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.
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