A.02.13 PWS Attachment 3 - NR Bulletin 38.pdf

. NATIONAL REGISTER·

BULLETIN

Technical information on comprehensive planning, s_urvey of cultural resources, and registration in the National Register of Historic Places.

U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service

Interagency Resources Division

Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties

Cover photographs:

Many traditional cultural properties are used for practical purposes by those who value them. This sedge preserve in northern California, for example, is tended and harvested by Pomo Indian basketmakers as a vital source of mate rial for making their world famous bas kets. The preserve was established at Lake Sonoma by the U.S. Army Corps of ,Engineers. (Richard Lerner)

This bedrock mortar in central Califor nia plays an essential role in processing Black Oak acorns. (Theodoratus Cul tural Research)

As the 1'J:ation's principal conservation agency, the Department of the Interior has responsibility for most of our nationally owned public lands and natu ral resources. This includes fostering the wisest use of our land and water resources, protecting our fish and wild life, preserving the environmental and cultural values of our nation parks and historical places, and providing for the enjoyment of life through outdoor recre ation. The Department assesses our energy and mineral resources and works to assure that their development is in the best interests of all our people. The Department also has a major responsi bility for American Indian reservation communities and for people who live in island territories under U.S. administra tion.

Guidelines for Evaluating and Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties

By Patricia L. Parker and Thomas F. King1

1 Dr. Parker is a cultural anthropologist and archeologist in the National Park Serv ice's Interagency Resources Division. Dr. King was Senior Archeologist and Director of the Office of Program Review and Education in the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation at the time this Bulletin was drafted; he is now in private practice as a consultant in archeology and historic preservation.

Introduction

What are traditional cultural properties?

The National Register of Historic Places contains a wide range of his toric property types, reflecting the diversity of the nation's history and culture. Buildings, structures, and sites; groups of buildings, structures or sites forming historic districts;

landscapes; and individual objects are all included in the Register if they meet the criteria specified in the National Register's Criteria for Evaluation (36 CFR §60.4). Such properties reflect many kinds of significance-in architecture, history, archeology, engineering, and culture.

There are many definitions of the word "culture;' but in the National Register programs the word is understood to mean the traditions, beliefs, practices, lifeways, arts, crafts, and social institutions of any community, be it an Indian tribe, a local ethnic group, or the people of the nation as a whole.2

2 For a detailed definition, see Appendix I.

One kind of cultural significance a property may possess, and that may make it eligible for inclusion in the Register, is traditional cultural signifi cance. "Traditional" in this context refers to those beliefs, customs, and practices of a living community of people that have been passed down through the generations, usually orally or through practice. The tradi tional cultural significance of a his toric property, then, is significance derived from the role the property plays in a community's historically rooted beliefs, customs, and prac tices. Examples of properties pos sessing such significance include:

• a location associated with the tra ditional beliefs of a Native American group about its origins, its cultural history, or the nature of the world;

• a rural community whose organi zation, buildings and structures, or patterns of land use reflect the cul tural traditions valued by its long term residents;

• an urban neighborhood that is the traditional home of a particular cul tural group, and that reflects its beliefs and practices;

• a location where Native American religious practitioners have histori cally gone, and are known or thought to go today, to perform cer emonial activities in accordance with traditional cultural rules of practice;

and

• a location where a community has traditionally carried out economic, artistic, or other cultural practices important in maintaining its histori cal identity.

A traditional cultural property, then, can be defined generally as one 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. Various kinds of traditional cultural proper ties will be discussed, illustrated, Numerous black people left the South to migrate to the Midwest. The A.M.E. Church (on the left) and District No. 1 School remain in Nicodemus Historic District in Nicodemus, Kansas, which was declared a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior in 1976. (Clayton B. Fraser for the Historic American Buildings Survey) and related specifically to the National Register Criteria later in this bulletin.

Purpose of this Bulletin

Traditional cultural values are often central to the way a commu nity or group defines itself, and maintaining such values is £ten vital to maintaining the group's sense of identity and self respect.

Properties to which traditional cul tural value is ascribed often take on this kind of vital significance, so that any damage to or infringement upon them is perceived to be deeply offensive to, and even destructive of, the group that values them. As a result, it is extremely important that traditional cultural properties be considered carefully in planning;

hence it is important that such prop rties, wh n they ar eligible for inclusion in the National Regis ter, be nominated to the Register or otherwise identified in inventories for planning purposes.

Traditional cultural properties are often hard to recognize, however. A traditional ceremonial location may look like merely a mountaintop, a lake, or a stretch of river; a cultur ally important neighborl1ood may look like any other aggregation of houses, and an area where cultur ally important economic or artistic activities have been carried out may look like any other building, field of grass, or piece of forest in the area.

