Robert Fleming Heizer
Notebook for the California Archaeological Survey
1948
In his 1903 report detailing long-range plans for the Department, Putnam called for the organization of an ethnological and archaeological survey of California. While some archaeology was subsequently accomplished, the commitment and funding to it remained well below that directed to ethnographic work. While chairing the Department in the 1920s, Kroeber repeatedly attempted to secure funds for archaeological research, most notably in his recommendation in 1928 to establish an Archaeological Survey of California. Success was not realized until 1948, however, after depredations to the State’s archaeological heritage caused by the growth of its population, agriculture, and industry, could no longer be ignored.
The Department established what later became the University of California Archaeological Survey. In addition to marking a renewed commitment to archaeological fieldwork, the Survey provided a means to conduct field investigations under contract to federal agencies such as the National Park Service and the Bureau of Reclamation.
