Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 16 - History, Humanities and Arts › Part 3 - Historic Preservation Division › Chapter 12 - Mississippi Standards and Guidelines for Archaeological Investigations › Rule 16-3-12.5.2 - Archaeological Site Types

Current through June 25, 2024
Site types presented here are to provide conformity in
				  descriptive terminology and are by no means meant to be exhaustive in scope.
				  Site types are to be used in text descriptions on site cards and within the
				  body of reports/documents.
Architectural Scatter (Construction Materials)
An architectural scatter represents cultural artifacts and
				  debris that consist entirely of structural and/or construction materials. This
				  includes: architectural marble, brick, cement/concrete, cinderblock, fencing
				  (e.g. barbed wire, staples, etc.), flooring (e.g. linoleum), nails/nail
				  fragments, sewer and water pipes, spikes, roofing tiles, and window glass.
Ceramic Scatter
A ceramic scatter represents cultural artifacts that consist
				  solely of prehistoric ceramics.
Commercial/Industrial
Commercial/industrial sites refer to sites associated with
				  the production, manufacture, extraction, transport, marketing, sale/exchange,
				  or storage of a service/goods/product or range of services/goods/products, in
				  essence the material culture aspects of commerce and industry. As such, site
				  types can include a wide range of activities, from banking, early ironworks,
				  and water-powered mills to large modern factories, as well as ancillary sites
				  and structures such as worker housing, warehouses, and infrastructure.
Mining and other extractive industries
Mining and other extractive industries (Phase I, II, and
				  III) are made up of multiple components and may have different
				  functions/technological uses to utilize the natural resource being required.
				  For this reason, not only would this section include mining resources such as
				  rock, ore, or coal, but should also include activities such as silviculture,
				  oil and gas, cotton, indigo, catfish industry, and lumber industry. Mississippi
				  historically has had a multitude of extractive industries that utilize clays
				  found around the state, such as bentonite, ball clays, fullers earth, and
				  shale. Historic property types under this classification include: extraction
				  (such as silviculture, gravel pits, mines, natural gas fields and pipelines,
				  etc), benefication (such as a procession plant to make cement or brick), and
				  refining (such as lumber mills, oil refineries, natural gas processing plants,
				  etc.) These types of landscapes make it possible to learn about its historical
				  contribution and answer questions about regional agriculture, business,
				  commerce, settlement patterns, ethnic heritage, engineering, labor and laws.
				  The property may be associated with a significant person in the past, such as
				  LO Crosby with Picayune's lumber industry) or it may have a distinctive
				  engineering or architecture associated with it. (See NRHP Bulletin #42 for
				  further information.)
Domestic Scatter
A domestic scatter represents cultural artifacts and debris
				  that consists entirely of household items. This includes: arms (e.g. bullets,
				  gun parts, etc.), cans, clothing items (e.g. buttons, buckles, clothing
				  fasteners, etc.), ceramics (e.g. coarse and refined earthenware, stoneware,
				  porcelain, semi- and porcelaneous wares), currency, electrical (e.g. battery
				  cores, light bulbs, insulators, sockets, etc.), flora/fauna, furniture items
				  (e.g. mirror glass, upholstery tacks, etc.), glass (e.g. bottle, container,
				  dish, flask, jar, medicinal/cosmetic, stemware, tableware, tumbler, vase,
				  etc.), household hardware (e.g. doorknob, key, lock, hinge, hook, etc.), lids,
				  personal items (e.g. brushes, eyeglasses, jewelry, pipes, etc.), sewing items
				  (e.g. needle, thimble, etc.), tack (livestock items - horseshoes, bridle, bit,
				  etc.), tools, toys/gaming (e.g. dice, doll parts, marbles, etc.), utensils
				  (e.g. forks, knives, spoon, etc.), and writing items (inkwell, pencil, slate,
				  etc.).
Domestic and Architectural Scatter
A domestic and architectural scatter represents cultural
				  artifacts and debris consisting of both domestic and architectural material as
				  defined above.