As a result, such places may not necessarily come to light through the conduct of archeological, histori cal, or architectural surveys. The existence and significance of such locations often can be ascertained only through interviews with knowl edgeable users of the area, or through other forms of ethnographic research. The subtlety with which the significance of such locations may be expressed makes it easy to ignore them; on the other hand it makes it difficult t distinguish between properties having real sig nificance and those whose putative significance is spurious. As a result, clear guidelines for evaluation of such pr perties ar need d.

ln the 1980 amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act, the Secretary of the Interior, with the American Folklife Center, was directed to study means of:

preserving and conserving the intangible elements of our cultural heritage such as arts, skills, folk life, and folkways and to recommend ways to:

preserve, conserve, and encourage the continuation of the diverse traditional prehistoric, historic, ethnic, and folk cultural traditions that underlie and are a living expression of our American heri tage. (NHPA §502; 16 U.S. C. 470a note)

The German ViUage Historic District in Columbus, Ohio, reflects the ethnic heri tage of 19th. century German immigrants. The neighborhood includes many simple vernacular brick cottages with gable roofs. (Christopher Cline)

The report that was prepared in response to §502, entitled Cultural

Conservation, was submitted to the President and Congress on June 1, 1983, by the SecretaTy of the Inte rfor. The r • port recommended in general that traditional cultural resources, both those that are asso ciated with historic properties and those without specific property referents, be more systematically addressed in implementation of the National Historic Preservation Act and other historic preservation authorities. In transmitting the report, the Secretary directed the National Park Service to take several actions to implement its recommen dations. Among other actions, the Service was directed to prepare guidelines to assist in the documenta tion of intangible cultural resources, to coordinate the incorporation of provisions for the consideration of such resources into Departmental planning documents and administra tive manuals, and to encourage the identification and documentation of such resources by States and Federal agencies.

This bulletin has been developed as one aspect of the Service's response to the Cultural Conserva tion report and the Secretary's direc tion. It is intended to be an aid in d termining whether properties thought or alleged to have tradition al cultmaJ significance are eligible for inclusion in the National Regis ter. It is meant to assist Federal agencies, State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPOs), Certified Local Governments, Indian Tribes, and other historic preservation practitio ners who need to evaluate such properties when nominating them for inclusion in the National Register or when considering their eligibility for the Register as part of the review process prescribed by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. It is designed to supplement other National Register guidance, particu larly NationaJ Register Bulletin 15- Guidelines for Applyi11g the National Register C1'iferi'a for Evaluation-and National Register Bulletin 16- Guidelines for Completing National Register of Historic Places Fonns. It should be used in conjunction with these two Bulletins and other appli cable guidance available from the National Register, when applying the National Register Criteria and preparing documentation to support nominations or determinations that r a given property is or is not eligible for inclusion in the Register.

This Bulletin is also responsive to the American Indian Religious Free dom Act (AIRFA) of 1978, which requires the National Park Service, like other Federal agencies, to evalu ate its policies and procedures with the aim of protecting the religious freedoms of Native Americans (Pub.

L. 95341 §2). Examination of the policies and procedures of the National Register suggests that while they are in no way intended to be so interpreted, they can be interpreted by Federal agencies and others in a manner that excludes historic properties of religious signif icance to Native Americans from eligibility for inclusion in the National Register. This in turn may exclude such properties from the protections afforded by Section 106, which in turn may result in their destruction, infringing upon the rights of Native Americans to use them in the free exercise of their religions. To minimize the likelihood of such misinterpretation, this Bulle tin gives special attention to proper ties of traditional cultural signifi cance to Native American groups, and to discussing the place of reli gion in the attribution of such sig nificance.

The fact that this Bulletin gives special emphasis to Native Ameri can properties should not be taken to imply that only Native Americans ascribe traditional cultural value to historic properties, or that such ascription is common only to ethnic minority groups in general. Ameri cans of every ethnic origin have properties to which they ascribe tra ditional cultural value, and if such properties meet the National Regis ter criteria, they can and should be nominated for inclusion in the Register.

This Bulletin does not address cultural resources that are purely "intangible" -i.e. those that have no property referents-except by exclu sion. The Service is committed to ensuring that such resources are fully considered in planning and decisionmaking by Federal agencies and others. Historic properties rep resent only some aspects of culture, and many other aspects, not neces sarily reflected in properties as such, may be of vital importance in maintaining the integrity of a social group. However, the National Regis ter is not the appropriate vehicle for recognizing cultural values that are purely intangible, nor is there legal authority to address them under Section 106 unless they are some how related to a historic property.

