Partners for Archaeological Site Stewardship

What we do

We recruit, train, and support members of the public to volunteer as site stewards at archaeological and historical sites.

Site stewards regularly visit their assigned sites and report site conditions. They keep sensitive site information confidential. They do not dig in the site or remove artifacts.

Site stewards work with State and federal public agencies and at private conservation organizations. They are supervised by local archaeologists to whom they submit their reports on site conditions.

CASSP activities provide volunteers with purposeful work, support agency archaeologists, and help protect heritage sites.

CASSP Workshops

Both parts of the CASSP volunteer training workshop will be offered this Fall. The free online session (part 1) will be held on November 22 and the field trip (part 2) will be held on December 13. The field trip has requirements and a fee. See the Events page for more information.

Contact us

CASSP is provided by Partners for Archaeological Site Stewardship, P O Box 7577, Long Beach, CA 90807, (562) 453-8984. The Executive Director is Beth Padon, bpadon@sitestewardship.org. Partners for Archaeological Site Stewardship is a 501(c)(3) organization.

Benefits for volunteers, agencies and communities

CASSP workshops attract a diverse group of people: students, retired people, hikers, bikers, off-highway vehicle users, Native Americans, community old-timers and newcomers, and archaeologists who enjoy visiting new sites. At the start of a field trip, people are strangers, but that dissipates as people share excitement of exploring a local archaeology site. These experiences and a shared concern for the history of personal and public places prove that our differences are small compared to our relatedness.

Volunteer site stewards provide valuable site protection by observing and reporting site conditions. Sometimes volunteers can help with other activities, such as field surveys, archival research, and public archaeology days. Managers of government agencies take notice when members of the public come to their office not to complain, but to assist. Preservation goals gain more recognition. In return, volunteers gain a greater awareness of the goals, tasks, and constraints of these public agencies.