New Utah Natural History Museum Opens to Appreciative Audience

New Utah Natural History Museum Opens to Appreciative Audience
“This is spectacular,” said Valerie Henderson, who visited the museum Friday with her husband and two-month-old daughter, leaving her toddler with a friend so she could fully take it all in. She said she’s eager to return with her toddler and excited to show it off to friends from out-of-town. “We’re so excited this museum has opened because now when the weather is bad we have the most amazing place to take them.” On the fifth level, in the Native Voices exhibit about the traditions of Utah’s five American Indian nations, Yolanda Francisco-Nez was moved to tears. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52946935-78/museum-lake-salt-utah.html.csp?page=2

Registration Open for 2012 Southwest Symposium
The Southwest Symposium will be held at the University of New Mexico Student Union Building Saturday and Sunday January 14^th and 15^th, 2012.  Early Registration for the conference ends on December 6^th: regular registration is $80; student registration is $40. After December 6, the price increases by $10. Session abstracts for the Southwest Symposium have been posted: http://www.unm.edu/~swsympos/index.html.  Conference and session organizers have put a lot of effort into bringing new speakers to this symposium this year, and have proposed an innovative program.  Other attractions are poster sessions both days, and a reception at the Maxwell Museum and Hibben Center on Saturday night.

Renovations Set to Begin at Tempe’s Hayden Flour Mill
Renovations to the historic Hayden Flour Mill are slated to begin as soon as next week, Tempe officials said. Chris Messer, a principal planner for Tempe’s Revitalization and Redevelopment, said the $600,000 project to refurbish the mill could begin next week if the city’s funds add up. “We are going to be starting hopefully next week,” Messer said. Tempe Councilwoman Shana Ellis said the renovations could create a pedestrian friendly environment, linking the community from University Drive to Tempe Town Lake. http://www.statepress.com/2011/11/15/hayden-flour-mill-renovations-to-begin-next-week/

The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Announces Lister Fellowship Winner
Alyson Thibodeau, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Arizona, is the winner of the 2011–2012 Florence C. and Robert H. Lister Fellowship. The Lister Fellowship was established by the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in recognition of the lifelong achievements of Florence and the late Robert Lister, noted Southwestern archaeologists, educators, authors and supporters of the Center. The purpose of the fellowship is to assist graduate students who show promise of making a significant contribution to the archaeological knowledge of American Indian cultures of the Southwest. Recipients of the Lister Fellowship are awarded a stipend of $7,000 to help support the final stages of their research and the writing of their dissertations. Thibodeau is an interdisciplinary scientist, pursuing research in archaeology and the geological sciences. She uses geochemical techniques to address archaeological questions in the Southwestern United States, Mexico and Belize. Her dissertation research uses lead and strontium isotope analyses to link turquoise objects found in archaeological sites to specific geological sources. http://www.crowcanyon.org/jobs_opportunities/fellowships/lister_fellowship.asp

Examining the Role of Geography in the Success of the Diné Peoples
While other tribes have disappeared from North America over the centuries, the Navajo Nation has done the opposite. Two geographers from the University of California, Los Angeles, offer an explanation for why the Navajos have been able to grow to more than 300,000 members today: a combination of geography and culture. Jared Diamond and Ronan Arthur propose that the geographical isolation and cultural flexibility of the Navajos, who call themselves the Diné, allowed them to expand, even after the arrival of Europeans in North America in 1492 and efforts four centuries later to assimilate them into white U.S. culture. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/tribal-fates-why-navajo-succeeded-201614778.html

Project Archaeology Receives National Conservation Award
Project Archaeology, which is based in the MSU Department of Sociology and Anthropology, promotes knowledge about protecting archaeological sites by working with teachers and developing archaeology curriculum as hands-on projects for students. It does so with a network of state and regional programs that has reached more than 10,000 teachers since 1990. The teachers, in turn, have reached an estimated 200,000 students annually. The organization works with programs in 29 states, including Montana.  http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=10550

The Next Chapter of Lekson’s Southwest in the World Available
“Southwest in the World” is the working title of a book I’m writing, and the name of a web site that posts excerpts – draft sections – from the book. A new, sixth post “Collpase” looks at our problematic interests in rapid declines in Southwestern societies, in the context of the popular literature. http://www.stevelekson.com

Kellogg Cereals Settles Logo Dispute with the Maya Archaeology Initiative
The tussle of the toucans has ended with a decision to shake wings and work together. Battle Creek-based Kellogg Co. is satisfied that its trademarked Toucan Sam character isn’t in danger, and the San Ramon, Calif.-based Maya Archaeology Initiative can keep using its own toucan logo.  What’s more, Kellogg is making a $100,000 contribution to cover a major part of the cost of building the MAI’s long-planned Maya cultural center in Petén, a district in Guatemala, said MAI spokesperson Sam Haswell. http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20111116/NEWS01/111160312/Kellogg-Mayan-archaeology-group-settle-flap-over-toucans?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Cast Bronze Buckle Found in Apparently Undisturbed Context in 1000-year-old Alaskan Village Site
A team of researchers led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered the first prehistoric bronze artifact made from a cast ever found in Alaska, a small, buckle-like object found in an ancient Eskimo dwelling and which likely originated in East Asia.  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111114112314.htm

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
At the AAHS November Lecture, held tonight at 7:30 Pm, at the DuVal Auditorium (inside UMC), 1501 N. Campbell Ave, James Snead will present “Relic Hunters: Encounters with Antiquity in 19th Century America.”  When settlers moved through the Midwest and Southern United States in the early 19^th century they encountered the ruins and artifacts left by previous inhabitants, experiencing their new surroundings as complex landscapes already imbued with “history.”  This engagement was almost entirely distinct from more formal, intellectual approaches to the Native American past pursued by eastern savants.  As scholars in Philadelphia framed indigenous origins in terms of historical linguistics and other associations, farmers in Ohio were plowing up arrowheads and building their houses atop burial mounds.  Inevitably this led to distinctive perspectives on the indigenous past, which had important ramifications for cultural identity and the American consciousness.  http://www.az-arch-and-hist.org/

News from The Archaeology Channel
In the most recent installment of the Video News from TAC, you’ll see battlefield archaeology in Belgium, hear about a rediscovered language in Peru, and observe how Maya hieroglyphs are written.  See these stories in the November 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.  TAC’s Video News program details can be found athttp://www.archaeologychannel.org/VideoNews.html.  The growing list of cable TV stations carrying the show is posted at http://www.archaeologychannel.org/VideoNewscabletv.htm.