Independent Archaeological Consulting, LLC

Mailing Address
97 Morning Street • Portsmouth, NH 03801

Lab Location
801 Islington Street, Suite 31 • Portsmouth, NH 03801
(603) 430-2970 • Fax: (603) 430-2971

Independent Archaeological Consulting, LLC is a woman-owned small business certified as a D/B/E in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. IAC provides a full range of archaeological assessment services to clients in Northern New England. The company assists civil engineers, planners, and developers meet state and federal regulations and guidelines by providing archaeological assessments required to obtain permits for development or expansion.

IAC offers a range of services including, sensitivity assessments, site locational studies, site examinations, data recovery programs for a variety of projects such as highway improvements, gas pipelines, airport development, bridge replacement, town planning, golf courses, and historic properties and museums.

Excavation at the Spencer-Pierce-Little Farm, Newbury, Massachusetts

Screening soils to recover artifacts

Certification

IAC's Principal and Project Archaeologists meet or exceed Federal standards 36CFR61 (Appendix A). Director Kathleen Wheeler is a member of the peer-reviewed Register of Professional Archaeologists (RPA) and also holds a position on the listing of approved or certified archaeologists in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Dr. Wheeler is one of the few historical archaeologists certified at Level 2, which permits her to perform all phases of archaeological assessment in Maine.

Late Archaic Hearth Feature in Orford, NH

Experience and Results

Although IAC specializes in historical archaeology, the firm has had vast experience on pre-Contact sites as well. The company maintains a positive working relationship with Federal Regulatory Agencies and State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPO) in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts. IAC provides quick turnaround on Section 106 and NEPA review.

Facilities		Clients include
IAC maintains a fully equipped archaeological laboratory in Portsmouth, NH where artifacts are processed, cataloged and analyzed.		CLD, Inc., Manchester, NH Hoyle Tanner & Associates Department of Transportation Civil Engineering, Shelburne, VT Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, LLC.

Job Opportunities

Key Personnel

Kathleen Wheeler, Ph.D., RPA (University of Arizona, 1992) serves as Director and Principal Archaeologist and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA). Dr. Wheeler has more than 25 years experience working in New England and has authored or co-authored hundreds of technical reports for projects completed in the New England area. She has completed all levels of archaeological investigation in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, and is Phase-2 certified for Euroamerican (historic) archaeology in Maine. Her experience in Portsmouth archaeology encompasses many years of fieldwork, and her dissertation focused on 19th-century occupations at three sites now within Strawbery Banke Museum.

Ellen Marlatt, M.A. (University of Southern Maine, 1996), Senior Researcher, conducts historical research and in the past 15 years has done extensive research in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Her M. A. thesis for the American and New England Studies Program at USM focused on women consumers in the 19th-century Portsmouth, NH marketplace. Through her ongoing research, she has established a close working relationship with many state and local research institutions.

Anthony Booth, M.A. (University of Maine, Orono 2006), Project Archaeologist, has many years of varied archaeological experience in most of the New England states. Certified as a level 2 historical archaeologist in Maine, Tony has also worked on a number of IAC projects in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire. He began his career as an undergraduate at the University of New Hampshire and worked as an intern and research assistant at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth from 1998 to 2000. His experience in New Hampshire archaeology has included the investigations of wharves, forts, urban dwellings, and cemeteries. His research interests include architectural history and industrial archaeology.

Helping Historic Sites: The Big Picture Emerges from Small Details

IAC is especially committed to helping museums and historic sites develop their interpretive plans through archaeological research.

Documents often leave out details of every-day life or events at an historic property. Archaeology helps reveal information about historically groups of people such as tenants, slaves,and female residents through the objects they left behind.

IAC can also help identify previously unknown architectural features and interpret their function in the history of the property Projects have identified an 18th-century dairy at the Paine-Dodge House in Ipswich, MA a tenant farm house at Grant in Essex, MA, and a kitchen storehouse addition at the Hamilton House in South Berwick, Maine.

18th-century Lead Bale Seal from Hamilton House Excavations, South Berwick, Maine

American Cultural Resources Association