The National Register lists, and Sec tion 106 requires review of effects on, tangible cultural resources-that is, historic properties. However, the attributes that give such properties significance, such as their associa tion with historical events, often are intangible in nature. Such attributes cannot be ignored in evaluating and managing historic properties; prop erties and their intangible attributes of significance must be considered together. This Bulletin is meant to encourage its users to address the intangible cultural values that may make a property historic, and to do so in an evenhanded way that reflects solid research and not eth nocentric bias.

Finally, no one should regard this Bulletin as the only appropriate source of guidance on its subject, or interpret it rigidly. Although tradi tional cultural properties have been listed and recognized as eligible for inclusion in the National Register since the Register's inception, it is only in recent years that organized attention has been given to them.

This Bulletin represents the best guidance the Register can provide as of the late 1980s, and the examples listed in the bibliography include the best known at this time,3 but it is to be expected that approaches to such properties will continue to evolve. This Bulletin also is meant to supplement, not substitute for, more specific guidelines, such as those used by the National Park Service with respect to units of the National Park System and those used by

3 It is notable that most of these exam ples are unpublished manuscripts. The litera ture pertaining to the identification and eval uation of traditional cultural properties, to say nothing of their treatment, remains a thin one.

These sandbars in the Rio Grande River are eligible for inclusion in the National Register because they have been used for generations by the people of Sandia Pueblo for rituals involving immersion in the river's waters. (Thomas F. King) some other agencies, States, local governments, or lndian tribes with respect to their own lands and programs .

Ethnography, ethnohistory, ethnocentrism

Three words beginning with "ethno” will be used repeatedly in this Bulletin, and may not be familiar to all readers. All three are derived from the Greek ethnos, meaning "nation;” and are widely used in the study of anthropology and related disciplines.

Ethnography is the descriptive and analytic study of the culture of particular groups or communities. An ethnographer seeks to understand a community through interviews with its members and often through living in and observing it ( a practice referred to as "participant observation'').

Ethnohistory is the study of historical data, including but not necessarily limited to, documentary data pertaining to a group or community, using an ethnographic perspective.

Ethnographic and ethnohistorical research are usually carried out by specialists in cultural anthropology, and by specialists in folklore and folklife, sociology, history, archeol ogy and related disciplines with appropriate technical training.«

Ethnocentrism means viewing the world and the people in it only from the point of view of one's own culture, and being unable to sympathize with the feelings, attitudes, and beliefs of someone who is a member of a different culture. It is particularly important to understand, and seek to avoid, ethnocentrism in the evaluation of traditional cultural properties. For example, Euroamerican society tends to emphasize "objective" observation of the physical world as the basis for making statements about that world.

However, it may not be possible to use such observations as the major basis for evaluating a traditionaJ cultural property. For example, there may be nothing observable to the o utsider about a place regarded as sacred by a Nat ive American group.

Simi l arly, such a group's bel ie£ that its ancestors emerged from the earth at a specific location at the begin-

4 For a detailed discussion of the qualifi cations that a practitioner of ethnography or ethnohistory should possess, see Appendix

II .

ning of time may contradict Euroamerican science's belief that the group's ancestors migrated to North America from Siberia . These facts in no way diminish the signifi cance of the locations in question in the eyes of those who value them;

indeed they are i rrelevant to their significance. It would be ethnocen tri in the extreme to say that "whatever the Native American group says about this place, I can't se anything here so it is not signifi cant;' or "since 1 know these peo ple's ancestors came fr m Siberia, the plac wher they th ink they emerged from the earth is of no sig nificance. " ft is vital to evaluate properties thought to have tradi tional cultural significance from the standpoint of those who may ascribe such significance to them, whatever one's own perception of them, based on one's own cultural values, may be . This is not to say that a group's assertions about the significance of a place hould not be questioned 0l' subjected to critica l analysis, but they should not be rejected based on th.e premise that the beliefs they reflect are inferior to one's own .

Evaluation, consideration, and protection

One more point that should be remembered in evaluating tradition al cultural properties-a in evaluat ing any other kind of properties-is that e tablishing that a property is eligible for incl u sion in the National R gister does not nee ssari ly mean that the property must b protected from disturbance or damage. Estab lishing that a property is eligible means that it must be considered in planning Federal , fed rally assisted, and federally licensed undertakings, but it does not mean that such an undertaking cannot be allowed to damage or destroy it . Consultation must occur in accordance with the regulations of the Advisory Council (36 CFR Part 800) to identify, and if .feasible adopt, measures to protect it , but if in the final analysis the public interest demands that the pr perty b sacri ficed t the needs of the project, there is noth ing in the National Historic Preservation Act that prohibi ts th is .

