Phase III Archeological Report
Review Guidelines

Effective May 1, 2000, all reports received by the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) describing Phase III (National Register eligibility) testing and ensuant recommendations will be sent out for peer review. It is at this Phase III level that determinations of eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places are made. It is the opinion of the SHPO that a peer review process will increase the SHPO's effectiveness in protecting, preserving, and interpreting Kansas's archaeological resources by ensuring that potential oversights related to testing and/or faults associated with interpretation of testing results are minimized. Guidelines for the review process are provided below.

1. A list of professionals in the field of Archaeology who have expressed a willingness to serve as reviewers is on file at the Kansas State Historical Society, Cultural Resources Division, Historic Preservation Office. Any
individual who holds an advanced degree in Anthropology (with a specialization in Archaeology), Archaeology, or Geography (with a specialization in Geoarchaeology) can serve as a reviewer. An individual may have his/her name removed, at that individual's request, at any time.

2. Upon receipt of a Phase III report, the SHPO will contact two individuals from the list who are willing to review the report.

3. Upon receipt of the report, a reviewer will have fourteen calender days to review the document and submit comments to the SHPO. If comments are not received by the SHPO by the end of the fourteen day period, the
lack of response will be seen as concurrence with the report's recommendations. All reviews will be blind reviews unless a reviewer wishes to waive anonymity.

4. After receiving comments from the two reviewers, the SHPO will consider said comments during its review of the archeological report and make a determination of whether or not to accept the report's recommendations.
Reviewer comments are meant to serve an advisory role in the review process. The SHPO has the final authority in accepting/rejecting report recommendations, and all SHPO decisions regarding the acceptance or
rejection of report recommendations are final.

5. If it becomes apparent that these guidelines need to be modified, clarified, and/or rewritten, such efforts will be undertaken. In the event that this peer review system does not work as intended (after efforts have been made to modify it), the program will be discontinued.

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Kansas State Historic Preservation Officer / Date