How to Find Archaeological Site Reports

Federal and state laws that protect the environment include protection for designated archaeological sites. As a result the government is involved in managing archaeological sites on federal and state lands such as parks and forests. Construction projects often require archaeological surveys to locate prehistoric or historic sites and the excavation of some sites before construction is allowed to begin. Many of these sites can be found with the search techniques in this guide. You can also use the following U.S. Government database to locate site reports.

National Archaelogical Database (National Parks)

Searching by keyword

Words to try along with a country name, region and/or type of site (cave, rockshelter, mound, petroglyphs, village) or name of a specific group or tribe of people (salish, navajo)

• excavations - archaeology
• antiquities
• archaeology

Searching for specific sites

The name of the archaeologial site is usually a "Subject Heading."  Select Subject search from the main catalog and enter the site name.  Here are some examples:

• leaning oak site
• bravo creek site
• mesa site
• petersen house
• owl cave site

Search for sites by country

To locate archaeological sites in Canada and the United States (no particular site) use the following format: province or state followed by the word antiquities.  for example:

• north dakota - antiquities
• british columbia - antiquities

To locate sites by any other country (no particular site) use the following subject heading structure: 

• france -- antiquities
• india -- antiquities

Some broad Subject Headings to use for northwest sites

• excavations - archaeology - washington state
• excavations - archaeology - oregon
• excavations - archaeology alaska
• excavations - archaeology - northwest pacific
• washington state - antiquities

Search the following databases to locate site reports published in journals.