TI1 is principle is especially imp r tant to recognize with respect to tra di tional cu ltural properties, because such properties may be valued by a relatively small segment of a com munity that, on th whole, favors a proj ect that wil l damage or destroy i t . The fact that ,the community as a whole may be willing t d ispense with the property in order to achieve the goals of the project does not mean that the property is not significant, but the fact that it is sig nificant does n t _mean that i t can not be disturbed, or that the project must be foregone .

Traditional Cultural Values in Preservation Planning

Traditional cultural properties, and the beliefs and institutions that give them significance, should be ystematically addressed i:n programs of pl'eservation planning and in the histori.c pTeservation components of land use plans . One very practical reason for this is to simplify the identification and evalu ation of trad i tional cu l tural proper-ti s that may be threatened by con struction and land use projects .

Identifying and evaluating such properties can require detailed and extensive consultation, interview programs, and ethnographic fie ld work, as d iscussed below. Having to conduct such activ ities may add considerably to ·the time and

'pense of compliance with Section 106, th Nati nal Environment Pol icy Act, and oth r au thorities . Such costs can be reduced signj fjcantJy, however, by early, proactive plan ning that identifies significant prop el'ties or m·eas l ikely to contain sig nificant pr pert ies befor specific proj ects are planned that may affect them, ident i fies parties l ikely to ascribe cu l tural value to sucl1 prop erties, and establishes routine sys tems for consultation with such parties .

Th Secretary of the Interior's Stan da rds for Presemation Planning pro vide for the establishment of "his toric contexts" as a basic step in any preservation planning pro ess-be it planning for the com.prehensive sur vey of a community or planning a construction project . A historic con text i an rganization of available information about, among other th ings, the cultu ral history of the area to b investigat d, to identify " the broad patterns of development in an area that may be represented by historic properties. '' (48 FR 44717) l11e trad itions and traditi naJ lifeways r of a planning area may represent such "broad patterns;' so information about them should be used as a basis for historic context d velopme.nt.

The Secretary of the Interior's Guide lines for Preservation Planning empha size the need £or organized public participation in context development.

( 48 FR 44717) The Advisory Council on Histodc Preservation' Guidelines for Public Participation in Historic Pres ervation Review (ACHP 1988) provide detailed recommendations regarding such participation. Based on these standards and guidelines, groups that may ascribe traditional cultural values to an area's historic proper ties should be contacted and asked to assist in organizing information on the area. Historic contexts should be considered that reflect the history and culture of such groups as the groups themselves understand them, as well as their history and culture as defined by Euroamerican scholarship, and processes for con sultation with such groups should be integrated into routine planning and project review procedures.

Identifying Traditional Cultural Properties

Some traditional cultural proper ties are well known to the residents of an area. The San Francisco Peaks in Arizona, for example, are exten sively documented and widely rec ognized as places of extreme cul tural importance to the Hopi, Navajo, and other American Indian people of the Southwest, and it requires little study to recognize that Honolulu's Chinatown is a place of cultural importance to the city's ori ental community. Most traditional cultural properties, however, must be identified through systematic study, just as most other kinds of historic properties must be identi fied. This section of this Bulletin will discuss some factors to consider in identifying traditional cultural properties. 5

5 For general guidelines for identification see The SecretanJ of the Interior's Standards and Guidelines for ldentificalio11 (48 FR 44720-23), Gulde/in 'S for LDcp/ Surtll!1JS: A Basis for Preser vntio11 l'/111111i11g (National Register Bulletin 24), and lcienli[ication /11 Historic Prcserval ion Review: a Decisionmaking Guide (ACHP/DOI 1988).

Honolulu's Chinatown reflects the cultural values and traditions of its inhabitants not only in its architectural details but also in its organization of space and the activities that go on there. (Ramona K. Mullahey)

Establishing the level of effort

Any comprehensive effort to iden tify historic properties in an area, be the area a community, a rural area, or the area that may be affected by a construction or land-use project, should include a reasonable effort to identify traditional cultural proper ties. What constitutes a "reasonable" effort depends in part on the likeli hood that such properties may be present. The likelihood that such properties may be pres nt can be reUably assess d only on the basis of background. knowledge of the area's hist ry, ethnography, and contemporary society developed through preservation planning. As a general although not invariable rule, however, rural areas are more likely than urban areas to contain properties of traditional cultural importance to American Indian or other native American communities, while urban areas are more likely to contain prop erties of significance to ethnic and other traditional neighborhoods.

