, including many threatened and endangered species. As a responsible land steward, the Army is committed to protection and sustainable use of these natural resources, with concurrent benefit to both the army and the public. Army training and testing activities can cause environmental impacts that may be detrimental to the long‐term sustainment of ecological functions. These realities pose significant land management challenges to the Army. The application of established ecologicalframeworks for strategically assessing land‐use impacts and land management approaches is demonstrated for 31 major Army installations, using Bailey's “ecoregion classification system,” developed by the U.S. Forest Service. The Ecoregions framework is used to (1) classify and catalog the ecological diversity of Army lands, (2) provide a comparative framework for assessing land resiliencyfrom Army impacts, and (3) extrapolate knowledge of perturbed ecosystem behavior and response from one army installation to others in similar ecoregions.
The regulation of radioactive materials and wastes by federal agencies
Authors: Rudolph Thomas E.
Published: February 2007

Perhaps no area of environmental law is less understood than the law that regulates radioactive materials and wastes. Radiation experts such as health physicists who talk in terms of “curies,” “Sierverts,” and “critical mass” have a language and methodology that seem alien to most environmental practitioners used to dealing with the intricacies of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, the Clean Air Act, or the Clean Water Act. When I think of how most environmental engineers and attorneys view the rules that regulate radioactive materials, I am reminded of a Churchill quote that Russia was “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

Many people assume that virtually all rules pertaining to radioactive materials and waste are governed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regulations. While the NRC obviously is a major “player,” it is not the only one. Depending on the quantity and type of substance involved, the activity involved, that is, possession, use, transportation, disposal, or cleanup of contamination, other agencies may be “players” as well. Those agencies include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), other federal agencies such as the Department of Defense (DOD), and even state radiation protection agencies.
An interagency approach to managing cost and performance data for site remediation
Authors: Weisman Richard J. , Kingscott John
Published: February 2007

The Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable, an interagency working group, was created to build a more collaborative atmosphere among federal agencies involved in the remediation of hazardous waste sites. A major initiative of the Roundtable is to improve the type and availability of cost and performance data about remediation technologies. To date, the Roundtable has published 140 case studies, available on‐line at http://www.frtr.gov/cost, that document full‐scale and demonstration‐scale projects, covering in‐situ and ex‐situ technology applications for soil, groundwater, and solid media. This article provides an overview of the Roundtable's current inventory of case studies, overall approach to data management, standard reporting procedures, and observations and lessons learned.
Enzyme‐enhanced bioremediation at Thule Air Base, Greenland
Authors: Vinson Rob , Garret Ken
Published: February 2007

Thule Air Base (TAB) experienced a 23,000 gallon J‐8 fuel release in March 1997. Versar mobilized an emergency response team to prevent the fuel from reaching locations where it could impact the arctic marine wildlife the indigenous population depends upon for sustenance level hunting. Versar excavated 16,000 cubic yards (CY) of fuel‐contaminated soil, then placed 9,000 CY of backfill to reconstruct the riverbank impacted by the release. Human health and ecological risk assessments were performed to establish a risk‐based cleanup criteria. Remediation technologies were screened for cost, logistical constraints and probability of success in an Arctic location. Enzyme‐enhanced bioremediation was selected and a treatability study conducted during summer of 1998. The study assessed (1) applying a multienzyme compound break down the fuel into simple fatty acids; (2) adding nutrients to promote bacteria growth, and (3) watering and mixing the soil maintain suitable moisture and oxygen content to enhance the bioremediation process.
Relative risk data guidance on DOD's assessment of overall environmental quality and restoration
Authors: Prasad Surya S. , Danilowicz Andrew
Published: February 2007

