Southwest Archaeology Today for Sept 19th, 2005

Archaeology Making the News – A Service of the Center for Desert Archaeology

– More fun with Google Maps (1) Remote Sensing on Your Desktop: A computer programmer found a Roman ruin near his home in Italy when he was playing around with Google Earth & Google Maps.” His eye was caught by unusual ‘rectangular shadows’ nearby. Curious, he analyzed the image further, and concluded that the lines must represent a buried structure of human origin. Eventually, he traced out what looked like the inner courtyards of a villa.
http://websearch.about.com/b/a/203377.htm

– More fun with Google Maps (2) Careful with that Areometer:
Allan Dart has found that the service may have problems with accuracy for areas less than 10 acres in size. Thanks to Allen for catching this!

– Statue of Pueblo Revolt Leader to be Installed in Washington: Leaders and delegates representing New Mexico’s 22 tribes are making the trip to Washington to see a statue of Pope placed in the National Statuary Hall on Thursday. It will be the 100th and final statue in the hall.
http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=3865097

– Natural History of the Southwest. A Review of Ellen Maloy’s “Eating Stone”: Meloy arranges her material in the shape of a calendar drawn from years of tracking and tracing all manner of sheep through the U.S. Southwest’s canyons and plateaus, interspersed with essays on Hopi rituals, painted and engraved rock images, the desert tortoise who lives with her neighbour, her own childhood.
http://tinyurl.com/9qnza – Globe and Mail

– Historic Preservation Conflicts (Denver):The uncertain distinction between “historic” and “just old” had a construction contractor here facing jail time last week.
In a case that resonates across the nation, Randy Kilgore, who once was named local contractor of the year for his historic preservation work, was convicted of illegally demolishing a portion of a 122-year-old house in a community where old mining shacks now sell for $1 million.
http://www.denverpost.com/ci_3039395?rss

– Chaco Canyon Travelogue: After a two-hour walk through a desert canyon, I spotted it: a blazing star painted on the underside of a sandstone overhang. Beside the star, in the same dusky red paint, were a crescent moon and an outstretched hand. Below lay what looked like a comet. And swirling all around were questions: Did this star – drawn by a culture that flourished in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon a millennium ago – depict a brilliant supernova that appeared in 1054? Was the “comet” Halley’s Comet, which illuminated the sky 12 years later?
http://tinyurl.com/bsl8z – Los Angeles Times

– Tour Featuring Heritage Gardening of Southwestern Native Crops (Tucson):Native vegetable gardens offer glimpses into Tucson’s gardening past. Just ask Jane Evans. Even though she serves on the board of Native Seeds/SEARCH and grows plants for a living, she was unprepared for the success of her monsoon garden. “This year, I decided I would plant the three sisters (corn, beans and squash), right at the beginning of the monsoon, just like the O’odham would have,” Evans says. “I had never planted right at the monsoon before.”
http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/allheadlines/93345.php