Texas Administrative Code › Title 13 - CULTURAL RESOURCES › Part 2 - TEXAS HISTORICAL COMMISSION › Chapter 25 - STATE ARCHEOLOGICAL PROGRAM › Section 25.1 - Definitions

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter,
				  shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise.
(1) Abandoned cemetery--A
				non-perpetual care cemetery containing one or more graves and possessing
				cemetery elements for which no cemetery organization exists and which is not
				otherwise maintained by any caretakers. It may or may not be recorded in the
				deed records of the county in which it lies.
(2) Antiquities--The tangible artifacts and
				objects of the past that relate to human life and culture.
(3) Archeological investigation--Any research
				activity applied to archeological sites and the material remains in or removed
				from such sites, including survey, excavation, documentation, conservation,
				mapping, and analysis.
(4)
				Archeological preservation--The protection and conservation of the
				archeological and heritage of Texas.
(5) Archeological site--Any land or
				marine-based place that contains material remains of past human life or
				activities in their original or historical context that are at least 50 years
				of age or a place that has been determined by the commission to be of
				transcendent historical or cultural significance.
(6) Archeology division--A division of the
				commission that includes the office of the state archeologist.
(7) Artifact--A tangible object that relates
				to human life and culture of the past. Examples include, but are not limited to
				items constructed, altered, created, or used by humans. Paleontological remains
				and geological specimens are not included unless occurring in or related to an
				archeological context.
(8)
				Avocational archeologist--Any individual with demonstrated training, skill
				and/or experience in archeological investigation who is not a professional
				archeologist.
(9) Burials and
				burial pits--Marked and unmarked locales of a human burial or burials. Burials
				and burial pits may contain the remains of one or more individuals located in a
				common grave in a locale. The site area may contain gravestones, markers,
				containers, coverings, garments, vessels, tools, and other grave objects or
				could be evidenced by the presence of depressions, pit feature stains, or other
				archeological evidence.
(10)
				Cemetery--A place that is used or intended to be used for interment, and
				includes a graveyard, burial park, unknown cemetery, abandoned cemetery,
				mausoleum, or any other area containing one or more graves or unidentified
				graves.
(11) Conservation
				easement--A nonpossessory interest in real property that imposes limitations or
				affirmative obligations on the person holding the possessory or fee interest,
				as defined and authorized in Texas Natural Resources Code Chapter
				183.
(12) Curatorial facility--A
				museum or repository that holds and maintains archeological
				collections.
(13) Historic
				preservation--The protection and conservation of the archeological and
				historical heritage of Texas.
(14)
				Historic resource--Any site, complex, building or structural remains of
				historical or archeological interest and its contents. Examples include, but
				are not limited to, prehistoric habitation sites, mounds, open campsites and
				rock shelters; mines, quarry areas and lithic procurement areas; game
				procurement and processing sites; petroglyph and pictograph sites; historic
				shipwrecks; remnants of historic buildings and structures; cemeteries; dumps
				and trash heaps; and military sites. Only resources at least 50 years old, or
				which have been determined by the state archeologist to be of transcendent
				historic importance, are considered historical resources within the meaning of
				this chapter.
(15) History
				(historic, historical)--The recording and study of past cultures, events, or
				resources created in the past and includes prehistory, relating to events
				occurring prior to written history.
(16) Human remains--The body of a
				decedent.
(17) Interment--The
				intended permanent disposition of human remains by entombment, burial or
				placement in a niche.
(18)
				Inventory of sites--Any form of tabulating, collecting, and holding
				archeological site records, and all activities which maintain that inventory,
				including restricted data contained within the Texas Historic Sites Atlas
				electronic database.
(19)
				Professional archeologist--An archeologist certified by the Register of
				Professional Archeologists (RPA) for the level of required investigation;
				anyone determined a professional archeologist by the state archeologist,
				according to the criteria of the RPA; or anyone meeting required qualifications
				and standards detailed in pertinent state rules (§
									RSA 26.4
				of this title) or federal requirements specified in the Secretary of Interior's
				Professional Qualifications Standards (36 CFR Part 61, Appendix A) for
				archeological investigations.
(20)
				Site records--All data and information relating to the character, condition,
				and location of any archeological site or other historic resource and all data
				and information pertinent to collections of material remains. Site records
				include, but are not limited to, artifact catalogues, photographs, digital
				imagery, maps, spatial imagery, notes, drawings, site data forms, TexSite
				electronic forms, documents, audio data, and electronic data.
(21) State archeologist--The position
				authorized by Texas Government Code §
									RSA 442.007,
				responsible for the administration of the state archeological
				program.
(22) Steward--A current
				member of the Texas Archeological Stewardship Network.
(23) Texas Archeological Stewardship Network
				or TASN--A volunteer program administered by the commission. The TASN is
				composed of volunteer avocational archeologists selected for their demonstrated
				skills, experience and abilities to assist the commission with archeological
				investigations, research, preservation efforts, training, and public outreach
				endeavors.
(24) TexSite form--The
				standardized electronic form for recording archeological site information as
				developed by the commission and Texas Archeological Research Laboratory of The
				University of Texas.
(25) Unknown
				cemetery--An abandoned cemetery evidenced by the presence of marked or unmarked
				graves that does not appear on a map or in deed records.
(26) Unverified cemetery--A location having
				some evidence of human burial interments, but in which the presence of one or
				more unmarked graves has not been verified by a person described by §
									RSA 711.0105<subdiv>(a)</subdiv>
				of the Health and Safety Code of Texas or by the commission.
(27) Unidentified grave--A grave that is not
				marked in a manner that provides the identity of the interment.
(28) Verified cemetery--The location of a
				human burial interment or interments as verified by the commission.