Petrified Forest National Park Expands by 26,000 Acres

Petrified Forest National Park Expands by 26,000 Acres
The federal government is gaining control over an even larger expanse of rainbow-colored petrified wood, fossils from the dawning age of dinosaurs and petroglyphs left by American Indian tribes who once lived in eastern Arizona. The National Park Service secured the first major private ranch within the Petrified Forest National Park boundaries on Thursday, capping off negotiations that began years ago with the help of a conservation group. Scientists say they’re eager to explore the more than 26,000 acres that have remained largely untouched and discover even more treasures. http://www.myfoxmaine.com/story/15418137/petrified-forest-adds-26000-acres-of-private-land

Marist College Building Presents Tucson with a Preservation Challenge
To the many fans of Marist College, Tucson may be nearing the last, best chance to save this remarkable old building from the wrecking ball. Opportunity rests with the efforts of an ad hoc group of preservationists, city officials, downtown boosters and, hopefully, visionary investors. Even the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson has given its nod to rescuing Arizona’s sole surviving three-story adobe, erected in 1915 by master builder Manuel Flores, and resplendent in its flourishes of Italian renaissance and Spanish Colonial Revival styles. http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/college-spirit/Content?oid=3147639

Call for Nominations for the 2012 SHFG Powell Prize
The Society for History in the Federal Government (SHFG) seeks nominations for its 2012 John Wesley Powell Prize for excellence in the field of historic preservation. The prize commemorates the explorer and federal administrator whose work demonstrated early recognition of the importance of historic preservation and historical display. In 2012, the prize will be awarded to an individual or to principal collaborators for a single major historic preservation project completed in 2010 or 2011. The winner will be announced in the spring of 2012 at the annual meeting of the SHFG. Go to http://shfg.org/shfg/awards/awards-requirements/ for complete details regarding eligibility, criteria for evaluation, and submission requirements for the Powell Prize.

Indian Country Today Claims Many National Parks Get Indian Stories Wrong
Because American Indians lived everywhere in this country, the NPS could tell Native stories at almost every site. After all, it has chosen to tell the stories of settlers at most park units. Unfortunately, the NPS usually leaves out the Native stories in the parks, letting Indians vanish from most park landscapes. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/08/no-longer-circling-the-wagons-many-national-parks-get-indian-stories-wrong/

Salt Lake Tribune Obtains Rights to Access Records Regarding the Firing of State Archaeologists
On Thursday, the State Records Committee ruled that the state Department of Community and Culture must provide records of communications about the discontinued positions of the state archaeologist, the archaeologist’s assistant and a physical anthropologist. Tribune reporter Judy Fahys asked for those records shortly after the three employees were fired in June, but the department claimed her request was too vague to fulfill. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52547065-78/archaeologist-archaeologists-committee-department.html.csp

AAC Conference Scheduled for October 28th – Reminder and Call for Papers
This year’s theme, “From Without and Within: Long-Distance Interactions, Culture Change, and Culture Contact in Arizona,” emphasizes archaeological research within Arizona that has an explicit focus on exploring regional or inter-regional interactions and relationships in the past. This theme reflects our partnership with a regional conference devoted to understanding Plains history and prehistory by highlighting scales of human practice and behaviors that are often the focus of interregional studies in Southwest archaeology. http://www.arizonaarchaeologicalcouncil.org/Default.aspx?pageId=1079321&eventId=363838&EventViewMode=EventDetails

Call for Posters – 2012 Southwest Symposium
During the Symposium there will be two poster sessions, one each day of the meetings. Posters sessions will be tied to the conference themes.  We anticipate space for 40 posters, 20 each day. Poster size must not exceed 4 x 6 feet.  Those interested in presenting a poster should submit by email title and abstract  of 100 words to the Southwest symposium website ( swsympos@unm.edu)  by Oct. 17.  Indicate in your application the size of the poster.  Symposium organizers will review and contact applicants regarding the status of their submissions by November 14. The symposium will be held Saturday and Sunday January 14 and 15 at the University of New Mexico, with a reception at the Maxwell Museum. The website is up and registration is open! http://www.unm.edu/~swsympos/posters.html

San Diego Rock Art Symposium Announced
The San Diego Museum of Man is pleased to announce Rock Art 2011, our 36th annual Rock Art Symposium, which will meet on Saturday, November 5, 2011. This day-long event offers participants the opportunity to share in the results of rock art research around the globe, presented in illustrated lectures. The Call for Papers has also been issued—If you have rock art research to report, or a new discovery to announce to the world, we are accepting proposals for Rock Art 2011 papers until available time on the program is filled. To submit a paper, send the title and a brief abstract by e-mail to RockArtSymposium@cox.net by October 30, 2011. Full information and a link to the pre-registration form is available at: http://www.museumofman.org/rock-art-symposium

