Is the goal that anytime any major development projects happen in the area that they are properly checked for graves? Is there any proactive "digs" that happen currently in the court street cemeter area or do we just wait for more to be discovered by "accident"?
There are no excavations planned for the Court Street Cemetery. To date burials have been found either by accident, during monitoring projects related to utility work, and for clearance projects in which pieces of land are investigated to locate and remove burials.
How do clearance projects get started? Who approves them? What is stopping someone from proposing a clearance project now? How can normal citizens express interest In the city preserving the history in our town proactively? Is this a funding issue? If there was unlimited funding could exploratory digs be done regularly? Not necessarily just for burials but for all of Tucson's long history.
I highly recommend this video, th-cam.com/video/nwVueNrRzxk/w-d-xo.html, which is a part of a national project about the NHPA: preservation50.org/mapp/. This law helps protect our past, and it's also responsible for many of the archaeological investigations that have led to insights about the past. Also, we're expecting to have a new video available in the next few days that goes into more detail about threats to the past and the laws in place to help protect it (including NAGPRA, which is a law that helps govern the respectful treatment of graves and funerary objects). To help ensure that local history is protected and prioritized, I'd recommend contacting legislators at the local, state, and national level. I also invite you to join our email list, as we'll keep you informed of specific actions you can take if and when they're needed: www.archaeologysouthwest.org/news/e-news/. Finally, with your interest in Tucson's past, I expect you might really enjoy the "Tucson Underground" issue of our magazine: www.archaeologysouthwest.org/product/asw32-4/. One great way to ensure that our local history is protected is to share it--the more people value the past, the less likely they are to destroy it!
@@ArchaeologySouthwest thank you for the reply. I look forward to the new video. I went ahead and ordered the magazine and joined the mailing list as well.
So interesting, thx.
Is the goal that anytime any major development projects happen in the area that they are properly checked for graves? Is there any proactive "digs" that happen currently in the court street cemeter area or do we just wait for more to be discovered by "accident"?
There are no excavations planned for the Court Street Cemetery. To date burials have been found either by accident, during monitoring projects related to utility work, and for clearance projects in which pieces of land are investigated to locate and remove burials.
How do clearance projects get started? Who approves them? What is stopping someone from proposing a clearance project now? How can normal citizens express interest In the city preserving the history in our town proactively? Is this a funding issue? If there was unlimited funding could exploratory digs be done regularly? Not necessarily just for burials but for all of Tucson's long history.
I highly recommend this video, th-cam.com/video/nwVueNrRzxk/w-d-xo.html, which is a part of a national project about the NHPA: preservation50.org/mapp/. This law helps protect our past, and it's also responsible for many of the archaeological investigations that have led to insights about the past. Also, we're expecting to have a new video available in the next few days that goes into more detail about threats to the past and the laws in place to help protect it (including NAGPRA, which is a law that helps govern the respectful treatment of graves and funerary objects). To help ensure that local history is protected and prioritized, I'd recommend contacting legislators at the local, state, and national level. I also invite you to join our email list, as we'll keep you informed of specific actions you can take if and when they're needed: www.archaeologysouthwest.org/news/e-news/. Finally, with your interest in Tucson's past, I expect you might really enjoy the "Tucson Underground" issue of our magazine: www.archaeologysouthwest.org/product/asw32-4/. One great way to ensure that our local history is protected is to share it--the more people value the past, the less likely they are to destroy it!
@@ArchaeologySouthwest thank you for the reply. I look forward to the new video. I went ahead and ordered the magazine and joined the mailing list as well.