New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 4 - CULTURAL RESOURCES
Chapter 10 - CULTURAL PROPERTIES AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Part 16 - STANDARDS FOR EXCAVATION AND TEST EXCAVATION
Section 4.10.16.7 - DEFINITIONS

Universal Citation: 4 NM Admin Code 4.10.16.7

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024

A. "Archaeological investigation" means the study of archaeological sites, isolates and other cultural properties and areas of historic and scientific interest including without limitation survey and inventory, examination, collection, limited tests, test excavation, excavation and monitoring.

B. "Archaeological site" or "site" means a location where there exists material evidence of the past life and culture of human beings in the state. A significant archaeological site typically is 50 or more years old. Examples of archaeological sites include without limitation campsites, pueblos, homesteads, artifact scatters, resource procurement or processing areas, agricultural fields, locales with one or more features in association with other cultural materials, and locales that have the potential for subsurface features or cultural deposits.

C. "Areas of historic and scientific interest" means areas lacking surface evidence of cultural properties but where there is a high probability of finding subsurface material remains and cultural deposits or areas suitable for geomorphological or paleoenvironmental study.

D. "Committee" or "CPRC" means the cultural properties review committee, created pursuant to Section 18-6-9 of the Cultural Properties Act.

E. "Cultural property" or "cultural resource" means a structure, place, site or object having historic, archaeological, scientific, architectural or other cultural significance.

F. "Excavation" means displacing, disturbing or moving earth, soil, dirt, other deposits or material remains from their current contexts or significant orientation in, or on, the ground within the boundaries of an archaeological site, isolate or area of historic and scientific interest using hand tools or mechanical earth-moving equipment.

G. "Historic preservation division" or "HPD" means the division within the department of cultural affairs created pursuant to Section 18-6-8 A of the Cultural Properties Act.

H. "Human burial" or "unmarked human burial" means a human body or human skeletal remains and includes any funerary object, material object or artifact buried, entombed or sepulchered with that human body or skeletal remains.

I. "Material remains" means any tangible evidence of past human life or activities. Such evidence includes without limitation:

(1) naturally occurring objects or raw materials extracted for use in the production of human-made objects or for other uses by humans that can be found within an archaeological site, or another context from which intended or actual human use can be reasonably inferred;

(2) items manufactured or modified by humans, including whole or fragmentary tools, implements, containers, and other objects such as pottery, ceramics, basketry, cordage, weavings, textiles, glassware, flaked stone, ground stone, pecked stone, worked bone, metal, wood, hide, feathers and pigments;

(3) byproducts, waste products and debris resulting from the manufacture or use of human-made items or from the human use of natural materials;

(4) organic material deposited through human actions, organic material remaining from the decay of perishable objects manufactured or modified by humans, and organic material deposited through natural processes when found within an archaeological site including without limitation soil or sediment samples, botanical and animal remains and coprolites; or

(5) human remains including without limitation bone, mummified flesh, teeth, the remains of cremations, any associated artifacts and objects, and the soil, sediments, or other matrix in which the human skeletal or mummified remains and associated artifacts and objects were deposited or are now associated.

J. "Mechanical earth-moving equipment" means any motorized machine or device that is capable of displacing, disturbing or moving earth, soil, dirt or other deposits or materials from their current contexts or significant orientation in, or on, the ground, including without limitation trenchers, backhoes, graders, scrapers, bulldozers and front-end loaders.

K. "Monitoring" means the presence of and visual inspection by a supervisory archaeologist on the ground immediately prior to and during ground-disturbing actions to ensure site protection, avoidance of site deposits or recovery of information from newly discovered cultural properties.

L. "Museum of Indian arts and culture-laboratory of anthropology" or "MIAC" means the museum division within the department of cultural affairs, museum of New Mexico, that serves as the repository for archaeological materials and associated records and documents taken or collected from state land.

M. "National register of historic places" or "national register" means the official federal register of historic properties maintained by the U.S. department of the interior, national park service.

N. "New Mexico cultural resource information system" or "NMCRIS" means the statewide archaeological and cultural properties database maintained by archaeological records management section (ARMS) within the historic preservation division that maintains the database and associated records and documents pursuant to Section 18-6-7 A of the Cultural Properties Act.

O. "Permit" means the written authorization required for all public and private entities to conduct archaeological investigations of a particular kind, within a defined geographic location and for a specified period of time, all of which are specified in the written authorization.

P. "State agency" means a department, agency, institution or political subdivision of the state.

Q. "State archaeologist" means the archaeologist designated pursuant to Section 18-6-15 of the Cultural Properties Act.

R. "State historian" means the historian designated pursuant to Section 18-6-14 of the Cultural Properties Act.

S. "State historic preservation officer" or "SHPO" means the individual appointed pursuant to Section 18-6-8 of the Cultural Properties Act and serves as the director of the historic preservation division.

T. "State land" means property owned, controlled, or operated by a department, agency, institution or political subdivision of the state. Examples of state land, include but are not limited to: state trust lands managed by the commissioner of public lands; New Mexico department of transportation rights of way and easements; state parks; state monuments; state game and fish lands; county and municipal property including open space areas, leased lands, and rights of way; and lands owned or managed by public schools and state colleges and universities.

U. "State register" or "official register" means the New Mexico register of cultural properties maintained by the CPRC for the purpose of recording cultural properties deemed worthy of preservation.

V. "Written and photographic records" means original or legible duplicate site data, such as site forms, artifact forms, notes, drawings, tables, maps, plans, charts and other written materials, and prints, slides and other photographic records.

Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. New Mexico may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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