New land survey seeks to document archaeological history of Douglas County

Leaders of a new Douglas County land survey are calling for local participation as they seek to document archeological sites in the area.

The Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council has hired archaeologists from Augustana University in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and KU to perform a county land survey to identify and document archaeological sites. They have issued a call for landowners who are interested in participating in the study to contact their team.

The last comparable county initiative was completed in 1996, and the information needs to be updated, according to Kaitlyn Ammerlaan, heritage coordinator. The project’s ultimate goal is to provide all data on identified sites to the Kansas State Archaeologist’s Office. 

Nikki Klarmann, state archaeologist and agency NAGPRA representative at the Kansas Historical Society, emphasized the importance of maintaining this record.

“Pre-emptive archeological survey can be used to identify archeological sites that may be affected by future ground disturbing construction projects,” Klarmann wrote in an email. “Conducting a county wide survey and working closely with landowners allows for early documentation of sites long before any construction is planned to potentially help protect sites in the future.”

Project plans

The team conducting the Douglas County survey is led by Austin Buhta, associate director of the Augustana Archaeology Lab, alongside Rolfe Mandel, university distinguished professor in the Department of Archaeology at KU. HCC selected their bid through a request for proposal process, where they were awarded $99,677 from HCC’s reserve account.

The archaeological team is now recruiting local participation — interested landowners can reach out to the team and open their properties to a survey. Buhta said they will hold off on site visits until fall, once the crops are harvested.

“Our team will walk across the land and document any artifacts visible on the surface,” a flyer for the archaeological team reads. “We won’t dig, and we won’t collect any artifacts, unless you want us to. It’s your land, and we won’t do anything without your permission.”

A press release from HCC shared that “the team is especially interested in upland crop fields, properties situated along the Santa Fe or Oregon/California trails, and areas with exposed streambanks.”

Though land surveys are the primary focus of this initiative, the archaeological team also welcomes inquiries from people who may have relevant historical objects from Douglas County in their possession. 

Buhta said the project has no collection policy, meaning “analysis of any artifacts identified will be completed in the field. These analyses will consist of scale photodocumentation, basic measurements, and recording of other notable features, such as color, object and material type.” They will also map the location where the object was found.

The archaeological team will not be collecting objects for their own purposes, but a landowner can request that the team retrieve and hand over items located without the use of excavation or land disturbance.

Details about individual sites are sensitive, private information. Amerlaan said the majority of site-based data will not be made available to the public or even the HCC, but will be reported directly to the State Historic Preservation Office and stored in the state archives. 

However, the archaeological team will provide a public-facing report to HCC, the Douglas County Commission and county residents, Amerlaan said.

“So that will mostly be an updated historical context for the county,” Amerlaan said. “This will … be a really useful tool to point folks to to kind of talk about our history and heritage in sort of a broader context beyond the 1850s, so I’m really excited about that. And then it can also help inform future decision-making, whether that be land use planning or things like that.”

Lawrence ties and tribal considerations

Buhta has also sought local input on the report to better inform the findings. When his team made a trip to visit Douglas County last month, they stopped by the Haskell Cultural Center and Museum and met with Director Travis Campbell.

“I had mentioned that, as part of our final report, I wanted to include an ethnohistorical account of the Haskell School from an Indigenous perspective,” Bhuta wrote in an email. “I asked Travis if he’d be interested in helping us with this and he indicated that he would.”

Due to the history of Lawrence’s founding on Indigenous lands and the presence of Haskell Indian Nations University in the area, the city has a past, present and future defined by a uniquely multitribal community. It is thus possible that the archaeological team may encounter human remains, funerary objects or other materials of cultural significance to Native communities.

If the team locates human remains, Kansas’ Unmarked Burials Sites Preservation Act requires that they report the discovery to local law enforcement, even if it is made on private land. The remains would then be medically examined to rule out any connection to a mission persons or homicide case, Buhta said. 

Klarmann confirmed that if no tie is found, the remains become the jurisdiction of the Kansas Historical Society and are subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. NAGPRA is federal legislation that facilitates the repatriation or transfer of Native American remains, funerary objects and objects of cultural significance to Indigenous communities. 

Funerary objects and grave goods found on federal, tribal or private land are also protected by the Unmarked Burials Act in Kansas.

State laws can influence what happens to objects found during archaeological work. NAGPRA typically only applies to federal and tribal lands. As the Douglas County survey will be conducted on private land, the archaeological team and individual landowners are not obligated by NAGPRA to repatriate or transfer significant Native cultural items.

Still, individual property owners can assume a personal onus to repatriate an item.

“If an item is found that may be Indigenous in origin we can help identify the object and potentially connect individuals with Tribal Nations that have cultural affiliation with that area,” Klarmann wrote.

Get involved

Douglas County residents who want to participate in the survey can email dig@augie.edu or call 605-274‐4369. 

Kansas residents interested in repatriating potentially Indigenous objects in their possession can contact Klarmann at
KSHS.archeologyoutreach@ks.gov.

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

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