US Transportation Bill Could Threaten Funds used for Archaeological Research

US Transportation Bill Could Threaten Funds used for Archaeological Research
They’ve recovered more than 45,000 “world-class artifacts … nowhere else on the continent do we have this kind of stuff from this period,” says David Clarke, the state archaeologist for the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), which received money for the dig from a special pot created by federal highway-building legislation. That pot, officially known as the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program, “has pumped a lot of money into our field,” he says. More than $51 million, to be exact. But Clarke and other archaeologists are now watching anxiously as Congress debates whether to renew the enhancements program. Many lawmakers are calling for modifying the program, which has funneled funds to some 200 archaeology projects since 1992, and some want to kill it, calling it wasteful and unnecessary.  http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/11/archaeologists-fear-outcome.html?ref=hp

“Digital Archaeology” Enhancing the ways we can Document the Places of the Past
Ashley, chief technology officer at the Center for Digital Archaeology at UC Berkeley, is overseeing efforts to preserve this peek back into time in as sharp a detail as possible. Using a robotic system known as the GigaPan and other tools, Ashley and his colleagues are capturing enormous panoramic views of the site, time lapse imagery of the renovation and ultra-high-resolution, 3-D photos of the walls.  It’s work that would have been technically impossible just a few years ago. Now it can be done with basic cameras on a device that costs less than $900. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/09/BU881LPJIP.DTL&type=tech

Prize of $5,000 – Reminder of December 31 Deadline for New Competition in Archaeological Interpretation
The Center for Desert Archaeology has joined in a Consortium of Southwest Research Centers (CSRC) to offer an annual prize for an outstanding public education or outreach program that brings archaeological knowledge about the past to inform issues and problems of the present. The award seeks to stimulate innovative archaeological and historical scholarship that is relevant to issues of contemporary concern, such as sustainability, immigration, human responses to climate change, ethnic relations, war and peace, technological change, and other issues facing contemporary societies. The prize carries a cash award of $5,000 and will be announced each year at the annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/sat/csrc_prize-2011.pdf

National Parks Subcommittee Finds Mesa Verde National Park Serves as a Model of Best Practice in Archaeological Preservation
In her testimonial, Dethloff reflected the committee’s assertion that the programs and policies at Mesa Verde can serve as an example for struggling parks nationwide. Over the last decade, the Center for Park Research evaluated natural and cultural resources at 80 national parks, Dethloff said. Of those, they assessed the condition of park heritage properties and museum and archival collections in 77 parks, she said. In their assessment, the center found that 91 percent of the parks’ cultural resources were in poor condition, she said. http://cortezjournal.com/article/20111108/NEWS01/711089969/Mesa-Verde-can-serve-as-example

Friends of the San Pedro Look at Ancient life in Southern Arizona
If you could have been in the San Pedro River Valley 13,000 years ago, you might have seen vast herds of bison, mammoth, horses and camels moving though the valley, feeding on the varieties of vegetation. Who hasn’t wondered where these giants came from and how they got here? Excavations from the six Clovis sites and other locations in the San Pedro Valley produced the remains of many Pleistocene animals that shared the valley with the Clovis people. The largest of these herbivores include the mammoth, bison, camel and horse. Other animals such the ground sloth, tapir, dire wolf and large cats were also found. http://www.svherald.com/content/community/2011/11/10/233433

Pieces of the Puzzle, an Exhibit on the Fate of the Hohokam Opens at the Anasazi Heritage Center
A special exhibit about the Hohokam culture of Arizona will open at the Bureau of Land Management Anasazi Heritage Center on Friday November 25, the day after Thanksgiving, and will continue through October 2012. The Heritage Center will host a public opening reception for the exhibit at 1 p.m. on December 11. The exhibit “Pieces of the Puzzle, New Perspectives on the Hohokam” was produced by the Tucson-based Center for Desert Archaeology (CDARC) to highlight recent discoveries about this early, influential Native American group. National Science Foundation-funded research by CDARC has focused on phenomena such as long-distance migration, cultural blending, and population decline in the American Southwest prior to Spanish contact.  Artifacts to enhance the exhibit have been loaned from the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park, a National Historic Landmark managed by the City of Phoenix, as well as from the Arizona State Museum in Tucson. The exhibit includes examples of Maverick Mountain pottery, a distinctive type made in southern Arizona around AD 1275, which resembles some Four Corners pottery styles.  The BLM’s Anasazi Heritage Center is three miles west of Dolores on State Highway 184. Admission is free, and the museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  For more information, call the Center at (970) 882-5600 or visit the web site at http://www.co.blm.gov/ahc.