Where identification is conducted as part of planning for a construc tion or land-u e project, th appro priate level of effort depends in part on whether th project under con sideration is U1e typ of project that ould affect traditional cultural prop erties. For exampl , as a rule the r habllitation of h:istori buildings may have relatively Uttle pot ntial for effect n such prop rties. How ever, if a rehabilitation project may result in displacement of residents, "gentrification'' of a neighborhood, or other sociocultural impacts, the possibility that the buildings to be rehabilitated, or the neighborhood in which they exist, may be ascribed traditional cultural value by their residents or others should be con sidered. Similarly, most day-to-day management activities of a land managing agency may have little potential for effect on traditional cul tural properties, but if the manage ment activity involves an area or a kind of resource that has high sig nificance to a traditional group-for example, timber harvesting in an area where an Indian tribe's reli gious practitioners may continue to carry out traditional ceremonies the potential for effect will be high.

These general rules of thumb aside, the way to determine what constitutes a reasonable effort to identify traditional cultural proper ties is to consult those who may ascribe cultural significance to loca tions within the study area. The need for community participation in planning identification, as in other forms of preservation planning, can not be over-emphasized.

Contacting traditional communities and groups

An early step in any effort to identify historic properties is to con sult with groups and individuals who have special knowledge about and interests in the history and cul ture of the area to be studied. In the case of traditional cultural proper ties, this means those individuals and groups who may ascribe tradi tional cultural significance to loca tions within the study area, and those who may have knowledge of such individuals and groups. Ide ally, early planning will have identi fied these individuals and groups, and established how to consult with them. As a rule, however, the fol lowing steps are recommended.

Background research

An important first step in identify ing such individuals and groups is to conduct background research into what is already recorded about the area's history, ethnography, sociol ogy, and folklife. Published and unpublished source material on the historic and contemporary composi tion of the area's social and cultural groups should be consulted; such source material can often be found in the anthropology, sociology, or folklife libraries of local universities or other academic institutions. Pro-fessional and nonprofessional stu dents of the area's social and cul tural groups should also be consulted -for example, professional and avocational anthropologists and folk lorists who have studied the area.

The SHPO and any other official agency or organization that concerns itself with matters of traditional culture-for example, a State Folklor ist or a State Native American Commission-should be contacted for recommendations about sources of information and about groups and individuals to consult.

Making contact

Having reviewed available back ground data, the next step is to con tact knowledgeable groups and indi viduals directly, particularly those groups that are native to the area or have resided there for a long time.

Some such groups have official representatives-the tribal council of an Indian tribe, for example, or an urban neighborhood council. In other cases, leadership may be less officially defined, and establishing contact may be more complicated.

The assistance of ethnographers, sociologists, folklorists, and others who may have conducted research in the area or otherwise worked with its social groups may be neces sary in such cases, in order to design ways of contacting and con sulting such groups in ways that are both effective and c nsistent with their systems of leadership and communication.

It should be clearly recognized that expertise in traditional cultural values may not be found, or not found solely, among contemporary community leaders. In some cases, in fact, the current political leader ship of a community or neighbor hood may be hostile to or embar rassed about traditional matters. As a result, it may be necessary to seek out knowledgeable parties outside the community's official political structure. It is of course best to do this with the full knowledge and cooperation of the community's con temporary leaders; in most cases it is appropriate to ask such leaders to identify members of the community

Federal agencies and others have found a variety of ways to contact knowledgeable parties in order to identify and evaluate traditional cul tural properties. Generally speaking, the detail and complexity of the methods employed depend on the nature and complexity of the prop erties under consideration and the effects the agency's management or other activities may have on them. For example:

• The Black Hills National Forest designated a culturally sensitive engineer to work with local Indian tribes in establishing procedures by which the tribes could review Forest Service projects that might affect traditional cultural properties;

• The Air Force sponsored a conference of local traditional cultural authorities to review plans for deployment of an intercontinental mis sile system in Wyoming, resulting in guidelines to ensure that effects on traditional cultural properties would be minimized.

• The New Mexico Power Authority employed a professional cultural anthropologist to consult with Native American groups within the area to be affected by the Four Corners Power Project.

• The Ventura County (California) Flood Control Agency consulted with local Native American groups designated by the State Native American Heritage Commission to determine how to handle human remains to be exhumed from a cemetery that had to be relocated to make way for a flood control project.

• The Utah State Historic Preservation Officer entered into an agree ment with the American Folklife Center to develop a comprehensive overview of the tangible and intangible historic resources of Grouse Creek, a traditional Mormon cowboy community.

