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i	JUN	2	4	1	%'q
The Honorable William F. Winter Governor of Mississippi Jackson, Mississippi 39205
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Dear Governor Winter:
We are writing to you on behalf of the Mississippi Archaeological Association, an organization of professional and anateur archaeologists dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of the great cultural heritage of the State of Mississippi.
For the past several years, the Association has been vitally concerned with the rapid development of the Coastal area, with the resultant destruction and alteration of many known archaeological sites, both historic and prehistoric. Added to the changes brought about by residential and commercial construction is the factor of natural causes — erosion, floodwaters, hurricanes. At the rate our archaeological resources are being destroyed, there will be very few unaltered sites remaining by the turn of the Century.
In September of 1978, we contacted Mr. Elbert Hilliard, Director of the Department of Archives and History, with a copy of our letter to members of the Board of Trustees, asking him to consider opening an archaeological field office in the Coastal area. In January of 1979 we met with you and members of the Board in Jackson, with the same request. We understand that budgetary limitations have hindered the achievement of this goal, and we accept this for the present. However, we urgently request that priority be given to this matter as early as possible because of the rapid encroachment upon existing archaeological sites'in our area.
We were particularly pleased to learn that a feasibility study was ^ to be conducted on the need for an in-depth archaeological survey of the Coastal area. There has never been a thorough survey of this area. Dr. Donald Crusoe, staff archaeologist with Mississippi Department of Archives and History, spent several days on the Coast recently, beginning this study.
One of the sites to which we took Dr. Crusoe was the Claiborne Site, Mulatto Bayou area, in Hancock County. Since we have been deploring the loss of this major Poverty Point Culture site for years, we were gratified y' to hear that Dr. Crusoe thinks that there is a significant portion of :he site remaining, with about l/3 of the crescent still intact, a partially-wooded area of approximately 1200 feet in length by 1200 feet wide.