New Youtube Channel Features a Variety of Presentations on Hohokam Archaeology

New Youtube Channel Features a Variety of Presentations on Hohokam Archaeology
Thanks to support from the Arizona Humanities Council, The Arizona Archaeology Society and the Museum of Northern Arizona were able to employ professional videographers  to record a number of scholars’ presentations on the current state of Hohokam archaeology. David Abbott, David Doyel,  Jerry Howard, Henry Wallace, and David Wilcox all contribute to this outstanding effort to share current archaeological research with a wider public audience. http://www.youtube.com/hohokamarchaeology

Federal Grant Will Assist in the Preservation of the Mescalero Dialect of the Apache Language
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a $321,200 grant through the agency’s Documenting Endangered Languages program. The grant will allow New Mexico State University linguistic anthropologist Scott Rushforth and the Mescalero Apache Tribe develop a dictionary and grammar of Mescalero Apache, an Athabaskan language spoken in southern New Mexico. The National Endowment for the Humanities reported that there are fewer than 900 remaining speakers of the language. The project will analyze the complex structure of verbs of Mescalero Apache and contribute to the phonetics and sound of the entire Athabaskan language family. http://www.ruidosonews.com/ruidoso-breaking_news/ci_18716180?source=email

Arizona Governor’s Archaeology Advisory Commission Seeks New Members
The Governor’s Archaeology Advisory Commission (GAAC) seeks replacement members for the following representatives:  1) tribal representative, 2) city or county representative, 3) state agency representative, and 4) historical archaeology representative.  GAAC advises the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) on matters of public archaeology/ education, archaeological and historical site protection and preservation, avocational community interface, state and local historic preservation issues, and archaeological compliance issues and policy.  GAAC members serve as volunteers and meet together quarterly (members can attend meetings remotely via teleconference).  Detailed information on this advisory board can be found on the Arizona State Parks/SHPO website:  http://azstateparks.com/committees/GAAC.html

Celebrate the Joint Effort that Sustains the Homol’ovi State Park
Homolovi State Park and the Hopi Tribe are holding their Suvoyuki Days on Aug. 27 and 28. “Suvoyuki” in the Hopi language means to accomplish work through a “joint effort.” This event celebrates the partners who have helped to protect Homolovi area archaeological and cultural sites from destruction. On Aug. 27 at Homolovi State Park Suvoyuki Day will be observed from 9 am to 3 pm. There will be 3 tours of the Homolovi II ruins, 9 am, 10:30 am and 1 pm, and Hopi artisans will be demonstrating and selling their artwork throughout the day. There will be a corn roast, done in the traditional method in a pit, and traditional Hopi food will be sold.  The park entrance fee will be waived that day. On Aug. 28th, Second Mesa, located 60 miles north of the park on the Hopi land, will sponsor their half of the event on Aug. 28, beginning with a morning run and continuing with dances, food and artists. Contact Homol’ovi State Park for more information at (928) 289-4106.

Steve Lekson Introduces The Next Section of His Blog
“The Southwest in the World” is the working title of a book I’m writing, and a blog that posts excerpts – drafts – from the book. Those drafts remain up for a few weeks, to be replaced by another draft section, and so on until the book is finished. The second posting comes from a chapter on towns and cities: “Scalar Thresholds” revisits a topic that’s interested me for three decades: settlement size and political elaboration. Using Dunbar’s Number and archaeological data, I think we can explain the “K-L threshold” of 2,500, beyond which a community must have hierarchical political arrangements. The Southwest is interesting because many settlements bumped up against the K-L rule, but only a few broke through. http://stevelekson.com/

Arizona Archaeological Council Announces 2011 Fall Conference
The Board of Directors of the Arizona Archaeological Council (AAC) is pleased to announce the 2011 AAC Fall Conference.  This year’s conference “From Without and Within: Long-Distance Interactions, Culture Change, and Culture Contact in Arizona” is being held in conjunction with the 69th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference which will be held across the street at the Marriott University Park Hotel in Tucson, October 26–29. This is the first time the Plains Conference will be held outside of the Plains. As a benefit of membership all AAC members who attend the 2011 AAC Fall Conference will also receive free registration to the Plains Conference.  The ACC Conference will take place Friday, October 28, 2011, at the Arizona Historical Society Museum, Tucson, Arizona.  For more information about the Plains Conference, please visit www.pac69.com.

