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A bit about me...
Click here to download a PDF of my resume.
or read below.
IN A NUTSHELL...
My relationship with archaeology began when I was sixteen years old. A friend was enrolled in a beginning archaeology class taught by Dr. Ted Soule at the local community college in my hometown of Glendale, California. He was setting up a dig and wanted someone to come along as a photographer. My friend recommended me, and so I received the unexpected opportunity of my life. During the three weeks I was on the project team, I ended up doing more fieldwork than photography. I rode up with Dr. Soule and helped him with the initial field mapping of the site in the Moapa Valley north of Las Vegas, Nevada. When the crew arrived, we performed an intensive field survey and we placed the units according to concentrations of surface finds of mostly black and white pottery. In our shallow excavations, we uncovered the remains of two pit houses that Dr. Soule termed, "Puebloid." Needless to say, I was hooked.
Like many youthful dreams and interests, I pursued what seemed like the best and most immediate opportunities, and my calling to archaeology took a back seat to working, making money, and a growing career in graphic arts. as the years rolled on, I took on the most important and rewarding job I could have - that of husband and father to two amazing, bright, and wonderful daughters. Then, about eleven years ago, after 25 years as a successful manager in the printing and marketing communication industry, I decided to pursue my passion for archaeology that I had held since I was a teenager.
I enrolled in Ventura Community College and completed my lower division coursework by taking a class or two every semester while continuing to run a printing company in Los Angeles during the day. I then transitioned to consulting part time while I attended the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) for my upper division work and graduated in 2004, having earned Highest Honors and Distinction in the Major.
I returned to UCSB for graduate studies with Dr. Michael Glassow as my committee chair. I focused my studies on the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in archaeology. For my thesis I created a weights of evidence model of archaeological sensitivity for the Santa Ynez River watershed. I graduated with and M.A. in Anthropology in 2007.
MY RESUME...
Mark Neal
462 San Clemente Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Cell Phone (805) 300-4927
mark@beyondmaps.org
MAJOR QUALIFICATIONS
- Fully trained in geographic information systems creation, maintenance, and use at the University of California at Santa Barbara, one of the most respected university GIS departs in the world.
- Expert in the application of geographic information systems in cultural resource management, including records processing, database design, digitizing, and advanced analysis and modeling techniques.
- Extensive experience combining data sources from multiple disciplines (such as publicly available environmental, census, and cadastral data, and georeferenced historic maps) into a cohesive and accurate GIS.
- Highly skilled at organizing data and writing clear, accurate, and comprehensive technical documents and publications.
- Thorough and patient teacher of basic to advanced GIS techniques and concepts to users of various backgrounds and skill levels.
- B.A. and M.A. in anthropology with an emphasis on the archaeology of central and southern California.
- Extensive experience working with local indigenous groups on matters concerning protection of cultural resources and traditional cultural properties.
- Successful completion of coursework in cultural resource management law under Dr. Michael Glassow.
- Successful completion of field methods and advanced field methods classes under Dr. Michael Glassow, plus additional field experience in excavation and systematic survey working under Dr. Glassow on Santa Cruz Island.
- Over six months cumulative lab experience processing materials from central California excavations.
- One year of experience as the Assistant Coordinator of the Central Coastal Information Center accessioning and reviewing archaeological site records and field reports and performing record searches for most of the archaeologists is Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
EDUCATION
| 2004 |
B.A. Anthropology with focus in Archaeology, University of California at Santa Barbara. |
| 2007 |
M.A Anthropology with focus in Archaeology, University of California at Santa Barbara. |
EMPLOYMENT
| 3/2009 - current |
Archaeologist, URS Corporation.
Duties: Plan, direct, and participate in archaeological studies as a part of the permitting and public review processes of large construction projects. Currently, those projects have mostly taken place in the Mojave and Yuha Deserts at sites where large-scale solar wind wind energy generation facilities are planned. |
| 3/2007 - 3/2009 |
Consulting Archaeologist, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.
Duties: Research the potential of regional development projects to negatively impact cultural resources and traditional cultural properties. Work as a member of a team of four Tribal employees and members under the direction of the Council of Elders to interact with government representatives, planners, and landowners to negotiate adequate protection of cultural resources and TCPs. Provide archaeological and geographic information systems support for various other projects as directed. |
| 1/2008 - 6/2008 |
Staff Research Associate, Central Coast Information Center (CCIC), University of California at Santa Barbara
Duties: Training and teaching of graduate student staff in advanced GIS techniques. Design and create a GIS dataset of all archaeological sites and reports for Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel Islands. |
| 10/2007 - 12/2007 |
Digitizing Supervisor, Central Coast Information Center (CCIC), University of California at Santa Barbara
Duties: Supervise a team of four student digitizers to facilitate the production of a GIS for all sites and surveys under the jurisdiction of the CCIC. Perform quality check all digital information produced and provide technical support as needed. |
| 6/2006 - 6/2007 |
Assistant Coordinator, Central Coast Information Center (CCIC), University of California at Santa Barbara
Duties: Conduct record searches for locations of cultural resources and reports of previous survey work using a GIS and archive maps. Receive, catalog, and map incoming reports of cultural resources. Perform billing and accounts receivable functions. |
| 3/2006 - 6/2006 |
Digitizing Supervisor, Central Coast Information Center (CCIC), University of California at Santa Barbara
Duties: Supervise a team of four student digitizers to facilitate the production of a GIS for all sites and surveys under the jurisdiction of the CCIC. Perform quality check all digital information produced and provide technical support as needed. |
| 10/2005 - 6/2006 |
Engineering Aide - GIS, City of Ventura, CA.
