Southwest Archaeology Today for Nov. 30, 2005

Archaeology making the news — a service of the Center for Desert Archaeology.

– Basketful of life: Some see life as a ladder, a road, a river or a series of peaks and valleys. Not Joyce Herold, the longtime curator of ethnology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. A nationally known expert on native cultures, she likes to think of life as a basket, formed out of coils of experience interwoven with knowledge, passion and tradition.
http://www.denverpost.com/lifestyles/ci_3254716

– Light-rail future respects Hohokam past: Up and down the light-rail line, business owners wonder if their operation will survive construction. But only one has federal government protection and a set of seismic monitors set up to make sure it does: the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/columns/articles/1128ruelas28.html

– Hopi group disputes popular perception of the Flute Player: Popular folklore often describes Kokopelli as a symbol of fertility, his back laden with seeds that he will scatter each spring after playing his flute and singing songs to make the ground more fertile. But members of the modern-day Hopi Flute Clan say the figure depicted in Southwest rock art represents something else: their clan deity known simply as Flute Player; or his helper, Maahu, also called the cicada. Or it could be an individual in Flute Clan traditions known as Lelentiyo.
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3258089

– Conservation Groups Take Action To Protect Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument: The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, represented by Earthjustice, will file court papers tomorrow, November 23, seeking to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Kane and Garfield Counties against the Interior Department.
http://www.wilderness.org/NewsRoom/Release/20051122.cfm

– Historic building faces demolition: (Cortez, CO) One of Main Street’s historic downtown structures dating back to the late 1920s will be history by the end of the year. Demolition of the condemned, 76-year-old Marsell Motors building should start between now and January, said Wade Greene, building inspector with the city of Cortez.
http://tinyurl.com/7kk33

– New museum tells story of centuries-old trade route: (Socorro, NM) The busy interstate highway is just a few miles away, the glint of truck tops visible in the afternoon sun.
http://tinyurl.com/avxtf

– American Indians Seek Protection for Sacred Sites: Ever since snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks was first proposed nearly five years ago, the opposition from Native Americans has been very loud and very clear. “The mountains are sacred mountains to us, have been for centuries,” explained Caleb Johnson, who was vice-chairman of the Hopis when he spoke out against the snowmaking plan.
http://www.voanews.com/english/AmericanLife/2005-11-28-voa13.cfm

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
The Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico, is soliciting applications from candidates interested in temporary positions as excavation crew members on historical sites in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Field work will be starting on or around December 5 and work is expected to last through March of 2006. Please email resumes with at least two references to chris.wenker@state.nm.us.

Chris Wenker
Office of Archaeological Studies
Museum of New Mexico
P.O. Box 2087
Santa Fe, NM 87504-2087