Qualifications

The Minnesota Office of the State Archaeologist (OSA) requires that applicants for State Archaeological Licenses meet certain professional qualifications standards. These standards meet or exceed both the Secretary of the Interior's standards and the Minnesota Historic Preservation Office's (MnHPO) standards.

There are separate OSA standards for each of the following:

Reconnaissance (Phase I) surveys
Evaluation (Phase II) surveys
Intensive Investigations and Excavations (Phase III)
Burial Site Investigations (Authentications under MS 307.08).

Because OSA only regulates archaeological projects on non-federal public land and burial authentications on all non-federal land, it can only require qualification standards for those types of activities. However, professional archaeologists, agencies, and project sponsors are encouraged to apply these standards to all unlicensed archaeological activities in Minnesota. All Principal Investigators on licensed projects including co-principals must meet OSA professional qualifications standards.

Basic Professional Standards

These five OSA requirements apply to all four types of archaeological projects in Minnesota:

A graduate degree with a specialty in archaeology, preferably North American archaeology.
One year's supervised experience doing archaeology.
Four months of supervised experience doing North American archaeology.
Demonstrated ability to carry research to completion.
One year's supervisory experience in either prehistoric or historical archaeology.
- Some demonstration of familiarity with both Midwestern prehistoric and historic period artifacts, features, and contexts is also expected.

Supervised experience means work under the direction of a person meeting basic professional qualifications standards.

Demonstrated ability to carry research to completion means evidence of timely submittal of professional quality reports and other documents.

Supervisory experience is defined as comprehensive project supervision, which means providing principal direction for all aspects of an archaeological project including planning, agency coordination, records search, fieldwork, artifact analysis, and reporting. Supervisory experience does not include simply being a field supervisor, lab supervisor, or crew chief.

All experience must be explicitly documented in an attachment to the license application unless an applicant has been previously licensed by OSA at the same project level and on a similar project (region, context) with regard to Phase II, Phase III, and Authentication work. For supervisory experience, this documentation must include totals number of days for each project when the individual was actively supervising a specific project. There are approximately 250 work days in a given year.

The tabs below show the OSA standards for each type of archaeological license. If you have questions regarding these standards, please contact Amanda Gronhovd, Minnesota State Archaeologist, by phone at 651.201.2263, by fax at 612-725-2427, or by email at Amanda.Gronhovd@state.mn.us.

Phase I
Phase II
Phase III
Burial Authentication

Phase I
Phase I work involves systematic surveys of public land or water areas in an attempt to locate archaeological sites and define site's horizontal and vertical limits.

Applicants must meet the Basic Professional Standards listed above as well as the following:
- At least three months of supervisory experience doing prehistoric archaeology in the Midwest
- If the survey will include Underwater Archaeology, the applicant must demonstrate at least three months of supervisory experience doing underwater archaeology in North America.
Phase II
Phase II work usually involves limited excavation in formal units (e.g., 1x1 m) or other forms of intensive field examination on a discrete area or site. This work follows procedures and objectives outlined in the State Archaeologist's Manual for Archaeological Projects in Minnesota (2011). It is usually done for the purposes of evaluating the significance of an archaeological site or district associated with development projects. Significance evaluation is considered the same as assessment of eligibility for the National Register or Minnesota State Register of Historic Places.

In addition to meeting the basic qualifications above, applicants for Phase II surveys must also meet these qualifications:
- Clearly demonstrated familiarity with evaluating the historic contexts known or expected at the location.
- Appropriate regional, topical, and managerial experience to direct, analyze, and report the results of a complex archaeological investigation.
- Demonstrated experience with evaluation criteria of the State or National Register of Historic Places. This experience can be evidenced by focused classwork or training, by previous reporting of an intensive National Register evaluation, or by having written a National Register nomination.
- If the work will include Underwater Archaeology, the applicant must demonstrate at least three months of supervisory experience doing underwater archaeology in North America.
Phase III
Phase III work usually involves extensive excavation in formal units (e.g., 1x1 m) or other forms of intensive field examination of a particular archaeological site. This work follows a carefully developed research design known as a Data Recovery Plan. It is done for the purposes of academic research, institutional field schools, or activities associated with the mitigation or treatment of adverse effects for cultural resource management (CRM) projects. This includes projects that involve over 10 square meters of excavation done in formal units at one particular numbered site or any project that significantly affects the integrity of an archaeological site.

In addition to meeting the basic qualifications above, applicants for Phase III surveys must also meet these qualifications:
- Demonstrated experience designing data recovery plans.
- Clearly demonstrated familiarity with the historic contexts known to exist at the site.
- Appropriate regional, topical, and managerial experience to direct, analyze, and report the results of a complex archaeological investigation.
- If the survey will include Underwater Archaeology, the applicant must demonstrate at least 3 months of supervisory experience doing underwater archaeology in North America.
Burial Authentication
This license only applies to archaeological burial assessment activities done for the Minnesota State Archaeologist. This work usually involves intensive examination of a specific locality utilizing methods that may physically disturb burials (e.g., intensive soil coring, shovel tests, formal excavation units, trenching, or monitoring machine excavation). It does not include surface reconnaissance that involves only mapping.

Burial Authentication is done for the purpose of assessing the presence or absence of human burials in a specific locality. Only the State Archaeologist can actually authenticate historic burials (older than 50 years) in Minnesota (as specified in Minnesota Statutes 307.08). For this reason, the State Archaeologist will usually serve as co-Principal Investigator for authentication activities.

In addition to meeting the above basic qualifications, applicants for Burial Authentication must also meet these qualifications:
- Demonstrated experience or training in dealing with human remains, identifying fragmentary human remains, and with assessing soil conditions and features commonly associated with human burials.
- If a suspected Indian burial is involved, the applicant should have some experience in consulting with tribal groups and the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council (MIAC), although the State Archaeologist will handle all direct tribal and MIAC consultation during the authentication process.