Duties: Maintain various GIS layers as directed. Develop custom ARCIMS web based mapping applications. |
| 6/2005 - 10/2005 |
Archaeologist Technician GS5, USDA Forest Service, Region 5, Los Padres National Forest
Duties: Research, purchase, implement, and train district archaeologists in the use of field data recorders (PDRs) using Arcpad. Use ARCGIS and Arcview to manipulate data and generate survey maps. Perform pre-field research as directed. Assist district archaeologists in field survey. |
| 8/2004 - 3/2005 |
Digitizer, Central Coast Information Center,
University of California at Santa Barbara
Duties: Use archaeological survey records to map survey areas using Arcview 3.3. |
| 6/2004 - 9/2004 |
Intern, Geographic Information Systems, City of Ventura, CA
Duties: Georeference historic Sanborn Insurance maps to existing GIS layers in Arcview 8 using property boundaries and aerial photographs. |
| 6/2004 - 9/2004 |
Archaeologist Technician GS5, USDA Forest Service,
Region 5, Los Padres National Forest
Duties: Assisted Forest Archaeologists in performing field survey and site recording. Performed other duties as directed such as database programming and maintenance, records searches, and mapping. |
| 3/2004 - 6/2004 |
Intern, United States Forest Service
Duties: Performed miscellaneous duties at the Heritage Resource Center of the Los Padres National Forest including recordkeeping, mapping, database design, data entry, and research under the direction of the Forest Archaeologist. |
| 8/2003 - 5/2004 |
Student Participant, Laboratory Procedures Practicum.
University of California at Santa Barbara
Duties: Laboratory processing of materials from several central California coastal prehistoric archaeological sites. Included wet screening, flotation, sorting, shellfish species identification, plus other miscellaneous laboratory procedures. |
| 3/2004 - 5/2004 |
Student Participant, Archaeological Field Methods Class.
University of California at Santa Barbara
Training included research design, excavation, feature recording, dry and wet screening, recordkeeping, field cataloging and archiving. |
REFERENCES
Excellent references available upon request.
SOME EXAMPLES OF PROJECTS TO WHICH I HAVE CONTRIBUTED...
Mark Neal
462 San Clemente Street
Ventura, CA 93001
Cell Phone (805) 300-4927
mark@beyondmaps.org
2008 - Ongoing
Member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indian's Cultural Resource Protection Team. When the Tribe is notified of development projects within their geographic are of interest, I perform background research regarding known cultural resources and traditional cultural properties. To support their conservation efforts, I create maps and graphics demonstrating the distribution of known resources relative to the projects and support the other team members in formulating appropriate responses. I have also participated in negotiations between the Tribe, developers, land owners, and planning agencies.
2008
Creation of a Predictive Model for Late Period Village Sites in the Santa Ynez Valley. For this model, I used advanced spatial analysis techniques to create datasets that model various environmental factors that have been theorized to affect village site distribution. For the final product, I used weights of evidence to generate a sensitivity map of the Santa Ynez River watershed classified into five categories of greater and lesser probability of the presence of undiscovered late period village sites. The County of Santa Barbara Planning and Development Department is currently considering the model as a possible tool for land use planning.
2008
Creation of a GIS of archaeological sites and reports for Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and San Miguel Islands, California. Working for the Central Coastal Information Center (CCIC), which is part of the California Historic Resource Information System (CHRIS), I created polygon shapefiles of all archaeological sites and reports for the Channel Islands that are within Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties in California. I georeferenced hand-annotated USGS quad maps, scholarly works, and early aerial photography. I also analyzed individual site records and reports. The final product is the most comprehensive dataset known for those islands and included 1934 sites and 36 reports. 2007
City of San Buenaventura Downtown Specific Plan Historic Resources Survey. This survey was conducted as part of the updating process for their downtown core specific plan. I was brought in as a consultant to analyze the survey data for accuracy and completeness prior to its presentation to city council. I documented numerous errors and omissions in the data and worked with the city and their vendor to address those issues. I produced a detailed report of my findings including graphics for the client to use in their powerpoint presentations to the city council. I worked with the city's GIS department to define data requirements and corrected, reformatted, and converted the vendor's Excel tables into GIS layers ready to be integrated into the city's GIS. I made final recommendations of ways to prevent similar errors from happening in future surveys by improving contract specifications and survey planning and methods.
2006
Re-designation of Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley as the Chumash Highway. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians sought to draw attention to the contributions of the ancestral Chumash to the history of the Santa Ynez Valley. One idea they had to support that goal was designate Highway 154, which runs through the valley and next to their reservation, as Chumash Highway. I supplied analyses of cultural resource distribution and created appropriately redacted graphics that were used in presentations to support the importance of the highway as an early native trail. I also georeferenced historical maps and maps from various scholarly works to further support their position. The Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians successfully petitioned legislators and in 2007 signs went up along Highway 154 declaring it as the Chumash Highway. 2004 - 2008
Conversion of Central Coastal Information Center to the use of GIS and digital records. Worked as a team member supervising the digitizing process, training student digitizers, teaching advanced GIS techniques, troubleshooting data, performing quality control of final data, and ongoing project planning and support.
2004
Georeferencing historic maps for use in the City of San Buenaventura's GIS. Working at the city's site, I georeferenced various historic maps (such as Sanborn fire insurance maps) using the cadastral data and historic and contemporary aerial photography. Those maps are now linked to the city's parcel layer.
2004
Create building footprint GIS shapefile for the City of San Buenaventura. Georeferenced plans from construction permit application database to expand and correct the city's building footprint layer.
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