Is PAAC class credit transferable to college/university programs?College Credit: In addition to traditional credit toward PAAC certification, interested individuals also may earn college credit through the Extended Studies Program at Adams State College. Doing so requires additional effort on the part of the student, well in advance of the start date of any course. Such credit may be especially useful for K-12 teachers seeking credit toward re-certification in Colorado. Prospective students desiring credit (typically, 1 credit hour for most of the PAAC courses) must register in advance with the Extended Studies Program, in addition to enrolling through the Local PAAC Coordinator. Also, students must pay the course fee through Adams State College plus the regular PAAC materials fee through the Local PAAC Coordinator. Earning college credit requires full-time attendance and passing a final exam with a minimum score of 70%. Courses on each PAAC schedule will be listed in the Extended Studies Program catalog as well. Contact the Local PAAC Coordinator, the State Training Coordinator, or Adams State College (phone 719-587-7671 or fax 719-587-7974) for further information. What will a PAAC certificate do for me?PAAC certification is a formal recognition of the achievement of some level of technical training--it is not a substitute for a degree from a college/university program, nor is it a license to dig or perform other unsupervised archaeological tasks. However, the professional archaeological community is generally aware of the thoroughness of PAAC training, and often accept PAAC certified volunteers and field assistants for their survey, excavation or lab projects. Other PAAC participants view certification in terms of personal achievement, i.e. a worthy goal to be reached. Finally, the Colorado Historical Society considers the certification process as an opportunity to build a core group of demonstrably trained volunteers to help preserve, record and protect Colorado's vanishing cultural resources. Are any changes in PAAC forthcoming?Fairly new to the program is a laboratory project involving processing of collections at the Colorado Historical Society's Museum Support Center in east Denver. See the Laboratory Credit section on this site for further information. Other changes may occur in the future, at the discretion of the PAAC Board. The Board meets quarterly (typically in January, April, July and October), in association with Colorado Archaeological Society meetings. Suggestions for changes in PAAC can be made at these meetings, which are open to all PAAC participants (dates and locations of Board meetings are provided on each six-month PAAC class schedule). Suggestions for changes also can be made by writing to the PAAC Board c/o the Office of the State Archaeologist of Colorado. Can I legally collect artifacts?Unauthorized, undocumented collection of artifacts such as arrowheads and pottery fragments is not legal on public lands and, more importantly, is both unethical (it is a violation of the PAAC Code-of-Ethics) and destructive to the resource regardless of land ownership. While artifact collection is technically legal on private property with the permission of the landowner (except items associated with human graves), the practice is discouraged for the reasons mentioned above. PAAC training is designed not only to educate the public on proper documentation methods which archaeologists use when collecting artifacts from the surface or in excavations, but also to inform PAAC participants about the kind of valuable cultural information which is lost when undocumented collecting has occurred at a site. |
