November 9, 2025
Sermon by Dr Michelle Troutman
Roughly half of the employed archaeologists in the United States work in Cultural Resources Management (CRM) which focuses on the identification, evaluation, and preservation of cultural resources such as archaeological sites, cultural landscapes, and historic buildings. Archaeologists in Cultural Resources Management work within state, federal, tribal, and private sectors to carry out compliance projects to meet state and federal regulations for development projects. I will present an overview of this field through an archaeologist’s point of view, following a case example of a project in New Jersey that resulted in the data recovery of a Woodland period (1000 BC to AD 1600) archaeological site.
Dr. Troutman is a member of our fellowship and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist (RPA) working at Richard Grubb & Associates, Inc. (RGA). Her experience includes background, field, and laboratory research, sensitivity assessments, and authoring technical reports prepared in accordance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and other municipal and state cultural resource regulations. Dr. Troutman finished her doctoral studies at Binghamton University (SUNY) focusing on Early Archaic stone tool manufacturing practices, and she has experience in archaeological investigations across the U.S. east coast and abroad in France.