Archeological Data Recovery at the Elbee and Karishta sites, Knife River Indian Villages NHS

Post Date

May 4th 2010

Application Due Date

May 6th 2010

Funding Opportunity Number

NPS-NOI-KNRI-10-GP01

CFDA Number(s)

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Cooperative Agreement

Funding Activity Categories

Science and Technology and other Research and Development

Number of Awards

1

Eligibility Categories

Other

This is a "Notice of Intent" of a single source task agreement award to the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota under the Great Plains Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU). The cooperator for this project was chosen because of the unique ability. The complex nature of this project and the multiple tasks that need to be accomplished require personnel with expertise and extensive experience that UND, with its premier academic credibility in Northern Great Plains archeology, its proximity to KNRI, and its capability of training undergraduate students by way of its formalized archeology field school, is staffed. The principal investigator, is a professor of anthropology/archeology at the University of North Dakota. The PI and his associates have over forty years of extensive experience in prehistoric and protohistoric archeology of the Great Plains and are considered the foremost experts on the types of archeology and landforms in North Dakota, subject to intensive erosional processes, that are critical components to this project. The PI and the University of North Dakota is selected as the cooperator because they have an established research program in North Dakota and a specific research interest in KNRI that include the Elbee and Karishta sites. The PI has conducted previous investigations at the Elbee site in 2003 and, using this work as a foundation, is best positioned to pursue efforts at Elbee that address questions of significant importance to the Upper Missouri culture area, the development of the Hidatsa culture, and landscape interpretation at KNRI.

Funding

• Estimated Total Funding:

  $150000

• Award Range:

  $None - $150000

Grant Description

The NPS plans to conduct archeological data recovery within portions of the Elbee (32ME408) and Karishta (32ME466) sites immediately adjacent to the bank of the Knife River that sustained significant damage during the spring 2009 flood event at KNRI, Mercer County, North Dakota . Both the Elbee and Karishta sites are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as contributing sites of the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site Archeological District as of October 26, 1974 and revised on July 25, 1987. This data recovery project is being conducted in order to collect archeological information from areas within these two sites that are in imminent danger of loss during future high-water conditions. A recent archeological damage assessment (April 2009) conducted by archeologists from the Midwest Archeological Center (MWAC) concluded that these sites had sustained significant damage during the spring 2009 high-water event and that data recovery, in order to salvage threatened near-bank archeological resources, is necessary for the long-term preservation of the archeological information contained within the Elbee and Karishta sites. The overall goals of this data recovery project are to (1) preserve a record of the archeological resources within the immediate vicinity of erosional banks at these two sites that would be adversely affected by future high water flood events, and (2) gather information that would produce a more complete understanding and interpretation of prehistoric activities at the Elbee and Karishta sites. The data recovery project will be conducted in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, the Archeological Resources Protection Act, the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Archeology, and applicable NPS guidelines. This agreement will also assist UND with training of its archeological field school students in excavation techniques. The University of North Dakota 2010 Archeological Field School will assist in conducting the excavations at both the Elbee and Karishta sites during May/June 2010. By assisting with the UND field school, the NPS will directly contribute to fulfilling the educational requirements for the undergraduate Anthropology majors attending the 2010 archeological field school.

Contact Information

• Agency

  Department of the Interior

• Office:

  National Park Service

• Agency Contact:

  Tonya Bradley
  Contract Specialist
  Phone 402-661-1656

• Agency Mailing Address:

  Help Desk

• Agency Email Address:

  tonya_bradley@nps.gov