13 Tex. Admin. Code § 25.1 - Definitions
The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Abandoned cemetery--A
non-perpetual care cemetery containing one or more graves and possessing
cemetery elements for which no cemetery organization exists and which is not
otherwise maintained by any caretakers. It may or may not be recorded in the
deed records of the county in which it lies.
(2) Antiquities--The tangible artifacts and
objects of the past that relate to human life and culture.
(3) Archeological investigation--Any research
activity applied to archeological sites and the material remains in or removed
from such sites, including survey, excavation, documentation, conservation,
mapping, and analysis.
(4)
Archeological preservation--The protection and conservation of the
archeological and heritage of Texas.
(5) Archeological site--Any land or
marine-based place that contains material remains of past human life or
activities in their original or historical context that are at least 50 years
of age or a place that has been determined by the commission to be of
transcendent historical or cultural significance.
(6) Archeology division--A division of the
commission that includes the office of the state archeologist.
(7) Artifact--A tangible object that relates
to human life and culture of the past. Examples include, but are not limited to
items constructed, altered, created, or used by humans. Paleontological remains
and geological specimens are not included unless occurring in or related to an
archeological context.
(8)
Avocational archeologist--Any individual with demonstrated training, skill
and/or experience in archeological investigation who is not a professional
archeologist.
(9) Burials and
burial pits--Marked and unmarked locales of a human burial or burials. Burials
and burial pits may contain the remains of one or more individuals located in a
common grave in a locale. The site area may contain gravestones, markers,
containers, coverings, garments, vessels, tools, and other grave objects or
could be evidenced by the presence of depressions, pit feature stains, or other
archeological evidence.
(10)
Cemetery--A place that is used or intended to be used for interment, and
includes a graveyard, burial park, unknown cemetery, abandoned cemetery,
mausoleum, or any other area containing one or more graves or unidentified
graves.
(11) Conservation
easement--A nonpossessory interest in real property that imposes limitations or
affirmative obligations on the person holding the possessory or fee interest,
as defined and authorized in Texas Natural Resources Code Chapter
183.
(12) Curatorial facility--A
museum or repository that holds and maintains archeological
collections.
(13) Historic
preservation--The protection and conservation of the archeological and
historical heritage of Texas.
(14)
Historic resource--Any site, complex, building or structural remains of
historical or archeological interest and its contents. Examples include, but
are not limited to, prehistoric habitation sites, mounds, open campsites and
rock shelters; mines, quarry areas and lithic procurement areas; game
procurement and processing sites; petroglyph and pictograph sites; historic
shipwrecks; remnants of historic buildings and structures; cemeteries; dumps
and trash heaps; and military sites. Only resources at least 50 years old, or
which have been determined by the state archeologist to be of transcendent
historic importance, are considered historical resources within the meaning of
this chapter.
(15) History
(historic, historical)--The recording and study of past cultures, events, or
resources created in the past and includes prehistory, relating to events
occurring prior to written history.
(16) Human remains--The body of a
decedent.
(17) Interment--The
intended permanent disposition of human remains by entombment, burial or
placement in a niche.
(18)
Inventory of sites--Any form of tabulating, collecting, and holding
archeological site records, and all activities which maintain that inventory,
including restricted data contained within the Texas Historic Sites Atlas
electronic database.
(19)
Professional archeologist--An archeologist certified by the Register of
Professional Archeologists (RPA) for the level of required investigation;
anyone determined a professional archeologist by the state archeologist,
according to the criteria of the RPA; or anyone meeting required qualifications
and standards detailed in pertinent state rules (§
26.4 of this title) or federal
requirements specified in the Secretary of Interior's Professional
Qualifications Standards ( 36 CFR Part 61, Appendix A) for archeological
investigations.
(20) Site
records--All data and information relating to the character, condition, and
location of any archeological site or other historic resource and all data and
information pertinent to collections of material remains. Site records include,
but are not limited to, artifact catalogues, photographs, digital imagery,
maps, spatial imagery, notes, drawings, site data forms, TexSite electronic
forms, documents, audio data, and electronic data.
(21) State archeologist--The position
authorized by Texas Government Code §
442.007, responsible
for the administration of the state archeological program.
(22) Steward--A current member of the Texas
Archeological Stewardship Network.
(23) Texas Archeological Stewardship Network
or TASN--A volunteer program administered by the commission. The TASN is
composed of volunteer avocational archeologists selected for their demonstrated
skills, experience and abilities to assist the commission with archeological
investigations, research, preservation efforts, training, and public outreach
endeavors.
(24) TexSite form--The
standardized electronic form for recording archeological site information as
developed by the commission and Texas Archeological Research Laboratory of The
University of Texas.
(25) Unknown
cemetery--An abandoned cemetery evidenced by the presence of marked or unmarked
graves that does not appear on a map or in deed records.
(26) Unverified cemetery--A location having
some evidence of human burial interments, but in which the presence of one or
more unmarked graves has not been verified by a person described by §
711.0105(a)
of the Health and Safety Code of Texas or by the commission.
(27) Unidentified grave--A grave that is not
marked in a manner that provides the identity of the interment.
(28) Verified cemetery--The location of a
human burial interment or interments as verified by the commission.
Notes
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