For Cultural Resource Management firms and other professional archaeologists seeking Site File access for research related to contract-based projects, please review the policy outlined below.
A fee of $330 per project search will be charged for funded projects by CRM firms and agencies for access to the Site File. A fee of $66 will be charged per tower search, including railroad PTC tower searches. This fee, due within 30 days, is necessary to cover the cost of the operation and management of the Site File. Any number of in-house visits to and uses of the Site File may be made for any individual project through the payment of a single fee within six months of the original invoice date. However, an additional paper search completed by Site File staff and provided to a client remotely will be charged a new project fee and not considered a project revisit.
Site File searches may be conducted in five ways:
- Site File personnel will conduct the search for users for a fee of $25 per hour plus the $330 project fee.
- For the standard project fee of $330, the user's own staff may conduct the research at our facilities. If staff other than site file personnel conducts the research, they must meet minimum professional standards for an archaeologist, or be working under the supervision of an archaeologist that meets professional standards.
- Firms can conduct their own searches online through GNAHRGIS. Access can be granted for particular counties for a short period of time (4 months) per project, with the standard project fee of $330 still applied.
- Firms can conduct multiple searches using all-county, annual access to GNAHRGIS for a fee of $5,150. GASF does not prorate the annual fee but offers access for 12 months following the date of access granted.
- Engineering and environmental firms without an archaeologist will not be allowed to access site information.
However, site file searches with limited information about site location may be conducted or requested by non-archaeological professionals with non-CRM firms if all the following conditions are met:
- The representative of the environmental, geological, or engineering firm attests, as a professional in his or her field, that information obtained from the Georgia Archaeological Site File will not be divulged to any party other than the client for whom the engineering firm is conducting the research.
- The environmental, geological, or engineering firm accepts that the following information will not be provided: maps, site numbers, site forms, information within site reports (only number and abstract is provided).
- Additionally, environmental, geological, or engineering firms who do not have a professional archaeologist on staff accept a paragraph outlining the limitations of Site File research (see Paragraph of Disclaimer below), which the GASF strongly recommends be placed in the firm's report to their client.
- The environmental, geological, or engineering firm accepts that the project fee of $330 is still applied.
IMPORTANT: For the purposes of access and invoicing, GASF defines an archaeological project as an enclosed boundary of investigation involving a single search radius originating from a point, a line, or a polygon. If a firm or agency requests a single project search requiring more than one search radius, such as for a multi-intersection survey, GASF must also be provided with documentation supporting why the request should be considered as a single project and subsequently charged under a single project fee. If GASF determines that supplemental documentation is sufficient to warrant results from multiple search radii as a single project search, there will be a surcharge of $30 included with the total service cost for every additional search radius produced following the first search boundary. For example, if a multi-intersection project requires three search radii, there will be a surcharge of $60 added to the total cost of GASF services for the two additional search radii produced for the investigation.