When was archaeological preservation law first introduced?

Within the United States, laws and efforts concerning the preservation of archaeological contexts began as more general decisions. The first of these was with a law in the 1880's near Casa Grande, Arizona, which stemmed from the prevalence of looting in the area. The next step came in the formation of national parks in the 1890's, which protected both environmental resources and some cultural resources.

In 1906 the Antiquities Act was passed by Congress, giving the President the authority to designate National Monuments, which protected sites from looting and vandalism on fear of legal sanctions. It also required one to gain a permit to excavate federal land.

Another large step occurred in the early 1920's when places could be deemed protected "environments" if they were important to American history or culture. These kinds of places included Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Louisiana and Charleston, South Carolina.

The Works Projects administration (which lasted from the 1930's to the 1950's) also provided lots of data from the swiftly undertaken archaeological research done before major projects, such as dams and reservoirs. However there was little analysis done on the data collected.

Also in the 1930's, the National Trust for Historic Preservation was formed, protecting historic buildings by buying the properties and restoring them for the future.

Then the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 established the National Register of Historic Places as well as State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO), which are integral for current Cultural Resource Management archaeological projects. Also as part of this, under section 106, all projects using tax dollars are subject to these stipulations.

Finally, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 was passed to protect environmental, cultural, and historical resources. This requires any federal project or property slated for development must be checked over by a specialist to see if they are going to negatively impact any resources (environmental, cultural, or historical). This must be declared in an EIS--an environmental impact statement.

These various actions have contributed greatly to the preservation of archaeological environments in the United States