This article addresses the validation of data generated by the Department of Defense Environmental Restoration Program (DERP) Relative Risk Site Evaluation process, the process used to determine the relative risk of sites containing, or potentially containing, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)‐designated contaminants. Relative risk data are used to categorize sites, establish cleanup priorities, and report on progress in the Department of Defense's (DOD's) environmental restoration program. To ensure the validity of these data, the military services submit data twice a year to the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Environmental Security (ODUSD[ES]) for verification. The core of the validation process is the recalculation of quantitative data on contaminants. This article describes the validation process and reports the results from the fall 1998 review period. The findings from this review indicate that relative risk site evaluations are generating meaningful data for categorizing sites and prioritizing work.
Cumulative air quality effects assessment
Authors: Rumrill Jeff N. , Canter Larry W.
Published: February 2007

Federal agencies in the United States are required to consider the cumulative effects (CEs) of their activities combined with those of others. This requirement has placed a burden on the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process due to the technical complexities involved with cumulative effects assessment (CEA). This article presents a CEA methodology that reduces some of the inherent complexities by focusing on the cumulative influence to a single environmental resource, ambient air quality. An eight‐step method is presented herein as a tool for the assessment of cumulative air quality effects. Procedures for accomplishment of the more difficult steps, such as the determination of what activities to include in the evaluation and how to determine the significance of a cumulative effect, are also included.
Emissions related to munitions firing: A case study of nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and energetic residue from detonable munitions
Authors: Szostak R. , Cleare K.
Published: February 2007

Overall, the detonation of munitions represents an environmentally clean reaction. Six kilotons of energetic materials were expended in this case study during training in 1996. These included nitrocellulose (55 percent), trinitrotoluene (TNT) (30 percent), nitroglycerine (5 percent), nitroguanidine (4 percent), dinitrotoluene (DNT) (3 percent), and Royal Dutch Explosive (RDX) (3 percent). Based on previously reported test data (BangBox), energetic detonation emissions of environmental concern were calculated to be less than 1 percent. This residue contains nitrogen oxides (88 percent), a mix of volatile organic compounds (11 percent), and possibly undetonated RDX (<1 percent). Preliminary assessment of emissions produced by munitions in this study indicates that both nitrogen oxide (NOX) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions are low relative to other NOX and VOC producing activities including emissions from biogenic (natural) sources. Though the amount of undetonated RDX is low, further work is needed to validate this number and determine whether this source represents any significant health or environmental impact.
Articulation of bone identification with native American beliefs, civil authority, and military installation management
Authors: Mann Diane K.
Published: February 2007

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) reflects the unique relationship between the federal government and Native American Indian nations by increasing their jurisdiction over disposition and treatment of ancestral human remains and related artifacts. Native American Indians who believe that curation and study are not appropriate treatment for the dead obtained explicit legal protection for unmarked graves.

The challenge faced by installation commanders in complying with NAGPRA and Department of Defense American Indian and Alaska Native Policy (October 1998) is to attain a balance that ensures appropriate treatment of skeletal remains. This includes economical identification of nonhuman remains, efficient interaction with criminal investigators when appropriate, and respectful treatment of Native American remains until correctly repatriated. Fort Polk, Louisiana, and the Caddo Nation serve as an example for clarifying the roles of civil authorities, Indian religious leaders, and scientists.
The birth of El Niño: Geoarchaeological evidence and implications
Authors: Rollins Harold B. , Richardson James B. , Sandweiss Daniel H.
Published: February 2007

The oceanographic phenomenon known as El Niño is the subject of intensive recent study. Any hypotheses regarding physical causes and predictability of El Niño should consider its geological history.

