IntroductionIn the United States, the federal historic preservation program has enumerated a set of basic goals (National Park Service 1983). They guide the historic preservation planning process in each state, and consist of: 1) identifying the state's cultural resources; 2) establishing criteria by which to determine the significance of the resources; 3) applying the criteria in evaluating identified resources; and 4) developing means to assure preservation of significant resources and/or the significant information contained therein (Ames et a!. 1989: 1). This planning process is closely tied to the National Register of Historic Places created by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.The historic context forms the "cornerstone of historic preservation planning" (Ames et a!. 1989: 20). The historic context framework of time, space, and research themes provides a mechanism for evaluating historic resources in relation to broader cultural and historical patterns (Ames et a!. 1989: 20; National Park Service 1983). It allows consideration of therelationships between archaeological and other historic resources. At the same time, it promotes integration and synthesis of disparate studies undertaken across each state, spanning over three centuries, and addressing innumerable topics from several theoretical and methodological perspectives.In Management Plans in each state, then, a historic context framework is developed, and strategic plans presented for meeting the historic preservation program goals. Built on the historic context framework, these strategic plans are, by definition, oriented toward research as the basis of management.Over the past several years, the State Historic Preservation Office in Delaware has sponsored preparation of a series of Management Plans. The first, in 1986, was A (FIG. 1).
Management Plan for Delaware's Prehistoric Cultural ResourcesThe most significant modification is the conflation of the Comprehensive Plan's 18 historic themes into four research domains. The purpose was not to confound integration of the study and management of Delaware's historical archaeological and other historic resources.Rather, as pointed out in the Comprehensive Plan, flexibility is a key component of the historic context concept. Within the historic context framework, themes can be developed across time and space, chronological periods can be developed as individual contexts, or contexts can even be constructed from a combination of themes and chronological periods at a variety of geographical scales (Ames eta!. 1989: 20).For the Management Plan's purpose of providing general guidance in planning for, identifying, evaluating, registering, and treating Delaware's historical archaeological resources, the research domains both relate better to the trends and directions in historical archaeological research today and serve to link and interrelate the various themes. TheComprehensive Plan also points out that development of historic contexts should comprise one of the first elements of the preservat...