In Phoenix, the Dark Side of Sustainability
In a desert metropolis, the choice between hoarding and sharing has consequences for all residents. Their predecessors — the Hohokam people, irrigation farmers who subsisted for over a thousand years around a vast canal network in the Phoenix Basin — faced a similar test, and ultimately failed. The remnants of Hohokam canals and pit houses are a potent reminder of ecological collapse; no other American city sits atop such an eloquent allegory. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/07/opinion/in-phoenix-the-dark-side-of-green.html?_r=1

Phoenix Artist Employs O’odham Place Names and Turney’s Map of Hohokam Canals in Mural Project
The inspiration for the mural map is based off of a late 1920s Archaeological map of the Hohokam canal system and ancient village sites. It has the original names of some of the local mountain ranges which are written out in the O’odham language. http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope/2011/11/thomas_marcus_breezes_hohokam.php

Working to Save the Mescalero Apache Language
One word at a time, one student at a time, a group of Mescalero Apaches and their partner, a New Mexico State University anthropological linguist, are trying to stave off the demise of the tribe’s ancient tongue, the wellspring of its culture. “Like one of the elders said, every step is sacred,” said Oliver Enjady, an artist and former Tribal Council member who is director of Nde Bizaa, the tribe’s language program. “This (language) was given to us by the Creator for use by the Apaches. … It’s who you are, and you can’t change that. If this is lost, then what is your identity?”  http://nativetimes.com/life/culture/6359-mescalero-apaches-work-to-save-language

Utah to Open Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City
“You can go to museums like the Smithsonian and such, and they tell the story of the world, but The Natural History Museum of Utah tells the story of the world as it happened in Utah,” she said. Another exhibit is the First People’s Hall where visitors can build pottery from pot shards as if they were discovering an Anasazi kiva.  “We have a walk-in archaeological dig that has the grid projected onto it so people can study and map sites out like archaeologists do,” George said. Also on display is footwear from Anasazi sandals from Southern Utah, which are around 1,400 years old, and made from yucca plants. “Looking at the sandals, you can see they are highly processed by hand because you can see they wove their own tread into the sole,” George said. http://www.parkrecord.com/ci_19317134

Poster Contest for Utah Archaeology Week
Utah Archaeology Week, to be held May 5-12, 2012, celebrates Utah’s rich archaeological and cultural resources with a special week of statewide lectures, programs, activities, demonstrations and tours. The Antiquities Section of State History invites Utah citizens of all ages to help promote the state’s exciting past by entering the Utah Archaeology Week Poster Contest. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700195646/Enter-Utah-Archaeology-Week-poster-contest.html

Life as a Collections Manager
In the back rooms of the San Diego Archaeological Center, Ad Muniz oversees thousands of artifacts that illuminate the region’s distant past. Stacked on massive rolling shelves are Indian relics dating back some 10,000 years: From tiny flakes of rock —- byproducts of arrowhead production —- to large portable grinding stones that once helped sustain indigenous families, the collections represent the evidence of people throughout the ages discovered at some 20,000 sites around the county. http://tinyurl.com/7hfhy43

Position Announcement – Curator of Archaeology (Santa Fe)
Opening for a curator of Archaeology at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture / Laboratory of Anthropology. This is a full-time permanent position with a generous benefits package. To apply go to www.spo.state.nm.us and search for Curator OF Archaeology (Curator-Advanced) (#4481)-DCA. Applications close on 12/10/11.  https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/sat/Curator_of_Archaeology_Announcement.doc