Groups Seek Improvement to BLM’s Draft Management Plan for Sonoran Desert Lands
We commend the agency for improving conservation management of the Sonoran Desert National Monument, though millions of acres elsewhere in the planning district draw a short stick for wilderness and wildlife protections,” says Matt Skroch, executive director with the Phoenix-based Arizona Wilderness Coalition (AWC). “While the preferred alternative does well to minimize conflict between land conservation and solar development, it hardly provides much substance for how off-road vehicle (ORV) use will be managed and mitigated. Sonoran Desert gems such as Face Mountain, Yellow Medicine Butte, and cultural sites along the Gila River will continue to be carved up by motorized uses in the current plan.” http://azwild.org/resources/LSFO_draftRMP.php

Interpretive Trail Planned for Peoria Az Park that was Built over a Hohokam Village Site
Logan Simpson Design Inc. last fall studied the site and excavated artifacts for preservation. The city is working with the consultant and a group of residents called the Friends of Peoria’s Archeological Heritage to develop an interpretive trail along the rest of the 20-acre site. The friends group formed seven years ago specifically to preserve the site’s archaeological history. http://www.azcentral.com/community/peoria/articles/2011/09/07/20110907peoria-palo-verde-open-space-park.html#ixzz1XeyKEHre

Reviewer Takes a Dim View of Brian Fagan’s Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind
Fagan offers ample evidence that water has been managed respectfully and peacefully at local levels, without centralized water boards or heavy-handed governments — the Berbers did it before the Romans; the ancient Greeks, from whom the Romans borrowed, largely managed water through cooperation and self-regulation; and the Hohokam in the present-day Southwest apparently did so without ‘‘great leaders who supervised water harvesting, canal construction or allocation of water to the fields.’’ http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/18/entertainment/la-et-book-20110818

Renovated Historic Building In Tucson Renamed in Honor of Local Architect
If you drove through the intersection of Stone Avenue and Pennington Street anytime between 1956 to 2003, you would have seen a Walgreen’s located at the southeast corner. And from 1928 to 1956, it was the Montgomery Ward Building.  Pass through today and you will see the newly renamed Roy Place Building restored to its original 1928 facade. It will now house an expansion of the University of Arizona, UA Downtown, for the College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, or CALA. http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/local/report/090911_uofa_downtown/renovated-and-renamed-tucson-building-given-new-life/

Third Segment of Lekson’s Southwest in the World
The third, most recent (Sept. 10) post is “Regional Scales,” which reaches the unsettling conclusion that there may not have been “ethnic groups” in the Southwest before about 1000-1300. The rise and fall of a secondary state at Chaco/Aztec may have spurred the emergence of ethnic groups – as that term is used today. http://stevelekson.com/

Lecture Opportunity (Tucson)
The AAHS September lecture will be held on the 19th of September at the DuVal Auditorium (inside University Medical Center), 1501 N. Campbell Ave. E. Charles Adams will present “Homol’ovi and Beyond.”  Since 1985, E. Charles (Chuck) Adams has directed the Homol’ovi Research Program of the Arizona State Museum excavating five of the seven pueblos in the Homol’ovi Settlement Cluster. These settlements are integral to Hopi oral history and were variously occupied from 1260-1400. Adams will discuss the many contributions to knowledge made by this research. Starting in June 2011, Adams launched a new field project via a School of Anthropology field school at Rock Art Ranch about 17 miles southeast of Winslow to evaluate the relationship of the archaeology of the ranch to the famous petroglyph site in adjacent Chevelon Canyon, which has glyphs dated as early as 6500 BCE. A brief summary of this work and its goals will also be presented. http://www.az-arch-and-hist.org

Tour Opportunity – Guided Plant Walk at Hueco Tanks
Join a park ranger for a Guided Plant Walk from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, September 24 at Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site, 6900 Hueco Tanks Road #1, El Paso, TX 79938. Visitors will learn basic information about Hueco Tanks plants, how they survive in the desert, and what people used them for. Walk will be ground level. Participants should wear sturdy shoes and bring water and a hat. Reservations are required for the program. There will be a $1 fee for participants ages 5 to 12, and a $6 fee for participants ages 13 and above. Call 915-857-1135 or 915-849-6684 for information and reservations.

Thanks to Gerald Kelso and Adrianne Rankin for contributions to this week’s Southwest Archaeology Today newsletter.