Stage 1A Cultural Resource Investigations for the Newprt Research Facility (Tanner Hill and Irish Hill) Town of Newport, Herkimer county, New York

Stage 1A cultural resource investigations were conducted for the Newport Research Facility located at Tanner and Irish Hills in the Town of Newport, Herkimer County, New York. The Facility was investigated in conjunction with the potential excessing of properties associated with the former Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York. The purpose of the investigation at the Newport Research Facility was to locate and identify any unrecorded cultural resources, prehistoric or historic, that might be located within the project area and to develop a sensitivity assessment of the potential for conducting additional field investigations. Background research indicated that the two facilities had varied potential sensitivities for the location of unrecorded prehistoric or historic archaeological sites ranging from low to moderate to high. While the potentially well-drained qualities of soils within portions of the project area and its topographic setting, might argue for potential attractiveness to prehistoric occupation and/or activities, the high degree of historic disturbance negated most of this potential. The potential for locating historic cultural material, refuse or foundations, was considered to be extremely low, although in one location at Irish Hill historic maps indicated the remains of a nineteenth century farm, the Chapin-Olds-Dunn Farm, that was subsequently impacted by Facility activities. Stage 1B field investigations have been recommended for those locations at the facilities containing moderate and/or high sensitivities. In addition, it is believed that some or all of the structures and features at the Newport Research Facility might be potentially culturally important because of their association with the "Cold War". The New York State Historic Preservation Office has indicated that further guidance will be needed from the National Park Service (NPS) for the evaluation of Cold War Facilities and they cannot provide, at present, an eligibility opinion on such properties. Therefore, an evaluation of such structures at Newport was beyond the scope of the present study.

针对坐落于纽约州赫基默县纽波特镇坦纳山与爱尔兰山的纽波特研究设施（Newport Research Facility）开展了第一阶段1A文化资源调查（Stage 1A）。本次调查与纽约州罗马市前格里菲斯空军基地（Griffiss Air Force Base）相关资产的潜在处置工作同步进行。纽波特研究设施本次调查的目的为定位并识别项目区域内所有未被记录的史前或历史时期文化资源，并对开展后续野外调查（Field Investigations）的潜力进行敏感性评估。背景调研表明，两处设施对于未被记录的史前或历史考古遗址的潜在敏感性存在差异，覆盖低、中、高三个等级。尽管项目区域部分地块的土壤具备良好排水性，且地形环境或可表明其对史前人类定居及相关活动具有潜在吸引力，但强烈的历史扰动已抵消了绝大多数此类潜力。尽管在爱尔兰山的一处点位，历史地图显示存在一处19世纪农场——蔡平-奥尔德斯-邓恩农场（Chapin-Olds-Dunn Farm），该农场后续受到了研究设施建设活动的影响，但本次调查认为发现历史文化遗存、废弃物或地基的可能性极低。针对设施内敏感性为中等及以上的点位，本研究建议开展第一阶段1B野外调查（Stage 1B）。此外，纽波特研究设施内的部分或全部建构筑物及遗迹，因与冷战（Cold War）相关，被认为可能具有文化重要性。纽约州历史保护办公室（New York State Historic Preservation Office）表示，针对冷战时期设施的评估需获得美国国家公园管理局（National Park Service, NPS）的进一步指导，目前无法就此类资产出具资格认定意见。因此，对纽波特研究设施内此类建构筑物的评估超出了本研究的范围。