SECTION 25.1. Definitions

The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

(1) Abandoned cemetery--A non-perpetual care cemetery containing one or more graves and possessing cemetery elements for which no cemetery organization exists and which is not otherwise maintained by any caretakers. It may or may not be recorded in the deed records of the county in which it lies.

(2) Antiquities--The tangible artifacts and objects of the past that relate to human life and culture.

(3) Archeological investigation--Any research activity applied to archeological sites and the material remains in or removed from such sites, including survey, excavation, documentation, conservation, mapping, and analysis.

(4) Archeological preservation--The protection and conservation of the archeological and heritage of Texas.

(5) Archeological site--Any land or marine-based place that contains material remains of past human life or activities in their original or historical context that are at least 50 years of age or a place that has been determined by the commission to be of transcendent historical or cultural significance.

(6) Archeology division--A division of the commission that includes the office of the state archeologist.

(7) Artifact--A tangible object that relates to human life and culture of the past. Examples include, but are not limited to items constructed, altered, created, or used by humans. Paleontological remains and geological specimens are not included unless occurring in or related to an archeological context.

(8) Avocational archeologist--Any individual with demonstrated training, skill and/or experience in archeological investigation who is not a professional archeologist.

(9) Burials and burial pits--Marked and unmarked locales of a human burial or burials. Burials and burial pits may contain the remains of one or more individuals located in a common grave in a locale. The site area may contain gravestones, markers, containers, coverings, garments, vessels, tools, and other grave objects or could be evidenced by the presence of depressions, pit feature stains, or other archeological evidence.

(10) Cemetery--A place that is used or intended to be used for interment, and includes a graveyard, burial park, unknown cemetery, abandoned cemetery, mausoleum, or any other area containing one or more graves or unidentified graves.

(11) Conservation easement--A nonpossessory interest in real property that imposes limitations or affirmative obligations on the person holding the possessory or fee interest, as defined and authorized in Texas Natural Resources Code Chapter 183.

(12) Curatorial facility--A museum or repository that holds and maintains archeological collections.

(13) Historic preservation--The protection and conservation of the archeological and historical heritage of Texas.

(14) Historic resource--Any site, complex, building or structural remains of historical or archeological interest and its contents. Examples include, but are not limited to, prehistoric habitation sites, mounds, open campsites and rock shelters; mines, quarry areas and lithic procurement areas; game procurement and processing sites; petroglyph and pictograph sites; historic shipwrecks; remnants of historic buildings and structures; cemeteries; dumps and trash heaps; and military sites. Only resources at least 50 years old, or which have been determined by the state archeologist to be of transcendent historic importance, are considered historical resources within the meaning of this chapter.

(15) History (historic, historical)--The recording and study of past cultures, events, or resources created in the past and includes prehistory, relating to events occurring prior to written history.

(16) Human remains--The body of a decedent.

(17) Interment--The intended permanent disposition of human remains by entombment, burial or placement in a niche.

(18) Inventory of sites--Any form of tabulating, collecting, and holding archeological site records, and all activities which maintain that inventory, including restricted data contained within the Texas Historic Sites Atlas electronic database.

(19) Professional archeologist--An archeologist certified by the Register of Professional Archeologists (RPA) for the level of required investigation; anyone determined a professional archeologist by the state archeologist, according to the criteria of the RPA; or anyone meeting required qualifications and standards detailed in pertinent state rules (§26.4 of this title) or federal requirements specified in the Secretary of Interior's Professional Qualifications Standards (36 CFR Part 61, Appendix A) for archeological investigations.

(20) Site records--All data and information relating to the character, condition, and location of any archeological site or other historic resource and all data and information pertinent to collections of material remains. Site records include, but are not limited to, artifact catalogues, photographs, digital imagery, maps, spatial imagery, notes, drawings, site data forms, TexSite electronic forms, documents, audio data, and electronic data.

(21) State archeologist--The position authorized by Texas Government Code §442.007, responsible for the administration of the state archeological program.

(22) Steward--A current member of the Texas Archeological Stewardship Network.

(23) Texas Archeological Stewardship Network or TASN--A volunteer program administered by the commission. The TASN is composed of volunteer avocational archeologists selected for their demonstrated skills, experience and abilities to assist the commission with archeological investigations, research, preservation efforts, training, and public outreach endeavors.

(24) TexSite form--The standardized electronic form for recording archeological site information as developed by the commission and Texas Archeological Research Laboratory of The University of Texas.

(25) Unknown cemetery--An abandoned cemetery evidenced by the presence of marked or unmarked graves that does not appear on a map or in deed records.

(26) Unverified cemetery--A location having some evidence of human burial interments, but in which the presence of one or more unmarked graves has not been verified by a person described by §711.0105(a) of the Health and Safety Code of Texas or by the commission.

(27) Unidentified grave--A grave that is not marked in a manner that provides the identity of the interment.

(28) Verified cemetery--The location of a human burial interment or interments as verified by the commission.

Source Note: The provisions of this §25.1 adopted to be effective May 20, 2013, 38 TexReg 2977; amended to be effective December 31, 2017, 42 TexReg 7382