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Cultural Resource Historic Properties Treatment Plan for BK -1-072617 Colowyo Coal Company <br />3.4 Laboratory Analysis <br />Tetra Tech's Salt Lake Office maintains a climate control archaeological laboratory for the <br />processing and analysis of cultural material recovered from the field. Bulk feature sample <br />processing will be stored and processed at appropriate off-site laboratory facilities. As stated <br />above, all encountered artifacts will be collected for laboratory analysis except unmodified heat <br />altered rock. <br />3.4.1 Artifact Processing and Analysis <br />The collected cultural material is expected to be predominately lithic debitage and faunal remains. <br />The potential exists for stone tools and/or groundstone artifacts to also be recovered. The <br />potential for prehistoric ceramics and non -bone organic material is considered low. In -field <br />recovery will collect artifacts by material type/class (if from screen) or specific provenience. What <br />will not be collected is unmodified heat altered rock. Heat altered rock will be documented in the <br />field by sorting based on physical characteristics (ex. cracked, reddened, size class) and weighed <br />in bulk by class. Research has proven such analysis effective in determining a feature's possible <br />functions throughout that use life. <br />Further analysis of collected artifacts will occur in a laboratory setting. Prior to specific artifact <br />analysis, artifacts will be appropriately prepared (i.e. washing, labeling, etc. as appropriate) and <br />further subdivided from material classifications into initial functional classifications (ex. biface, <br />mano, etc.). Individual artifact class analysis will include, but not be limited to, material, form, <br />modification (if any), and method of manufacture. Debitage analysis will conform to current <br />methodologies that focus on the analysis of each flake and it's characteristic. If the recovered <br />debitage is significantly numerous to render such analysis impractical, mass aggregate analysis <br />methods will be applied. Reference guides, regional research, and other informational sources <br />will be used to assist in the analysis. Analysis related to other artifacts classes (ex. stone tools, <br />groundstone, and/or ceramics) will be stand observation/description analysis specific to the class. <br />All artifact analysis will be tracked electronically in our artifact catalog database(s) and paper <br />backup. The database will catalog all data recovered from the artifacts both in field and in the <br />laboratory. <br />3.4.2 Faunal Analysis <br />Faunal bone will be analyzed per standard zooarchaeological analysis practice (Reitz and Wing <br />1999). Recovered specimens will be categorized from general to specific as completeness allows. <br />Each fragment will be categorized, as possible, by species, age, side, and element. Bones will be <br />dry washed for examination of potential evidence of processing including cut/saw marks and any <br />other cultural modifications. Depending on the size and nature of the bone assemblage, further <br />analysis, like Minimum Number of Identified specimens, will be employed to determine <br />consumption patterns. <br />3.4.3 Feature Fill Flotation <br />Tetra Tech will subject recovered feature fill to flotation analysis to identify, collect, and analyze <br />any organic (ex. seeds or inorganic (micro-debitage) artifacts potentially present in the fill, but <br />typically unrecoverable in a field setting. The recovered material will be cataloged and analyzed <br />as any recovered artifact. The data can contribute to questions of subsistence practice and <br />intrasite and regional resource utilization. <br />Tetra Tech August 8, 2017 12 <br />