Washington Administrative Code
Title 25 - Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Department of
Chapter 25-48 - Archaeological excavation and removal permit
Section 25-48-020 - Definitions

(1) "Archaeology" means systematic, scientific study of the human past through material remains.

(2) "Historic" means peoples and cultures who are known through written documents in their own or other languages. As applied to underwater archaeological resources, the term historic shall include only those properties which are listed in or eligible for listing in the Washington State Register of Historic Places (RCW 27.34.220 ) or the National Register of Historic Places as defined in the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Title 1 , Sec. 101, Public Law 889-665; 80 Stat. 915; 16 U.S.C. Sec. 470) as now or hereafter amended.

(3) "Prehistoric" means peoples and cultures who are unknown through contemporaneous written documents in any language.

(4) "Professional archaeologist" means a person who:

(5) "Public lands" means lands owned by or under the possession, custody, or control of the state of Washington or any county, city, or political subdivision of the state; including the state's submerged lands under the Submerged Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. Sec. 1301 et seq.

(6) "Site restoration" means to repair the archaeological property to its preexcavation vegetational and topographic state.

(7) "Amateur society" means any organization composed primarily of persons who are not professional archaeologists, whose primary interest is in the archaeological resources of the state, and which has been certified in writing by two professional archaeologists.

(8) "Archaeological object" means an object that comprises the physical evidence of an indigenous and subsequent culture including material remains of past human life including monuments, symbols, tools, facilities, and technological by-products.

(9) "Archaeological site" means a geographic locality in Washington, including but not limited to, submerged and submersible lands and the bed of the sea within the state's jurisdiction, that contains archaeological objects.

(10) "Archaeological resource" means any material remains of human life or activities which are of archaeological interest, including all sites, objects, structures, artifacts, implements, and locations of prehistorical or archaeological interest, whether previously recorded or still unrecognized, including, but not limited to, those pertaining to prehistoric and historic American Indian or aboriginal burials, campsites, dwellings, and their habitation sites, including rock shelters and caves, their artifacts and implements of culture such as projectile points, arrowheads, skeletal remains, grave goods, basketry, pestles, mauls, and grinding stones, knives, scrapers, rock carvings and paintings, and other implements and artifacts of any material.

(11) "Historic archaeological resources" means those properties which are listed in or eligible for listing in the Washington State Register of Historic Places (RCW 27.34.220 ) or the National Register of Historic Places as defined in the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Title 1 , Sec. 101, Public Law 89-665; 80 Stat. 915; 16 U.S.C. Sec. 470) as now or hereafter amended.

(12) "Of archaeological interest" means capable of providing scientific or humanistic understandings of past human behavior, cultural adaptation, and related topics through the application of scientific or scholarly techniques such as controlled observation, contextual measurement, controlled collection, analysis, interpretation, and explanation.

(13) "Director" means the director of the department of archaeology and historic preservation or his or her designee.

(14) "Department" means the department of archaeology and historic preservation.

(15) "State historic preservation officer" means the director, who serves as the state historic preservation officer under RCW 43.334.020.

(16) "Suspension" means the abeyance of a permit under this chapter for a specified period of time.

(17) "Revocation" means the termination of a permit under this chapter.

(18) "Mitigation" means:

(19) "Abandonment" means that the resource has been deserted and the owner has relinquished ownership rights with no retention, as demonstrated by a writing, oral communication, action, or inaction.

(20) "Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership, trust, institution, association, or other private entity; or any officer, employee, agent, department, or instrumentality of the state or any county, city, or other political subdivision of the state.

(21) "Permittee" means any person who holds an active archaeological excavation permit issued under RCW 27.53.-060 and this chapter.

(22) "Respondent" means any person who has received a notice of violation under WAC 25-48-041, a notice of permit denial under WAC 25-48-105, a notice that a right of first refusal has been extinguished under WAC 25-48-108, or a notice of suspension or revocation under WAC 25-48-110, and who has filed an application for an adjudicative proceeding.

(23) "Repository" means a facility, including but not limited to, a museum, archeological center, laboratory, or storage facility managed by a university, college, museum, other educational or scientific institution of a federal, state or local government agency or Indian tribe that provides secure, environmentally controlled storage, for archaeological collections and their associated records making them available for scientific, educational and cultural needs.

(24) "Archaeological value" means the cost comparable volume archaeological excavation would be, including retrieving scientific information from the site before it was vandalized. This includes field work, lab analysis, background research and reporting, and curation of the collection and records.

(25) "Archaeological monitoring" means the observation of ground-disturbing activities by a professional archaeologist as described in subsection (4) of this section in order to identify, document, avoid, and/or recover human skeletal remains and archaeological resources, under a plan approved by the department.