The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management today announced the completion of a 6-year study to help establish a methodology for better locating, identifying, and understanding ancient sites where indigenous people may have been present in federal waters.
BOEM notes that the study results, which include best practices to improve the effectiveness of tribal engagement and geoarchaeological site characterization related to offshore energy development permitting, will help the agency, states, and tribes develop data collection protocols and survey guidelines to help avoid or mitigate potential adverse effects from Atlantic offshore energy and marine mineral resource development on submerged ancient cultural or archaeological sites.
Project participants included the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, the Rhode Island Coastal Resource Management Council, and the Naragansett Indian Tribal Historic Preservation Office.
