Alaska Department of Natural Resources

Office of History and Archaeology

How to get an AHRS number?

How to request a site number

Requests for new site numbers should be sent by email to the AHRS Manager at oha.ibs@alaska.gov. If you have more than a few site number requests, you may use an Excel spreadsheet to submit your AHRS number requests. Following a request via email, the AHRS Manager can provide our preferred spreadsheet format for submitting site data when requesting multiple AHRS numbers. AHRS staff will assign numbers, enter the data into the AHRS-IBS and add the AHRS numbers to the excel spreadsheet provided. When the process is complete, the AHRS Manager will return the table with the assigned AHRS numbers via email.

The following information should be provided at the time of request:
  • Temp/ field number: (if used by you, helps keep track of information when large blocks of numbers are requested).
  • USGS quad: (required, for assigning trigraph) ie. Fairbanks quad or FAI.
  • Site name (required) can use AHRS number if not named.
  • Site description: (required) i.e. Collapsed cabin, prospecting pit, isolated flake, 3 depressions (including shape), can scatter. Be as descriptive as possible; you determined it was a cultural resources site for a reason. Please state why. The information you submit should not simply define the record as a place holder until you complete your reporting of the site or project.
  • Site type (resource nature): (required) Site, Building, Structure, Object, and District.
  • Site area: (optional) in acres. You should have an idea of how big the cultural resource is before you come back from the field.
  • Location description: (required) i.e. "on the west bank of Tom Creek north of Fairbanks," or for a building, the street address. Location descriptions are critical, as they serve to verify GPS or other location data when plotting the cultural resources site and are used to supplement other location data when relocating the cultural resource in the field.
  • Latitude/Longitude in decimal degree: (required) if the site will be recorded as a point. Submitting maps when asking for AHRS numbers are not absolutely necessary but can be helpful to ensure that there are no issues with projection or typos. If the site is a polygon or a line, a site map or shape file should be submitted. NAD 83 Datum.
  • Owner information (optional) helpful if known.
  • Period code: (required) historic, prehistoric, proto-historic, paleontological, or modern.
  • Cultural Affiliation: (optional) Culture of people affiliated with, or responsible for creating/using the cultural resource.


Please do not request AHRS numbers until you have descriptive and locational data to provide to the OHA. We expect detailed site data upon requesting an AHRS number and a complete site record (with updated site boundary information, if appropriate) to be provided in a timely manner. A PDF file with a completed form and associated site maps and photographs would be greatly appreciated. The PDF file will be attached directly to the AHRS record for future reference. Shape files or maps with a site boundary and associated coordinates are needed to accurately update site boundary lines or polygons.

How to Update Existing AHRS Data

If you have additional information about a cultural resource already in the AHRS database, we would prefer that you download the blank AHRS site card form from the OHA website, fill out the relevant fields, and send it by email to oha.ibs@alaska.gov. Alternatively, you may contact the AHRS Manager by phone at (907) 269-8718 with additional information for existing AHRS records.