the poInt-6 proGraM BeGIns

The Conservancy is excited to announce POINT-6, the sixth phase of an emergency acquisition project intended to purchase significant sites in immediate danger of destruction. The cultural remains of America’s prehistoric and historic peoples are rapidly being destroyed. Suburban development, modern agriculture, industry, and commercial looting all threaten not only the integrity, but the very existence, of our irreplaceable cultural heritage. Once an archaeological site has been disturbed, the context of the site can never be reconstructed and the precious information that the site contained about America’s past is lost forever.

The POINT Program (Protect Our Irreplaceable National Treasures) was first launched in 2000 with a $1 million challenge grant that the Conservancy had to match dollar for dollar in order to receive the funds. The Conservancy raised the matching funds because of the support of members, foundations, and corporations. The overwhelming success of the program prompted five additional phases of the project. Inspired by the past success of POINT and driven by the impact of the emergency funds on our preservation efforts, Conservancy board member Leslie Masson and her husband, Colin, have generously pledged a $1 million challenge grant to launch the POINT-6 Program.

The greatest obstacle to saving these sites is funding. Realizing this, our board member made the challenge grant with the expectation of building on the success of past POINT Programs. The $1 million gift must be matched dollar for dollar by June 2019 through gifts from foundations, corporations, and members. The funds would be used to quickly american archaeology

acquire archaeological sites throughout the nation that are in imminent danger of being destroyed or sold, as well as those sites for which cash is required to make the purchase.

The POINT-6 Program will focus primarily on sites in five geographic regions, as well as the sites of one national culture, the Paleo-Indians, who were the earliest inhabitants of the Americas. Although any endangered site of national significance will be eligible for protection under the program, regional preservation will focus on the following areas: Great Basin archaeology of the West; Four Corners archaeology of the Southwest; Algonquian and Iroquois village sites of the Northeast; Mississippian sites in the Southeast; and Mound-Builder sites of the Ohio Valley. Sites that would otherwise have become strip malls, housing developments, or victims of looting, are protected because of support from our members for the POINT Program. For example, Junction Earthworks in Ohio, an approximately 2,000-year-old earthwork complex that has been the subject of intermittent archaeological research since 1948, was saved with POINT funds. So was Manzanares Pueblo, a complex of adobe and masonry structures situated in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains near Santa Fe, New Mexico. POINT funds were used to acquire a major addition to Marksville, the type-site of the eponymous mound-builder culture, in Louisiana, as well as Puzzle House, a major Mesa Verde site complex in Colorado. To date, the Conservancy has protected 134 highly-endangered sites throughout the nation because of the POINT Program. We look forward to preserving many more.