FBI Impounds Large Collection of Antiquities and Other Cultural Remains in Indiana

FBI Impounds Large Collection of Antiquities and Other Cultural Remains (Including Large Collection of Objects from the American Southwest) in Indiana

FBI Seizes Thousands of Objects
FBI agents on Thursday were still removing thousands of artifacts ranging from arrowheads to shrunken heads and Ming Dynasty jade from a house in rural Indiana. A 91-year-old man amassed the vast collection over several decades, perhaps since he began digging up arrowheads as a child. People who had toured Donald Miller’s home years before the FBI’s arrival on Wednesday described it as a homemade museum containing diverse items… http://bit.ly/1fYrCei – The Guardian

FBI Working with Collector to Repatriate Contested Objects
The FBI on Wednesday was working with a collector near Waldron with assessment of cultural artifacts in his collection… FBI spokesman Drew Northern called 91-year-old Donald C. Miller of Waldron “an amateur archaeologist,” who had collected the artifacts over his lifetime.  http://bit.ly/1hiMEd0 – Shelbynews.com

Crow Canyon’s Research at Colorado Subdivision Yielding Interesting Results
The discoveries are seemingly endless at Indian Camp Ranch, considered the only subdivision in the nation designed to incorporate ancestral ruins on each parcel. Again last month, archaeologists from Crow Canyon revealed a new finding, this time at Jane Dillard’s lot, who has a front-row seat for the excavation taking place in her sagebrush yard. http://bit.ly/1jRFID0

Rethinking the Peopling of the Americas
Up and down the Americas, scholars say that the peopling of lands empty of humankind may have been far more complex than long believed. The radiocarbon dating of spear points found in the 1920s near Clovis, N.M., placed the arrival of big-game hunters across the Bering Strait about 13,000 years ago, long forming the basis of when humans were believed to have arrived in the Americas. More recently, numerous findings have challenged that narrative. In Texas, archaeologists said in 2011 that they had found projectile points showing that hunter-gatherers had reached another site, known as Buttermilk Creek, as early as 15,500 years ago. Similarly, analysis of human DNA found at an Oregon cave determined that humans were there 14,000 years ago. http://nyti.ms/1q9dzYj – New York Times

School for Advanced Research Announces New Director
The School for Advanced Research has hired Michael Brown, a professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., as its new director. Brown first visited the school and Santa Fe as a resident scholar in the late 1980s while working on a book about a failed Indian uprising in Peru in the 1960s. http://bit.ly/1q97Txs – Santa Fe New Mexican

Could the Once Verdant Colorado River Delta Be Restored?
Once covering 3,300 square miles, this once was one of the world’s richest and most ecologically productive river deltas. Over the centuries, it drew Indian migrants, Spanish explorers, U.S. scientific and commercial expeditions, commercial steamboats, geologists, naturalists, boaters, millions of birds and fish and billions, if not trillions, of tons of sediment. http://bit.ly/1e5rU85 – Arizona Daily Star

Internship Opportunity – Petrified Forest National Park
Petrified Forest National Park is hosting four ten-week internships for archaeology students from May 27-August 1, 2014. The internships are focused on supporting archaeological reconnaissance of recently acquired lands. Interns will have many learning opportunities as they carry out archaeological survey and site recording, manage and process archaeological data, and perform professional and public outreach as integral members of a large survey crew led by park archaeologists. Applicants should be strongly motivated by a desire to develop the range of skills necessary to carry out archaeological fieldwork, manage and explore data, and perform research and public outreach. Applicants should have attended an archaeological field school, or have the equivalent level of experience. Interns will receive housing in the park free of cost, as well as a weekly stipend of $150. Please provide a letter of interest, a copy of your CV, and the contact information for three references by April 19, 2013 to: William Reitze – william_reitze@nps.gov

Tour Opportunity – Chaco Canyon with Gwinn Vivian and the Western National Parks Association
Discover Chaco Canyon with renowned archaeologist Gwinn Vivian. Camp in the canyon, hike and study the monumental ruins of ancient Chaco. Gwinn will explore the many theories that surround this complex and mysterious culture, as well as the connection between Chaco culture and astronomy. Limited to eleven participants; fees benefit Western National Parks Association. For tickets and information, contact Susan Cross at 520-789-7405 or susan.cross@wnpa.org.

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Eric Blinman, who will present Ceramic Ecology From Clay to Sherd: Making and Breaking Pots in the Name of SW Archaeology on April 7 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe (owned by Picuris Pueblo) as part of the annual Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture Series II held to honor the work of The Archaeological Conservancy. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary and seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: http://bit.ly/YhJddr

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Ron Barber, who will present Ancient Stone Calendars of the Southwest on April 14 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe (owned by Picuris Pueblo) as part of the annual Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture Series II held to honor the work of The Archaeological Conservancy. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary and seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: http://bit.ly/YhJddr

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society is pleased to present Gayle Harrison Hartmann and Peter Boyle on Monday, April 21 at 7:30 PM at DuVal Auditorium (1501 N. Campbell Ave., inside University Medical Center) to discuss “New Perspectives on the Rock Art of Tumamoc Hill.” Hartmann and Boyle will discuss the results of their updated survey, and possible temporal and cultural affiliations of the prehistoric glyphs, elaborations among anthropomorphs, preferred locations, and the pervasiveness of graffiti including some with historical significance. Contact Jon Boyd @ 520 444-6385 with questions about this, or any other AAHS program.

Reminder – Ancient Shell Trade in the Southwest is the Topic of Archaeology Southwest’s Next Tucson Archaeology Café on April 8th
Join us on Tuesday, April 8, as archaeomalacologist Arthur Vokes explains what marine shell and other precious raw materials reveal about the extent and significance of trade in the ancient Southwest. We gather after 5:00 p.m., and presentations begin around 6:00 p.m. Seating is open and unreserved, but limited. Share tables and make new friends! The event is free. Please support our hosts at Casa Vicente by ordering refreshments from the menu.

Reminder – Call for Nominations for the Governor’s Awards in Public Archaeology
The nominations are due April 15, 2014. If you have not already done so, please considering nominating someone – there are 8 categories in which to nominate someone, please see the link below. The nomination form can be found at http://bit.ly/1fuab8n. If you have any questions or to submit forms, please contact Kris Dobschuetz at kd2@azstateparks.gov or 602-542-7141.

Thanks to Cherie Freeman for contributing to this week’s SAT newsletter.