Our Services

Collaborating with Tribes

Our office is in the traditional territory of the Medicine Creek Treaty Tribes and the people of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation. Our work intersects with the histories of many Indigenous peoples and societies who have who have stewarded the land and its history from time immemorial, including the ancestors of the sovereign nations who are today known as the Chinook Indian Nation, Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Hoh Tribe, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, Makah Indian Tribe, Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Quileute Tribe, Quinault Indian Nation, Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, Squaxin Island Tribe, and Suquamish Tribe. Through our archaeological and historical research, we aim to respectfully preserve histories for the people of the past, present, and future.

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Respectful Teamwork

Cultural resource management is fraught with complex interpersonal dynamics and difficult management decisions, and projects often require months of intense discussion. Our senior staff not only have the depth and breadth of experience to navigate difficult projects, but we also have a policy of maintaining respectful collaboration with all parties. We know that by putting our local communities first, we are supporting our clients for the long-term.

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Digital Communications

Antiquity uses ESRI products in the field and office, and in 2021 we went fully digital with our field record keeping. Our digital record keeping allows immediate communication of findings to project teams (reception depending). We have found that our communication protocols, along with our digital records, support Tribal staff attendance of survey and inadvertent discovery findings.

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Emergency Responses

Located in Tumwater, we can quickly respond to field-based cultural resource emergencies in western Washington. Our Principal Investigators are adept at quickly handling difficult inadvertent discoveries by working with project staff to understand the discovery and the resource. Our positive collaborative experience with Tribes in the region will also support project teams in making sound decisions under the pressure of a construction environment. With five full-time qualified archaeologists on staff, we have adequate staffing to respond to consultation needs and field visits for emergency responses.

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Laboratory Analyses

Our staff are experienced at lithic, archaeobotanical, and historic artifact analysis. Many of our staff have an affinity for environmental archaeology and ethnobotany and have local expertise in both macro and micro botanical analyses. In 2024 we acquired a compound microscope with 180x magnification. We are working to build a comparative collection of macrobotanical specimens, as well as pollen.

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Archaeological Permitting

Antiquity follows an established archaeological permitting process that incorporates Tribal feedback prior to consultation review. This assures the project team of adequate budgeting and scheduling months in advance of permit approval. 

For more imformation on permitting see: https://dahp.wa.gov/archaeology/archaeological-permitting.

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Culturally Modified Trees and Cultural Landscapes

Local Tribes are increasingly requesting that surveys pay special attention to heritage trees and are also requesting surveys for culturally modified trees. We are actively developing a protocol for recording culturally modified trees in the southern Puget Sound, working with Tribes to understand priorities in survey and recordation protocols. We hope that our protocols will improve CRM methods in the region. Additionally, we are working to better represent cultural and anthropogenic landscapes in all of our surveys, in partnership with Tribes.

For more information: https://www.culturallymodifiedtrees.com

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Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Survey

We work closely with Native Anthropological Services to provide GPR services for clients. Jon Shellenberger of Native Anthropological Services is widely regarded as a leading expert in GPR applications to cemeteries across Washington State.

For more information: https://nativeanthro.com/pages/native-anthropological-services

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Historic Human Remains Detection Dogs Survey

Antiquity staff have received training in historic human remains detection dog survey (HHRD). HHRD survey is an emerging method for confirming the risk of ecountering historic-age remains within a project area, alleviating concerns for unanticipated discoveries of human remains. We propose teaming with Cascadia Search Dogs.
For more information: https://csdk9.org/