The SAA Archaeological Record March 2011 : Page 22
CAREERS IN ARCHAEOLOGY assistant; those were some of my favorite experiences. How-ever, after just three semesters, I was asked by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) to serve as the Director of f the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, a Tribally owned facility in Vonore, Tennessee. I accepted the job and worked there for two years while I finished my coursework at UTK. After leaving the museum, I worked with Brett Riggs for a short time documenting Trail-of-Tears sites in the North Car-olina mountains. I also managed to pass my doctoral exami-nations. However, after less than a year, I was once again employed by the EBCI, this time as the Deputy Tribal His-toric Preservation Officer (THPO) for the Tribe. Three years later, in 2004, I replaced James Bird as the THPO, after he accepted a position with the National Park Service. EBCI equipment operator Clarence Murphy, former Historic Sites Keep-er Jerry Dugan, and THPO Russ Townsend discuss excavation process at an EBCI project site. rather than academic sector, who were all friendly and encouraging and willing to share what they had learned. I know I was fortunate to be there, and I still feel the benefits from that experience to this day. I received my B.A. in anthropology from OU in 1989 and almost immediately enrolled in graduate studies at the Uni-versity of Tulsa (TU). While at TU, I was urged by Dr. Gar-rick Bailey to investigate Cherokee archaeology, and I con-structed my master’s studies around an investigation of f Cherokee log structures. I also was able to work as a contract t archaeologist for Dr. George Odell, who was as much a men-toring figure to me as anybody in my career. I received my M.A. in 1993 and contented myself doing con-tract archaeology on a regular basis. I considered my aca-demic studies complete, and so I was surprised to find myself in a conversation at the 1995 Southeastern Archaeo-logical Conference about pursuing a Ph.D. at The Universi-ty of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK). Dr. Brett Riggs, then a Ph.D. candidate at UTK, had studied Cherokee archaeology y under Dr. Gerald Schroedl, and encouraged me to do the same. In my mind, no one knew more about Cherokee archaeology than Brett, so when Brett said UTK was the place to study Cherokee archaeology, I was ready to believe him. I enrolled at UTK in 1996 and enjoyed my instruction. Ger-ald Schroedl was as helpful as Brett had suggested. I was given the opportunity to teach some classes as a teaching In 1999, the National Historic Preservation Act was amend-ed to allow federally recognized Indian tribes to establish his-toric preservation offices in the same manner as states, and assume the same responsibilities on tribal land. In 2001, the EBCI was one of the first Indian tribes to form a Tribal His-toric Preservation Office (THPO). I was hired that same year, and I can say without shame that all my education and work experience up to that point had not fully prepared me to do this job. To function as a THPO, one must be very conversant with federal cultural resource law. When I began this job, I was not. I had had one course on the subject of federal cultural resource law that seemed to focus on National Register nom-inations. I knew the names of these laws, and I knew that they mandated some archaeology associated with federal undertakings, but I had no idea how to use these laws to pro-tect Cherokee archaeological sites. Again, nothing in my past t experience had prepared me for the politically charged nego-tiations of the federal consultation process. I was a complete neophyte when it came to negotiating scopes-of-work, long-term site and burial protection, and public education. All of f this had to be learned on the job. On a day-to-day basis, the EBCI expects me, as THPO, to pro-tect Cherokee archaeological sites, not only on the 56,000 acres of current tribal land, but also on those lands that at t one time or another comprised the Cherokee Nation in the East, which includes portions of eight states. We accomplish this by utilizing federal cultural resource law. We have a staff f of six people in our office; job duties are largely associated with a particular cultural resource law. Our Preservation Spe-cialist reviews every federal undertaking in our eight-state region to make sure that the compliance archaeology meets our Tribal standards. The Tribal Archaeologist does much of f 22 The SAA Archaeological Record • March 2011
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