Faculty Profiles
Archaeologist Digs Cultural Resource Management
There’s a whole lot more to archaeology than digging. Mitch Mulholland,
founding director of UMass Archaeological Services (UMAS), part of the Anthropology
Department of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, says it involves “writing
proposals and reports, some research, supervising staff, connecting with
sponsors, visiting excavation sites, wrestling with contracts, meeting with
students and staff, and spending way too much time on the phone.” That’s
what it takes to complete the three phases of cultural resource management
for UMAS sponsors.
“Any construction that uses federal or state funds or permits is required by law to conduct an archaeological review that inventories—and avoids damage to—significant archaeological and historical sites,” Mulholland explains. “Without us, builders cannot proceed with highway construction, sewers, housing developments, airport extensions, water treatment plants, large commercial establishments, railroads, and so on.” UMAS, a contract and grant-funded organization, conducts up to 50 archaeological surveys a year for environmental engineering firms and various state and federal agencies. Sponsors include the National Park Service, MassHighway, Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Massachusetts Historical Commission, and municipalities across the state. Last fall a substantial contract came to UMAS from Northeast Utilities for which Mulholland has orchestrated several energy related projects. This spring they landed a $347,000 contract with Vermont Electric to survey a line near Burlington, as well as a not-to-exceed $160,000 statewide contract with New Hampshire Department of Transportation. "It's going to be a busy summer!" Mulholland declares.
The sites UMAS works on are varied and always interesting, Mulholland says. Last year his staff of 30 talented archaeologists, historians and architectural historians—many trained at UMass Amherst—worked on a 12,000-year-old Paleo Indian site in Canton, an industrial mill site in Dudley, several 17th-century sites in Hingham (including a Native American site and a tanning pit), a 19th-century railroad roundhouse in Cohasset, and the Connecticut River Erosion Control Project, among many others. They help sponsors meet their legal requirements in an efficient way, with the least hassle, while protecting archaeological sites. When the next project comes along, sponsors usually come back for more. “Our projects,” Mulholland says, “are for public benefit, and all of our artifacts and reports are curated for future public research. The collections further scientific understanding of past human behavior as do our many surveys."
Since joining the Anthropology Department in 2002, after 18 years under the umbrella of The Environmental Institute, Mulholland’s interaction with faculty and students has increased dramatically. “Anthropology has an excellent archaeology program—gifted faculty and a very cohesive group of graduate and undergraduate students. The topic is fascinating, and students have opportunities to actually work in the field and earn money doing it. All that in the same department! I don’t know an archaeologist who would tell you that it isn’t fun.” For budding archaeologists Mulholland recommends getting well-rounded training in anthropology, archaeology, geology, forestry, history, and computer science and picking their area of interest early. “Archaeology is very interdisciplinary,” he says. “Students need to develop skills in writing, graphics, GIS, photography, computers."
Mulholland loves teaching, but hasn’t done as much as he’d like because of the demands of the job. “When I do teach,” he says, “I oversee independent studies in Native American stone tool technology and lab techniques. And now that I am a research professor of anthropology (having been professional staff and adjunct in the department until recently), I hope to teach more—especially when the snow flies and the ground is frozen.”
June 20, 2006