• The Forest Service contracted for a full-scale ethnographic study to determine the significance of the Helkau Historic District on Califor nia's Six Rivers National Forest.

The Helkau Historic District, in the Six Rivers National Forest of California, is eli gible for inclusion in the Natio11al Register because of its association wjth signifi cant cultural practices of the ToJowa, Yorok, Karuk, and Hoopa Indian tribes of the area, who have used the district for generations to make medicine and communi cate with spirits. (Theodoratus Cultural Research) who are knowledgeable about tradi tional cultural matters, and use these parties as an initial network of consultants on the group's tradition al values. If there is serious hostility between the group's contemporary leadership and its traditional experts, however, such cooperation may not be extended, and efforts to consult with traditional authorities may be actively opposed. Where this occurs, and it is necessary to proceed with the identification and evaluation of properties-for example, where such identification and evaluation are undertaken in connection with review of an undertaking under Section 106-careful negotiation and media tion may be necessary to overcome opposition and establish mutually acceptable ground rules for consulta tion. Again, the assistance of anthro pologists or others with training and experience in work with the commu nity, or with similar communities, may be necessary.

Fieldwork

Fieldwork to identify properties of traditional cultural significance involves consultation with knowl edgeable parties, coupled with field inspection and recordation of loca tions identified as significant by such parties. It is often appropriate and efficient to combine such field work with surveys to identify other kinds of historic properties, for example archeological sites and properties of architectural signifi cance. If combined fieldwork is con ducted, however, the professional standards appropriate to each kind of fieldwork should be adhered to, and appropriate expertise in each relevant discipline should be repre sented on the study team. The kinds of expertise typically needed for a detailed ethnographic study of traditional cultural properties are outlined in Appendix II. Applicable research standards can be found in Systematic Fieldwork, Volume 2: Ethno graphic Analysis and Data Manage ment. (Werner and Schoepfle 1986)

Culturally sensitive consultation

Since knowledge of traditional cultural values may not be shared readily with outsiders, knowledge able parties should be consulted in cultural contexts that are familiar and reasonable to them. It is impor tant to understand the role that the information being solicited may play in the culture of those from whom it is being solicited, and the kinds of rules that may surround its trans mittal. In some societies traditional information is regarded as powerful, even dangerous. It is often believed that such information should be transmitted only under particular circumstances or to particular kinds of people. In some cases informa tion is regarded as a valued com modity for which payment is in order; in other cases offering pay ment may be offensive. Sometimes information may be regarded as a gift, whose acceptance obligates the receiver to reciprocate in some way, in some cases by carrying out the activity to which the information pertains.

It may not always-or even often-be possible to arrange for information to be sought in precisely the way those being con sulted might prefer, but when it is not, the interviewer should clearly understand that to some extent he or she is asking those interviewed to violate their cultural norms. The interviewer should try to keep such violations to a minimum, and should be patient with the reluc tance that those interviewed may feel toward sharing information under conditions that are not fully appropriate from their point of view.

Culturally sensitive consultation may require the use of languages other than English, the conduct of community meetings in ways consis tent with local traditional practice, and the conduct of studies by trained ethnographers, ethnohistori ans, sociologists, or folklorists with the kinds of expertise outlined in Appendix II. Particularly where large projects or large land areas are involved, or where it is likely that particularly sensitive resources may be at issue, formal ethnographic stud ies should be carried out, by or under the supervision of a professionally qualified cultural anthropologist.

Field inspection and recordation

It is usually important to take knowledgeable consultants into the field to inspect properties that they identify as significant. In some cases such properties may not be discern ible as such to anyone but a knowl edgeable member of the group that ascribes significance to them; in such cases it may be impossible even to find the relevant properties, or locate them accurately, without the aid of such parties. Even where a property is readily discernible as such to the outside observer, visiting the property may help a consultant recall information about it that he or she is unlikely to recall during inter views at' a remote location, thus making for a richer and more com plete record.

Where the property in question has religious significance or super natural connotations, it is particu larly important to ensure that any visit is carried out in accordance with appropriate modes of behavior.

In some cases, ritual purification is necessary before a property can be approached, or spirits must be pro pitiated along the way. Some groups forbid visits to such locations by menstruating women or by people of inappropriate ages. The taking of photographs or the use of electronic recording equipment may not be appropriate. Appropriate ways to approach the property should be discussed with knowledgeable con sultants before undertaking a field visit.

To the extent compatible with th cultural norms of the group involved, traditional ultural proper ties should be recorded on National Register of Historic Places forms or their equivalent. 6 Where items nor mally included in a National Regis ter nomination or request for a determination of eligibility cannot be included (for example, if it is cultur ally inappropriate to photograph the property), the reasons for not including the item should be explained. To the extent possible in the property's cultural context, other aspects of the documentation (for example, verbal descriptions of the property) should be enhanced to make up for the items not included.

