Abstract

Although the conservation of archaeological deposits may be a goal of cultural resource management, little progress has been made in developing actual techniques for long-term preservation of deposits. This issue has been addressed over the last ten years during several projects in the Vancouver area. The basic objective has been to provide long term protection to archaeological deposits while providing viable and sound construction grades and foundations. Development of these management plans requires the archaeologist to work closely with a land surveyor, geotechnical engineer, soils scientist, structural engineer, architect or designer, and possibly other professionals. Information must be obtained on archaeological deposit elevations, integrity, drainage, pH, and density. With this data, development plans need to be minutely scrutinized for direct and potential impacts. It may be necessary to propose and facilitate implementation of project redesigns, and develop an impact management plan for submission to regulatory authorities. With a strict program of archaeological monitoring and inspection to ensure implementation of the impact management plan, it is possible to reduce impacts to intact deposits to less than 5%. Implementation of this approach at five different sites are reviewed.