 ENERGY DEVELOPMENT Services:
• ARCHEOLOGICAL INVENTORIES FOR AGENCY PERMITTING
Currently we concentrate our work on projects under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota. We also work on Forest Service lands, especially the Thunder Basin National Grasslands in Wyoming. However, we consider all projects.
  
• INITIAL SITE RECORDING AND EVALUATION
These services are usually completed as part of the archeological inventory. However, occasionally they are preformed separately, especially relative to rock art projects where known, but unrecorded, sites are placed in the state records for future study and analysis.
• SITE CONDITION ASSESSMENT
Assessing the condition of an archeological site is needed by federal or state agencies to determine how preservation methods or lack thereof are working. Condition assessments are conducted specially for rock art sites to monitor vandalism.
• GPS SITE MAPPING
Maps for reports and site forms are created in full color with a variety of computer programs. We can map any aspect of your project from details regarding archeological sites relative to impact areas, features (such as tipi rings), within archeological sites, to locations of existing and planned projects relative to the landscape with no cultural resource involvement.
 
• PHOTOGRAPHY OF ANY ASPECT OF YOUR PROJECT
Our staff is available to photograph your project and produce publishable digital images. We also specialize in digital enhancement, panoramic stitching, and digital photo repair.
 
• ARCHEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION MONITORING OR INSPECTION
In order to assess subsurface potential for buried cultural materials when nothing is exposed on the surface, a monitor of construction activities may be required. Monitoring involves following the construction equipment to search for remains such as hearths and house pits. Construction monitoring stipulations vary by project and agency. We have witnessed many different kinds of monitoring for cultural resources from snow removal projects in the 1970's to large scale reconnaissance monitoring in the 1980's. Today monitoring continues to search for buried deposits in areas where there is a high potential for cultural remains based on soil information but nothing was observed on the surface. It is also used to check for additional subsurface remains after a sampling mitigation program.
 
• SITE TESTING
Although most energy related projects strive to avoid archeological sites, in some cases avoidance is not possible, or it is not the most desirable alternative. Testing of a site is usually first conducted to evaluate its potential for contributing additional information.
  
  
  
• ARTIFACT COLLECTION, ANALYSIS, AND CURATION
Although most initial inventory projects today are conducted under a "no collection" policy, it is sometimes required that all surface artifacts be collected. In cases of excavation, it is still generally accepted for the recovered artifacts to be collected, analyzed, and curated. Most artifacts we collect are done in conjunction with inventory or testing projects, but occasionally, mitigation stipulations require collections of sites. Regardless of the associated collection project, we can provide the artifact analysis report and curation paperwork and artifact preparation. Click Here to see examples of artifacts.
• CLASS I FILE SEARCH OVERVIEWS
If your project has been surveyed previously, a Class I report is sometimes required to obtain an oil and gas permit. This report provides information on the previous inventories, known cultural resournce sites in the area, and provides recommendations for possible future work relative to your planned project.
• REPORTS OF FIELD INVESTIGATIONS AND LABORATORY STUDIES
Click Here to see examples of Oil and Gas Reports from Montana and Wyoming.
PHOTOGRAPHIC Services:
• PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORDING
Our staff is available to photograph your project and produce publishable digital images.
• PHOTO COMPUTER ENHANCEMENT
Click here for more information on our digital enhancement offerings.
ARCHEOLOGY or ARCHAEOLOGY:
Is it "archeology" without the a or "archaeology" with the a? This spelling controversy has been around since an attempt was made to simplify and Americanize the spelling of the word by the Government Printing Office in the 1890s. Although most academic institutions continue to use the word with an a, most government agencies, many archeological contractors, and several state archeological societies do not. Today, both spellings are recognized as acceptable by most people.
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