A Blast from the PASS: The 2024 Annual PASS Report

On this day 12 years ago….

*Insert horrible photo with questionable style choices and aggressive side bangs*

Thankfully, this is not that kind of blast from the past. This is your yearly recap on archaeological site recording and survey efforts throughout Pennsylvania.

A Numbers Game

In 2024, 260 new archaeological sites were added to the PASS files bringing the statewide total to 27,269 recorded sites. Sites were recorded through a variety of sources, summarized by the table below:

Of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, 51 had at least one newly recorded site. The top counties with the most sites recorded last year are as follows: Chester, Monroe, Adams, Indiana, Washington, Lancaster, Berks, and McKean.

The county with the most recorded sites in Pennsylvania is Washington County with 1,857 sites! The county with the least recorded sites is Sullivan County with only 33 sites. Sadly, Sullivan County has not had a new site recorded since 2018-let’s change that! If you know of an unrecorded site in Sullivan County, please let us know.

For more information on how many sites were recorded in each county last year, please see the 2024 Annual PASS Report.

Map displaying the number of new sites recorded in each county last year.

2024 Highlights

This year’s PASS report contains contributions from two guest authors highlighting various projects that added to the PASS files. If you like historic sites and are a bit of a soil nerd, be sure to check out the full articles in the PASS Report. We greatly appreciate and thank all our guest authors for their contributions!

PA SHPO Survey Activities

The baseline survey initiative wrapped up its final year in 2024! One survey from Year 3 extended into 2024, resulting in the identification of two new archaeological sites. Both historic sites are located in Cambria County and include remnants of the coal mining industry. Overall, the baseline survey initiative recorded 701 potential archaeological sites throughout Pennsylvania.

Of these potential areas, 40 were determined to include adequate information to receive official PASS numbers. But don’t fret! Plans are already in motion to take a deeper look into some of those potential areas that did not receive PASS numbers in 2025.

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) properties survey initiative completed its’ first round of surveys in the fall of 2024. This initiative was first introduced 2022 with the goal of providing updated and consistent cultural resource surveys for all properties owned by the PHMC. This in turn would aid in the management and preservation of both archaeological and above ground resources.

To kick off this initiative, Brandywine Battlefield Historic Park and Daniel Boone Homestead were the first properties selected to surveyed. The survey effort included documenting all historic structures on the property with updated photos and an archaeological constraints analysis to assess the potential for the presence of both historic and Pre-Contact period archaeological resources. The constraints analysis also included an archaeological probability assessment of the property and appropriate recommendations for future survey. The PA SHPO intends to continue using this methodology to survey all PHMC-owned properties in the coming years.

The Gideon Gilpin House and Gilpin House archaeological site (36DE0084) at the Brandywine Battlefield Historic Park.

The PASS program would like to thank all those that contributed to and supported our efforts this year!  For more information on site registration and survey, please visit: PA Archaeological Site Survey (PASS) | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

To learn more about site recording and survey initiatives in 2024, please see the full PASS Report.

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