New geoarchaeological evidence suggests that the El Niño phenomenon did not exist along the northern and central coasts of Peru before about 5000 years B.P. Molluscan faunas from archaeological sites at Pampa las Salinas and Salinas de Chao permit temporal bracketing of a major structural change in the East Pacific water mass. The boundary between the warm Panamic Province and the cold Peruvian Province, which today occurs at about 5 degrees south latitude, was some 500 km further south from at least 11,000 years B.P. to about 5000 years B.P. This conclusion is corroborated by many other lines of evidence including phosphorite distribution, timing of glacial retreat, sea level change, radiolarian, diatom and fish scale distributions, and beach ridge patterns. The present day arid coastal climate of north central Peru is probably a post‐5000 year B.P. development. Hunter–gatherer populations of the area would most likely have exploited more land‐based seasonal resources from grasslands and forests before 5000 years B.P., and relied less upon the diminished productivity of warm water maritime resources.
The formation of farm mounds on the Island of Sanday, Orkney
Authors: Davidson Donald A. , Harkness Douglas D. , Simpson Ian A.
Published: February 2007

A recent archaeological site survey of the island of Sanday on Orkney has identified a distinct concentration of 15 farm mounds. An immediate need is to determine the nature, age, and processes of formation of these very distinctive landform features. This paper reports a geoarchaeological investigation of three mounds at Westbrough, Langskaill, and Skelbrae. For the island as a whole, the mounds vary in diameter from 50 to 205 m, with deposits up to a thickness of 4.3 m. The mounds vary in their morphology, reflecting complex processes of accumulation, often intense disturbance, and in some cases, erosion by the sea. Sections at the three sites are described with analytical data also being given for particle size, percent loss‐on‐ignition, total phosphate, δ13C, and radiocarbon dating. The Westbrough and Skelbrae mounds were formed post‐7th century A.D.; more detailed dating was possible for the Langskaill site, which was initiated in the early to mid 13th century. A steady and relatively rapid sedimentation rate (ca. 1.9 cm year−1) took place over the 200 years following the initiation of the mound. The lower part of the Westbrough mound is distinguished by the presence of peat, interpreted as discarded bedding material, but the remainder of the investigated sections are composed dominantly of mineral sediments containing organic matter of terrestrial origin. It is suggested that these materials accumulated from the ash of domestic hearths as well as from the residues of bedding material from the byres (cattle sheds). Turves (vegetation plus some underlying soil) would have been cut, dried, and then used in the byres and such turves would have retained a significant mineral content. The implication is that the inherent fertility of the island made it unnecessary for the farmers to spread the dung over the fields. This may explain why there is the distinct concentration of these mounds on the island of Sanday, an island noted in earlier times for its fertile soils developed on calcareous sands.
Climate change and human settlement around the late‐glacial laguna De Punta Negra, northern Chile: The preliminary results
Authors: Lynch Thomas F.
Published: February 2007

Major bodies of fresh water are extremely scarce in the dry Atacama region. Unlike the Salar de Atacama, which has no outlet, the Salar de Punta Negra (24$ 35′ S, 3000 m elevation) used to spill north into the Atacama drainage. Archaeological survey of the beaches and spillway above today's salar indicates late‐glacial human use of the 800 km2 lake and environs under a contrasting climate regime. The histories and water budgets of the Pleistocene lakes of the south‐central Andes are not well understood, but archaeological data can be interpreted to support (1) hypotheses that would bring westerly storm tracks and winter rain further north 14,000 to 10,000 B.P., especially if accompanied by increasing warmth for part of the period, and/or (2) theories of orbital variation, increased summer insolation, and strengthened monsoons that would provide generally increased rainfall at the Tropics 10,000 to 9000 B.P. Archaeological, paleoclimatological, and geomorphological studies come together to show how this large lake could be a focus of human activity from the time of first settlement of the Atacama region.
Paleosols and prehistoric populations in the high plains
Authors: Jorstad T. , East T. , Adovasio J. M. , Donahue J. , Stuckenrath R.
Published: February 2007

Excavations in 1980–1981 at sites (32MZ319 and 32MZ380) along Cinnamon Creek Ridge in the Little Missouri River Badlands of McKenzie County, North Dakota, unexpectedly revealed at each locality the presence of one or more deeply buried paleosols with associated cultural materials. At both sites, 32MZ319 and 32MZ380, multiple paleosols are present, each of which is terminated by an episode of aeolian deposition. Fifteen radiocarbon dates on these paleosols establish an incipient chronology for paleosol development in the study area and permit correlation with other High Plains archaeological complexes. Geological and archaeological data for the two multiple paleosol sites are summarized.
A review of geophysical methods used in archaeology
Authors: Wynn Jeffrey C.
Published: February 2007