6 ' For general instructions on the comple tion of National Register documentation, see National Register Bulletin 16, Guidelines for Completing National Register of Historic Places Forms.

If making the location of a prop erty known to the public would be culturally inappropriate, or compro mise the integrity of the property or associated cultural values (for exam ple, by encouraging tourists to intrude upon the conduct of tradi tional practices), the "Not for Publi cation'' box on the National Register form should be checked; this indi cates that the reproduction of loca tional information is prohibited, and that other information contained in the nomination will not be repro duced without the permission of the nominating authority. In the case of a request for a determination of eli gibility in which a National Register form is not used, the fact that the information is not for publication should be clearly specified in the documentation, so that the National Register can apply the same controls to this information as it would to restricted information in a nomination.7

7 Section 304 of the National Historic Preservation Act provides the legal authority to withhold National Register information from the public when release might "create a substantial risk of harm, theft, or destruc tion." For detailed guidelines concerning restricting access to information see National Register Bulletin 29, Guidelines for Restricting Information About Historic and Prehistoric Resources.

Much of the significance of traditional cultural properties can be learned only from the testimony of the traditional people who value them, like this old man being interviewed in Truk. (Micronesia Institute)

Reconciling sources

Sometimes an apparent conflict exists between documentary data on traditional cultural properties and the testimony of contemporary con sultants. The most common kind of conflict occurs when ethnographic and ethnohistorical documents do not identify a given place as playing an important role in the tradition and culture of a group, while con temporary members of the group say the property does have such a role. More rarely, documentary sources may indicate that a property does have cultural significance while contemporary sources say it does not. In some cases, too, contempo rary sources may disagree about the significance of a property.

Where available documents fail to identify a property as culturally sig nificant, but contemporary sources identify it as such, several points should be considered.

(a) Ethnographic and ethnohistori cal research has not been con ducted uniformly in all parts of the nation; some areas are better documented than others simply because they have been the focus of more research.

(b) Ethnographic and ethnohistori cal documents reflect the research interests of those who prepared them; the fact that one does not identify a property as culturally important may reflect only the fact that the individual who prepared the report had research interests that did not require the identification of such properties.

(c) Some kinds of traditional cul tural properties are regarded by those who value them as the loci of supernatural or other power, or as having other attributes that make people reluctant to talk about them. Such properties are not likely to be recorded unless someone makes a very deliberate effort to do so, or unless those who value them have a special reason for revealing the informa tion-'-for example, a perception that the property is in some kind of danger.

Particularly because properties of traditional cultural significance are often kept secret, it is not uncom mon for them to be "discovered" only when something threatens them-for example, when a change in land-use is proposed in their vicinity. The sudden revelation by representatives of a cultural group which may also have other economic or political interests in the proposed change-can lead quickly to charges that the cultural signifi cance of a property has been invented only to obstruct or other wise influence those planning the change. This may be true, and the possibility that traditional cultural significance is attributed to a prop erty only to advance other, unre lated interests should be carefully considered. However, it also may be that until the change was proposed, there simply was no reason for those who value the property to reveal its existence or the signifi cance they ascribe to it.

. Where ethnographic, ethnohistori cal, historical, or other sources iden tify a property as having cultural significance, but contemporary sources say that it lacks such signifi cance, the interests of the contempo rary sources should be carefully considered. Individuals who have economic interests in the potential development of an area may be strongly motivated to deny its cul tural significance. More subtly, indi viduals who regard traditional prac tices and beliefs as backward and contrary to the best contemporary interests of the group that once ascribed significance to a property may feel justified in saying that such significance has been lost, or was never ascribed to the property. On the other hand, of course, it may be that the documentary sources are wrong, or that the significance ascribed to the property when the documents were prepared has since been lost.

Similar consideration must be taken into account in attempting to reconcile conflicting contemporary sources. Where one individual or group asserts that a property has traditional cultural significance, and another asserts that it does not, or where there is disagreement about the nature or extent of a property's significance, the motives and values of the parties, and the cultural con straints operating on each, must be carefully analyzed.

In general, the only reasonably reliable way to resolve conflict among sources is to review a wide enough range of documentary data, and to interview a wide enough range of authorities to minimize the likelihood either of inadvertent bias or of being deliberately misled.