“Casual Vandalism” Threatens the Ancient Petroglyphs of Tempe’s Hayden Butte
Many valley residents are unaware that the butte, also known as “A” Mountain, is sacred to Arizona’s Native Americans. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community considers its members descendents of the prehistoric Hohokam civilization, which left its mark on the butte in the form of rock-art carvings, or petroglyphs. The more than 500 petroglyphs at the butte are an ancient reminder of a community that once flourished in the central desert regions of Arizona. The petroglyphs date back to A.D. 750 through 1450.  http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/08/20/20110820tempe-hayden-butte-a-mountain-toll.html#ixzz1VgGeI4cB

Symposium on Prehistoric Cultures of Perry Mesa
Please announce to all your friends, members, contacts, students, employees, fellow prehistoric culture followers, WHOEVER!  The Friends of Agua Fria National Monument (FAFNM) have activated their new web site with information and registration materials for the Saturday, September 10, 2011, Perry Mesa Symposium at the Embassy Suites North in Phoenix, Arizona.  The Perry Mesa Symposium is a complete day program, chock full of fantastic presentations by professional, academic and avocational archaeologists.  Includes breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack. The presentations are designed to show the current status of our knowledge regarding the amazing prehistoric cultures which inhabited the Perry Mesa area north of Phoenix over a several thousand year period.  Early registration extended until 8/24/2011.  You can find the new web site at: http://aguafriafriends.org/

AIA Sponsoring National Archaeology Day on October 22
National Archaeology Day is a celebration of archaeology and the thrill of discovery. Throughout the month of October and on October 22 in particular, the AIA and its societies throughout the United States and Canada will present archaeological programs and activities in over 100 cities for people of all ages and interests. http://www.archaeological.org/NAD

Peabody Museum Receives Funding to Improve Catalog of Archaeological Collections
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology has been awarded a Museums for America grant of $150,000 from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Over the next two years, the Museum will catalog, document, inventory, and photograph the Peabody’s most important archaeological collections with the grant. “Our collection will be more accessible to researchers, especially educators,” says Senior Collections Manager David DeBono Schafer, who will manage the project. “These are among our most requested materials. Now researchers will be able to quickly determine exactly which archaeological objects are in the collection.” http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=49933

Lecture Opportunity (Santa Fe)
August 29th Southwest Seminars Speaker will be Dr. Donna M. Glowacki, who will present “Getting at Social Reasons for the Mesa Verde Migrations: Religion Change” at 6:00 pm at the Hotel Santa Fe.

Lecture Opportunity (Cortez, CO)
The Hisatsinom Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society is pleased to present Shanna Diederichs, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Supervisory Archaeologist, to discuss “On Solid Ground: Unpacking the Research of the Basketmaker Community Project”on Tuesday, September 6 at 7:00 PM at the Cortez Cultural Center.  In her talk, Shanna will discuss how, in designing a research plan, excavation is only one of five important steps, from research design to curation, which will be executed at the Dillard Basketmaker III site near Cortez.  This plan is expected to yield results that are both scientifically and ethically sound and archaeologically important.  The Basketmaker III is considered a definitive period in the development of Puebloan culture.  Contact Bob Bernhart @ 970-739-6772 with questions about this, or any, program.

Fort Gadsden and Village Abandonment are the Latest Topics Covered by the Archaeology Channel
The Video News from TAC in its latest installment covers Historic Fort Gadsden on the Apalachicola River in the Florida Panhandle and the ongoing and instructive decay of an abandoned Greek village.  See these stories in the August 2011 edition of this monthly half-hour show, available now on our nonprofit streaming-media Web site, The Archaeology Channel (http://www.archaeologychannel.org) as well as on cable TV in cities across the US.

Thanks to Cherie Freeman for contributing to this week’s issue of Southwest Archaeology Today.