Geophysical methods have been used with increasing frequency in archaeology since 1946; aerial photography has been used since 1919. The geophysical methods that are most commonly used at present are electrical resistivity, magnetics, and ground‐probing radar. Magnetic detectors, particularly when used in a gradient mode or with a continuously recording base station, are used at almost all sites where any geophysical methods are used. Portable, noncontacting electromagnetic soil‐conductivity systems are also being increasingly used because of their very high rate of data acquisition. Less commonly used methods include self‐potential (sometimes called spontaneous potential), microgravity, radiometric, thermal infrared imagery, and sonic or seismic techniques. Recent developments in image processing and graphic representation have contributed substantially to the archaeologist's ability to do “rescue archaeology,” that is, to carry out high‐speed, nondestructive reconnaissance surveys for ancient human cultural evidence in advance of modern industrial development.
Geoarchaeological research in the coastal plain portion of the Savannah River valley
Authors: Brooks Mark J. , Stone Peter A. , Colquhoun Donald J. , Brown Janice G. , Steele Kathy B.
Published: February 2007

Selected archaeological, stratigraphical, sedimentological, hydrological, sea level, and 14C data are considered in order to ascertain the times and rates of saltmarsh, floodplain, river swamp, and alluvial terrace development in the lower Savannah River valley. Archaeological data are emphasized in the elucidation of these developmental trends and their environmental correlates. It is concluded that the modern environments associated with the categories of archaeological sites examined (estuarine shell middens, river swamp point bar sites, raised terrace/point bar sites) are not representative of local conditions during occupation(s). Accordingly, a mid‐Holocene development of lower energy depositional environments is documented, along with a corresponding shift in subsistence‐settlement patterning that suggests more diffuse, or broad spectrum, socio‐economic strategies. A base level (sea level) dominance on river sedimentation, even far inland from the coast, may also be indicated.
Assessing archaeological evidence for seismic catastrophies
Authors: Rapp George
Published: February 2007

Archaeologists frequently ascribe “destruction” layers uncovered during excavation to the effects of earthquake‐induced phenomena. Undoubtedly, ancient societies that lived in active seismic zones were as plagued by seismic destruction as we are today. However, other geological phenomena can account for many observed features. This paper reviews the geologic and archaeological background for assessing the evidence for prehistoric earthquake destruction.
Contemporary archaeomagnetic results and the accuracy of archaeomagnetic dates
Authors: Eighmy Jeffrey L. , Hathaway J. Holly
Published: February 2007

When multiple archaeomagnetic samples are collected from the same site or component, it is tempting to look for evidence of temporal differences between the collected features. This paper addresses the issue of the practical limits to confidently identifying temporal differences based on archaeomagnetic sample information. Three controlled data sets suggest that when the specimen polar projections of the samples compared have substantially overlapping ranges and when sample mean projections are less than five degrees apart, statistical comparisons do not support conclusions about probable age differences. These results suggest that temporal differences less than 50 to 100 years (depending on the rate of directional change in the geomagnetic field) between features within a site or component will be difficult to confidently identify. Additional analysis leads to the hypothesis, however, that the averaged results from sets of archaeomagnetic samples might provide the basis for making fine scale temporal distinctions between sites or components from which multiple archaeomagnetic samples have been collected.
Thermoluminescence dating of an upper pleistocene site, Northern Pakistan
Authors: Rendell H. M. , Dennell R. W.
Published: February 2007

