The CalNAGPRA at CSU Fullerton invites applications for its Graduate Assistant position.
The graduate assistant will support the CalNAGPRA Repatriation Coordinator in the process of fulfilling CSUF’s NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA compliance responsibilities. This process includes working with culturally affiliated Native American Tribes to facilitate the repatriation of human remains and cultural items housed in CSUF’s archaeological or ethnographic collections. The work is guided by both federal and state laws.
An important component of the repatriation process is determining cultural affiliation for the human remains and cultural items in the collections based on the available evidence. The graduate assistant will help with these determinations by researching site documents and summarizing archaeological work conducted on those sites. These summaries will be used in consultation to assist Native American Tribes with identifying significant cultural items.
Essential Duties:
- Attending consultation meetings with Native American Tribal members and taking detailed minutes to document the meeting
- Researching historic records and compiling site files
- Digitizing and organizing site records
- Assisting with spatial association of cultural items and burial locations within sites
- Assisting with finding supportive documentation for determinations of cultural affiliation
- Creating site histories by researching site records, project reports, level forms, catalogs, maps, and field notes
- Helping to draft inventories and summaries of the collections according to the requirements of the National NAGPRA Program and the Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC)
- Adding information to the collections inventory including USGS topo quads and accession numbers
- Collating and creating databases to track the assignment of accession numbers in the collection
- Participating in systematic sorting of archaeological material
- Drafting ArcGIS maps of cultural resources for use in consultation
- Other duties, as needed
This position involves sensitive and confidential information and requires a high degree of cultural sensitivity. Per campus policy, student workers may not exceed a combined total of 20 hours between all campus jobs.