Debate Over Cultural Affiliation at the Heart of a NAGPRA Dispute at UC San Diego

Debate Over Cultural Affiliation at the Heart of a NAGPRA Dispute at UC  San Diego 
The fate of the nearly 10,000-year-old remains unearthed in 1976 during renovation work at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) chancellor’s house in La Jolla, California, are still undecided. A federal court judge in San Francisco granted a temporary restraining order March 30 that prevents UCSD from giving the remains to the Kumeyaay. Last week three University of California professors filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the transfer. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/05/02/repatriation-and-reburial-of-ancient-remains-delayed-111124

Utah Kicks Off Archaeology Week
This year’s event “Archaeology Week: Utah’s Heritage” is scheduled for May 5 – 12,  2012.  Statewide events will give you insight into the lives of people who lived in Utah in the past.  http://www.history.utah.gov/archaeology/i_love_archaeology/prehistory_week/index.html

Aztec Ruins to Host National Geographic Geotourism Program
Aztec Ruins National Monument is slated to play host to a National Geographic “geotourism” trail of the Four Corners. The launching of a geotourism trail is scheduled June 2 at the ruin site in Aztec, N.M. The launch will include American Indian ceremonial dancers and excursions to nearby geotourism sites. Geotourism is tourism that helps the geographic character of a place, its environment, culture, and heritage. http://www.nativetimes.com/life/travel/7168-aztec-ruins-to-join-national-geographic-trail

Fox News Team – Preserving the Ruins in Plain Sight
The Indians decorated the dwelling with dozens of well preserved petroglyphs. Scientists think, at its peak in the mid-13th century, a tribe of about a thousand lived on this mesa. But 100 years later they all just disappeared. Nobody knows why. Was it war? Drought? Conservatively, this could have been here 300 years before Columbus set sail. Yet here we have modern day I-17, Black Canyon City. So close to modern civilization, yet seen by so few. We aren’t going to point out exactly where this is, so that 100 years from now, some other explorers might find it just as we did. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/only_on_fox/ruins-hidden-in-plain-sight-5-4-2012

Carolyn O’Bagy Davis’s Hopi Summer Exhibit Opens at Prescott’s Smoki Musuem
The fruits of “Hopi Summer” “sort of fell into my lap,” Davis said, recalling a visit to Boston where she saw the front page of a little village newspaper featuring old Hopi photos from 1927. As a frequent visitor to Hopi Land and a writer of the Hopi people and their quilting, this discovery intrigued her. She contacted the family to whom the photos belonged and found a grandson, Robert Arnold. He had a veritable trove of photos and letters that he shared with Davis. http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=106140

Ancient Burial Jar Donated to Goodwill to Be Repatriated
The piece of pottery that turned up last month in the warehouse of Goodwill Industries of Western New York might be described as “primitive.” Roughly 7 1/2 inches tall, the vessel features a fluted opening and wartlike protrusions. But it arrived with a note inside suggesting that its provenance may be prehistoric. http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article839151.ece and http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120503/APA/1205030686

Vandenberg Air Force Base Honored for Commitment to the Preservation of Cultural Sites
Vandenberg AFB’s 30th Space Wing, located on California’s Central Coast, was recognized for its cultural resources management, and Hill AFB’s 75th Civil Engineer Group for its environmental restoration. Headed by the team of Kelli Brasket, Dr. James Carucci, Bob Peterson and Christopher Ryan, Vandenberg AFB was lauded for its efforts in protecting and preserving more than 1,500 prehistoric resources including 14 rock art sites, five named historic Native American villages, 12 unnamed village sites, numerous cemeteries and hundreds of shell midden sites, which includes the oldest dated archaeological deposit on the Central Coast mainland. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123300654

Archaeology as a Social Science
The popular perception of archaeology is a team of dusty individuals in wide-brimmed hats unearthing treasures from a pharaoh’s tomb or an ancient collection of Native American artifacts. Archaeology is that, but it is also a social science that utilizes information from other disciplines to inform and enhance archaeological data and to provide input to other sciences. Michael Smith, ASU anthropology professor, explores the broadened scope of archaeology in the paper “Archaeology as a Social Science” published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Gary M. Feinman of The Field Museum in Chicago, Robert D. Drennan of University of Pittsburgh, Timothy Earle of Northwestern University and Ian Morris of Stanford University are co-authors of the paper. http://s.tt/1axML – Red Orbit

Lecture Opportunity – Dolores
Preservation Archaeologist Jeffery Clark will share his research on ancient migrations in the Southwest in an upcoming talk at the Anasazi Heritage Center. Jeff’s presentation complements Pieces of the Puzzle: New Perspectives on the Hohokam, an exhibition developed by Archaeology Southwest and Pueblo Grande Museum, and currently on display at the Anasazi Heritage Center. https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/pdf/2012_may_4cls_clark.pdf

Lecture Opportunity – Glendale
Southwestern Rock Calendars and Ancient Time Pieces with archaeologist Allen Dart at Glendale Public Library Foothills Branch, 19055 N 57th Avenue, Glendale, Arizona. 6:30-8 p.m. Archaeologist Allen Dart discusses petroglyphs, architecture, and settlement layouts that suggest ancient practices of astronomy and calendrical reckoning, and interprets how these discoveries may have related to ancient Native American rituals. Funding for this program is provided by the Arizona Humanities Council. No reservations needed. Contact Librarian Sarah Herlache, 623-930-3844 or sherlache@glendaleaz.com for more information.

Thanks to Jim Bonk and Adrianne Rankin  for contributions to this week’s newsletter.