Thermoluminescence (TL) dates are presented for the Upper Pleistocene loess sequence that overlies a Paleolithic site 14.5 km southeast of Rawalpindi, northern Pakistan (lat. 33° 30′ 30″ long. 73° 10′ 40″). These dates provide the first dating of Pleistocene blade assemblages in Pakistan, and also indicate that the loess is associated with the last, and not just the penultimate, glaciation of the Himalayas as had been previously thought. The site includes the remains of a structure and numerous blade tools, and may have been used for skin‐working or some comparable activity. The ten TL dates presented span the age range 64–24 ka, and imply an early date for blade industries in the northern part of the Indian sub‐continent of ca. 45–42 ka.
A spatial analysis of neolithic chambered cairns on the island of Arran, Scotland
Authors: Perry Christine M. , Davidson Donald A.
Published: February 2007

The island of Arran, located to the west of central Scotland, has a dense concentration of Neolithic chambered cairns. The aim of this study is to determine by using a simulation analysis the extent to which thirteen factors influenced the distribution of cairns. Overall, proximity to arable land is shown to be of particular importance but the influence of stream order, coastal type, amplitude of relief, and aspect are also demonstrated to have been of relevance. Since there is little evidence from absolute dating, subdivision of cairns on typological grounds provides the only means for analyzing cairn distributions at three different phases. Results from simulation and cluster analysis indicate variation through time in importance of particular factors. Early cairns are only associated with low relief areas. For cairns of intermediate and later age, the factors as listed above are shown to have been of importance, with proximity to arable land becoming particularly relevant in the last phase. The paper discusses these results in terms of an increasing agricultural component to the Neolithic economy of Arran.
Mining for the lowest grade ore: Traditional iron production in northern Malawi
Authors: Wenner David B. , Van Merwe Nikolaas J. Der
Published: February 2007

Two contrasting, well preserved Iron Age mines are described from the Nyika Plateau of Malawi. At the first, Ncherenje, about 1600 m3 of material was mined over a linear distance of about 3 km from numerous shallow pits, several large excavations, and a number of underground shafts and horizontal tunnels. Here, low grade ore, ranging from 6.6 to 21.3 wt % Fe2O3 with small quantities of Fe‐ennched ironstone averaging about 36%, was excavated from the regolith which had developed upon gneissic bedrock. The second mine at Mbiri, is a single excavation where about 15.5 m3 of magnetite‐rich, partially weathered gneiss averaging 58% Fe2O3 was mined. Ethnographic studies as well as evidence from the mines themselves indicate that the low grade ore from Ncherenje was preferred by the smelters. The Mbiri ore contains insufficient silica to make a fayalite slag, a problem which can be overcome by adding old slag and lower grade material to the charge. Their two stage smelting technology, however, employs a primary natural draft furnace which essentially cannot produce high enough temperatures to melt high grade magnetite; it was apparently designed to process only low grade ore.
Prehistoric coastal ecologies: A view from outside Franchthi Cave, Greece
Authors: Thomas K. D.
Published: February 2007

Shackleton and van Andel have raised the question of past human selectivity in the collection of shellfish resources. They reconstruct, for the changing coastlines near Franchthi Cave during the post‐glacial transgression, changes in availability of various species of shellfish. The model of availability is compared with the archaeological record of shellfish from the cave. Shackleton and van Andel conclude that selectivity is demonstrated and that this was, in part, “idiosyncratic”.

A critical analysis of the model leads to the conclusion that, while the reconstructions of the likely positions of past coastlines may be acceptable, the reconstructions of mollusc availability at various times in the past are highly improbable. Sea‐level change is not the only important determinant of past coastal ecology although it will, of course, have an impact on the ways in which coastal ecosystems developed. Other factors (including the physical and chemical properties of the substratum, levels of productivity, and biological interactions), operating at various spatial and chronological scales, cannot be ignored or even subordinated.

The shellfish remains from the cave are the only objective evidence of man's exploitation of past coastal resources. Taphonomic analyses of the shells from the site would allow a number of important questions to be addressed, including the reasons for their collection and the possibility of over‐exploitation of certain species in the past.