Southwest Archaeology Today for March 10, 2006

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

– NOTICE: Due to poor weather, the public volunteer day at Casa Malpais Ruins in Springerville, Arizona, originally scheduled for Saturday, March 11, has been canceled. It will be rescheduled as soon as possible.

– Hawk patrolling prehistoric monument, chasing off pigeons: Call it the Raptor Roust from the Roost. National Park officials are testing the ability of Marie, a raptor trained in bird abatement, to scramble and scare off most of the pigeons that have taken residence in and are befouling the prehistoric Casa Grande Ruins.
http://kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4595179&nav=HMO6

– National Trust Promotes Heritage Tourism: The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the country’s largest private, nonprofit preservation organization, today announced the selection of its 2006 Dozen Distinctive Destinations, an annual list of unique and lovingly preserved communities in the United States.
http://tinyurl.com/oaz2z – PR Newswire

– Missoula man makes living sleuthing plundered, looted archaeological sites: A pitted and rusty Civil War bayonet and a finely hafted 800-year-old stone ax head lay on Martin McAllister’s coffee table near a small pile of stone arrowheads. “This ax was more than likely placed with a burial. You can see it’s had very little wear,” McAllister said, picking it up and turning it on his palm. The array of objects had been seized from grave robbers and looters. The items themselves aren’t worth all that much to collectors the stone ax might bring $800, the bayonet as much as $1,000. But the damage done by those who plunder historic sites is far greater. Assessing that damage as well as training law enforcement groups and federal agencies is McAllister’s business. He owns Archaeological Resource Investigations, a one-man company ready to grow, he said.
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/03/10/montana/a12031006_01.txt
Helena Independent Record

– Balancing development, history: Single-family homes will emerge on the banks of the Tanque Verde Wash on a site that supported a significant Hohokam Indian population more than 800 years ago. For the past seven weeks, a crew from Desert Archaeology Inc. – a business that specializes in cultural resources research – has worked painstakingly to collect information and artifacts from the site. Over the next two years, archaeologists will compile the information and write an extensive report detailing their findings.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/119384

– BLM Proposal Draft 20-Year Management Plan: The Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) draft 20-year plan for overseeing the 2.8 million-acre region called the Arizona Strip-a remote, biologically diverse landscape stretching north of the Grand Canyon-closes to public comment on March 17, and raises some serious questions about the BLM’s commitment to preserving the special resources of Grand Canyon-Parashant and Vermilion Cliffs National Monuments.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0307-08.htm