Linear Resources (Phase I, II, and III)
Linear resources are those that manifest as long, narrow
				  individual structures, or as lined structures (classified by the National Parks
				  Service as districts). These can include those that are designed to convey
				  something (people, goods, power, communications, etc.) across long distances,
				  such as roads, railroads, trails, canals, irrigation and mining ditches, and
				  transmission lines, and those that are designed to bound or separate areas or
				  contain something, such as fence lines, walls, and levees. They frequently (but
				  not always) occur within a right-of-way spanning many individual properties,
				  communities, counties, states, or even nations.
Lithic Scatter
A lithic scatter represents cultural artifacts and debris
				  that consist entirely of lithic (i.e., stone) tools and chipped stone debris.
Lithic and Ceramic Scatter
A lithic and ceramic scatter represents cultural artifacts
				  and debris consisting of both lithic and prehistoric ceramic material as
				  defined above.
Lithic and/or Ceramic Scatter with Daub
A lithic and/or ceramic scatter with daub/fired clay
				  represents cultural artifacts and debris consisting of either lithic material
				  and daub/fired clay, ceramics and daub/fired clay, or both lithics and ceramics
				  with daub/fired clay. Daub and fired clay are created when clay is hardened by
				  fire. Daub represents mud plaster used to construct wattle-and-daub houses and
				  normally exhibits stick impressions from the wattle. Conversely, fired clay
				  lacks the stick impressions and may represent daub, plaster from around the
				  smoke hole in the roof, or pieces of a hearth.
Military
Military sites refer to archaeological sites associated with
				  military operations, such as barracks/living quarters, battlefields,
				  encampments, fortifications, foxholes, prisons/POW camps, staging areas,
				  training areas, trenches, etc. Military sites are easily defined
				  archaeologically, existing as relatively compact social, cultural, and physical
				  units. These sites and their occupants exhibit a cultural behavior that is
				  highly structural and stratified. As a result, they are functionally unique in
				  that they provide a unique perspective on the behavioral aspects of a culture
				  or cultures in conflict (i.e. at war). For more information, see
The
				  Historical Archaeology of Military Sites: Method and Topic
(2010 -
				  Texas A&M University Press) edited by Clarence Raymond Geier, Lawrence E.
				  Babits, Douglas Dowell Scott, and David G. Orr.
Battlefields (Phase I, II, and III)
Battlefields are made up of two components- battlefield land
				  and associated sites. Battlefield land refers to sites where armed conflict,
				  fighting, or warfare occurred between two opposing military organization or
				  forces recognized as such by their respective cultures (not civil unrest).
				  Associated sites refers to sites occupied before, during, or after a battle at
				  which events occurred that had a direct influence on the tactical development
				  of the battle or the outcome of the battle. A site
must be
				  associated with a battle
in order to be considered an associated
				  site.
Mound Sites
A mound is a deliberately constructed elevated earthen
				  structure or earthwork, intended for a range of potential uses. Native
				  Americans built a variety of mounds, including flat-topped/ platform mounds,
				  rounded cones, and ridge-shaped mounds. Some mounds took on unusual shapes,
				  such as the outline of cosmologically significant animals, or effigy mounds.
				  Some mounds, such as a few in Wisconsin, have rock formations, or petroforms
				  within them, on them, or near them.
Other Site Types
Landscapes (Phase I, II, and III)
It is relatively simple to determine when a building or
				  structure has lost its structural integrity and any potential significance lies
				  in its value as an archaeological site. More difficult, however, is deciding
				  when to treat a landscape as an archaeological site. Abandoned land, when
				  undisturbed by later development or construction, may retain surface or
				  subsurface features that can provide information important to an understanding
				  of historic or prehistoric activities. When land historically cleared and
				  cultivated is reforested, visual qualities of the historic period are lost, yet
				  landscape characteristics, such as walls, ditches, roadways, streams, and
				  canals, may still be in place and capable of indicating important patterns of
				  land use or organization.