Authorities consulted in most cases should include both knowledgeable parties within the group that may attribute cultural value to a property and appropriate specialists in eth nography, sociology, history, and other relevant disciplines. 8

8 For excellent examples of studies designed in whole or in part to identify and evaluate traditional cultural properties based on both documentary sources and the testi mony of contemporary consultants, see Bean and Vane 1978; Carroll 1983; Johnston and Budy 1983; Stoffle and Dobyns 1982, 1983;

Theodoratus 1979.

Determining Eligibility: Step by Step

Whether a property is known in advance or found during an identifi cation effort, it must be evaluated with reference to the National Regis ter Criteria for Evaluation (36 CFR Part 60) in order to determine whether it is eligible for inclusion in the Register. This section discusses the process of evaluation as a series of sequential steps. In real life, of course , these steps are often col lapsed into one another or taken together.

Step One: Ensure that the entity under consideration is a property

Because the cultural practices or beliefs that give a traditional cultural property its significance are typically still observed in some form at the time the property is evaluated, it is sometimes perceived that the intan gible practices or beliefs themselves, not the property, constitute th sub j ct of evaluation. There i naturally a dynamic relationship between tan gible and intang.lble tradJtional cul tural resources, and the beliefs or practices associated with a tradi tional cultural prop rty ar of cen tral importance in defi'ning its signif

. icance. l owev r, it should be clearly recognized at the outset that the National Register does not include intangible resources themselves. The entity evaluated must be a tangible property-that is, a district, site, builcting, structure, or bject. 9 The relationship b tween the property and the beliefs or practices associ ated with it should be carefully con sidered, however, since it is the beliefs and practices that may give the property its significance and make it eligible fdr inclusion in the National Register.

9 See National Register Bulletin 15, Guide lines for Applying the National Register Criteria, for discussion of property types.

Construction by human beings is a necessary attribute of buildings and structures, but districts, sites, and objects do not have to be the products of, or contain, the work of human beings in order to be classi fied as properties. For example, the National Register defines a "site" as "the location of a significant event, a prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, r a building or structure, whether standing, ruined, or van ished, where the location itself pos sesses historic, cultural, or archeo logical value regardless of the value of any existing structure." 10 Thus a property may be defined as a "site" as long as it was the location of a significant event or activity, regard less of whether the event or activity left any evidence of its occurrence.

A culturally significant natural land scape may be classified as a site, as may the specific location where sig nificant traditional events, activities, or cultural observances have taken place. A natural object such as a tree or a rock outcrop may be an eligible object if it is associated with a significant tradition or use. A con centration, linkage, or continuity of such sites or objects, or of structures comprising a culturally significant entity, may be classified as a district.

10 See National Register Bulletin 16.

In considering the eligibility of a property that contains no observable evidence of human activity, how ever, the documentary or oral evi dence for the association of the property with traditional events, activities or observances should be carefully weighed and assessed. The National Register discourages the nomination of natural features with out sound documentation of their historical or cultural significance.

Cannonball Island, off Cape Alava on the coast of Washington State, is a traditional cultural property of importance to the Makah Indian people. It was used in the past, and is still used today, as a navigation marker for Makah fisher men, who established locations at sea by triangulation from this and other land marks. It also was a lookout point for seal and whale hunters and for war parties, a burial site, and a kennel for dogs raised for their fur. (Makah Cultural and Research Center Archives)

Step Two: Consider the property's integrity

In order to be eligible for inclu sion in the Register, a property must have "integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association." (36 CFR Part 60) In the case of a traditional cultural property, there are two fun damental questions to ask about integrity. First, does the property have an integral relationship to tra ditional cultural practices or beliefs;

and second, is the condition of the property such that the relevant rela tionships survive?

Integrity of relationship

Assessing the integrity of the rela tionship between a property and the beliefs or practices that may give it significance involves developing some understanding about how the group that holds the beliefs or car ries out the practices is likely to view the property. If the property is known or likely to be regarded by a traditional cultural group as impor tant in the retention or transmittal of a belief, or to the performance of a practice, the property can be taken to have an integral relationship with the belief or practice, and vice-versa.

For example, imagine two groups living along the shores of a lake.

Each group practices a form of bap tism to mark an individual's accep tance into the group. Both carry out baptism in the lake. One group, however, holds that baptism is appropriate in any body of water that is available; the lake happens to be available, so it is used, but another lake, a river or creek, or a swimming pool would be just as acceptable. The second group regards baptism in this particular lake as essential to its acceptance of an individual as a member. Clearly the lake is integrally related to the second group's practice, but not to that of the first.

Integrity of condition

Like any other kind of historic property, a property that once had traditional cultural significance can lose such significanc through phys ical alteration of its location, setting, design, or materials.