USE OF GEOLOGIC DATA TO ASSIST IN DELINEATING A TRADITIONAL CULTURAL PROPERTY

For many indigenous cultures, the history and significance of important places is carried within their oral histories. Such information is rarely shared outside the community until such time as a place is threatened. Federal laws, such as the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), provide for identification, evaluation, formal recognition and establish a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). In this example, geologists and technical experts worked with Tribal representatives to provide technical documentation that supported the oral record necessary to document and evaluate eligibility of a Traditional Cultural Property (TCP) for NRHP listing. A TCP refers to a specific location eligible based on its associations with cultural practices, traditions, beliefs, lifeways, arts, crafts, or social institutions of a living community. National Park Service guidelines clarify that a TCP could be a location where a community has traditionally carried out economic, artistic, or other cultural practices important to maintain its historic identity. The focus of this example is a traditional gathering area of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe (FMIT) centered in the Mohave Valley, located along the Colorado River in parts of Nevada, Arizona, and California. The Tribe has traditionally gathered clay to form ceramic vessels, other objects, and for medicinal purposes from various locations throughout the Mohave Valley. A particular type of “white clay,” associated with the subject area is known as Amut Ahar and was gathered along the Colorado River from the Arizona side. Recent efforts have designated Amut Ahar a TCP. As part of a TCP designation, it was necessary to delineate the source and extent of the clay to establish proposed TCP boundaries. However, historical damming and dredging of the River channel and adjacent marsh area has resulted in partial burial and significant modification of this historically important area. Therefore, technical support was enlisted to examine historical aerial photographs, maps and records archived by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, conduct interviews with Tribal Elders, and examine geological maps and data along with fieldwork. Such examination of these sources resulted in scientific documentation in support of information long held within the FMIT Tribal Elder community.