Landscape archaeology may involve the examination of
				  characteristics, such as walls, road remnants, trail ruts, foundations, and
				  refuse sites. It may also draw information from observable patterns of erosion
				  and vegetation. A number of techniques may be used: analysis of soil
				  stratigraphy; analysis of pollens and other sediments through flotation and
				  core sampling to determine planting patterns; surficial surveys to identify
				  remnant vegetation, boundary demarcations, and evidence of land use; analyses
				  of existing vegetation or plant succession; remote sensing to detect buried
				  walls, foundations, and roadways; and excavation to uncover buried irrigation
				  systems, canals, or planting beds.
Assessments of significance are based on well-formulated
				  research design that considers the historic contexts for the study area. The
				  research design needs to indicate the landscape characteristics that are
				  represented in the site and the information the site is likely to provide about
				  the landscape characteristics that shaped an area in history or prehistory. It
				  must explain how the information will add to an understanding of the property.
				  The lack of other sources of information, such as written records or intact
				  properties, generally increases the importance of an archaeological site.
				  Please refer to NRHP Bulletin #30.
Plantations, Tenant Farms, and Farmsteads (Phase I,
				  II, and III)
Plantations, Tenant Farms, and Farmsteads are made up of
				  many components (natural and man-made)- houses, outbuildings,
				  ancillary/dependency buildings (carriage houses blacksmith shops,
				  commissaries/stores, etc.), gardens, fields, fence lines, tree lines, roadways,
				  creeks, hills, etc. They can also include churches, schools, and cemeteries.
				  These components when combined with one another into a landscape, start to
				  develop context for the human behavior and ideas of that time period. This
				  category of landscapes includes antebellum plantations, tenant farms (and
				  communities), urban farmsteads, etc. From this type of landscape it is possible
				  to learn more about issues of gender, ethnicity, multiculturalism, etc. These
				  landscapes have a "macro view" when talking about the entire landscape (i.e.:
				  the entire antebellum plantation and/or the associated community/similar
				  estates and plantations in the region) and a "micro-view" that can focus on
				  individual elements of that landscape (i.e.: slave quarters). Each one of these
				  "views" of a landscape can help to answer different questions about human life.
Traditional Cultural Properties (TCP)
The term "traditional cultural property" (TCP) is not
				  contained in NHPA, nor in the ACHP's regulations. Rather, it was officially
				  coined in 1990 when the National Register published Bulletin 38 to provide
				  guidance that interpreted the NHPA as applying to properties that had
				  traditional cultural significance to communities. Bulletin 38 is widely
				  utilized as guidance in identification, evaluation, and consideration of
				  effects of federal decisions on historic properties with traditional cultural
				  significance (i.e., TCPs), including those of cultural importance to Indian
				  tribes as well as other traditional communities. Bulletin 38 defines a TCP as
				  an historic property "that is eligible for inclusion in the National Register
				  because of its association with cultural practices or beliefs of a living
				  community that (a) are rooted in that community's history, and (b) are
				  important in maintaining the continuing cultural identity of the community"
				  (Parker and King 1998:1).
Like all historic properties, to be eligible for listing in
				  the NRHP, a TCP must generally be at least 50 years old, and meet at least one
				  of the following four evaluation criteria found at
				  36 CFR Section
				  60.4. In addition to these criteria, the NHPA
				  also contains seven criteria considerations that may render a property eligible
				  that is ordinarily considered ineligible for the NRHP.
Some examples of traditional cultural properties would
				  include:
1. A location associated with
				the traditional beliefs of a Native American group about its origins, its
				cultural history, or the nature of the world;
2. A rural community whose organization,
				buildings, and structures, or patterns of land use reflect the cultural
				traditions valued by its long-term residents;
3. An urban neighborhood that is the
				traditional home of a particular cultural group and that reflects its beliefs
				and practices;
4. A location where
				Native American religious practitioners have historically gone, and are known
				or thought to go today, to preform ceremonial activities in accordance with
				traditional cultural rules of practices; and
5. A location where a community has
				traditionally carried out economic, artistic or other cultural practices
				important in maintaining its historic identity.