Hohokam Village Excavated to Make Way for Future Strip Mall

Hohokam Village Excavated to Make Way for Future Strip Mall
A “really nice picture” of the workings of early Hohokam civilization is emerging from a recent excavation that uncovered at least part of a prehistoric-era village at a planned Marana outlet mall site. “This site is revealing, because of the scale of their excavations at one time,” said William Doelle, president of Desert Archaeology and a prominent Tucson archaeology consultant who is familiar with the excavation’s findings. “This site is very important in adding new information about the early Hohokam time.” http://bit.ly/1p4ArGL – Arizona Daily Star

Arizona State Museum Sets Out to Preserve Another National Treasure
The $48,962 the Arizona State Museum received recently from the National Endowment for the Humanities won’t buy much, but it could go far. The museum, repository for the state’s archaeological and cultural treasures, will use the money to plan for preservation of its photographic collection, as it recently did with its fiber and ceramic treasures. http://bit.ly/VNbF6N – Arizona Daily Star

Carolyn Boyd’s Research and Contributions to Rock Art Preservation Earn an Extraordinary Status
“Looking at that rock art as an artist, I recognized the work that went into producing these murals,” she says. Inspired in part by their beauty and mystery, Boyd went back to school, eventually earning a PhD in archeology. That, she says, gave her language to convey the murals’ importance and to support their conservation. While pursuing her degree, she realized how vital it is for people to experience the artwork firsthand, and in 1998 she founded the Shumla School, a nonprofit archeological education center in Comstock that has since served more than 30,000 students of all ages. http://bit.ly/1zp6cR4 – Texas Highways

Verde Valley Archaeological Center Achieves Curation Certification, an Amazing Accomplishment for a New Organization
Earlier this year, the Verde Valley Archaeology Center in Camp Verde, AZ, received a grant to conduct an assessment of its facilities, policies and practices in the conservation of artifacts and museum management. Dr. Nancy Odegaard and Gina Watkinson were contracted to conduct this assessment. This team spent two days providing a general conservation assessment of the Center’s collection, environmental conditions, policies and practices. The final report of the assessment was received on August 15.  Dr. Odegaard noted that the “professionalism in the activities of the museum staff is very evident.”  The report concludes that the Center “is well qualified to be an archaeological collections repository for Federal, State, Town or private collections in Arizona.”  For additional information about this report or any Center activity visit http://bit.ly/13QptML – Verde Valley Archaeological Center

Time Team America Looks at The Lost Pueblo, Tuesday August 26, on Most PBS Stations
Follow along with the Time Team America crew as they partner with the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center for an “over the shoulder” perspective on current archaeology in the Four Corners region. http://to.pbs.org/1rtXyCn – PBS.org

A Forgotten National Tragedy – The Long Walk
A national tragedy like 9/11 or Pearl Harbor or the Battle of Gettysburg prompts grieving people to gather for public memorial services, followed by weeks of mourning and ultimately, museums and monuments commemorating the lives of the fallen. But another seminal tragedy in U.S. history will go virtually unnoticed this year: the 150th anniversary of the Long Walk, the forced exile of thousands of Navajos from their homelands in what is now Arizona and New Mexico to a forlorn encampment at Bosque Redondo in the Pecos River Valley. http://bit.ly/1vcQVoF – Santa Fe New Mexican

Editorial Calls for Preservation of National Park Service Landmark in Santa Fe
The Old Santa Fe Trail Building is a remarkable building on Museum Hill that was built in 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and decorated by the Works Project Administration and members of the Santa Fe Art Colony. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark, a high level of recognition for a nationally significant building. http://bit.ly/1vdeNbO – Santa Fe New Mexican

Consultants Find the Proposed Great Bend of the Gila National Monument Would Have a Significant Financial Impact on Southern Arizona
According to a new economic study released today, protecting the nationally significant cultural and historic resources along the Great Bend of the Gila River would contribute an estimated $1.3 million annually to Arizona’s Maricopa and Yuma Counties through increased tourism. The study by BBC Research & Consulting indicated that a public land designation, such as a national monument, will increase visitation to the Great Bend of the Gila area and provide a significant economic boost to this rural area. http://bit.ly/1BSUD8P – Archaeology Southwest

Fisherman Dredges up a Net Full of Pre-Clovis Debate
A 22,000-year-old mastodon skull and tool dredged from the seafloor in the Chesapeake Bay hints of early settlers in North America. The two relics, which were pulled up together, may come from a place that hasn’t been dry land since 14,000 years ago. If so, the combination of the finds may suggest that people lived in North America, and possibly butchered the mastodon, thousands of years before people from the Clovis culture, who are widely thought to be the first settlers of North America and the ancestors of all living Native Americans. http://bit.ly/1lqQJ20 – Discover.Com

Arizona Republic Rallies Support for State Parks
Arizona’s state parks need a champion. The Legislature won’t help, so a group of Arizonans is donning the superhero’s cape. A coalition of environmental groups led by the Arizona Heritage Alliance and the Arizona Parks and Recreation Association is launching an initiative for 2016 called the Arizona Natural Resources Protection Act. http://bit.ly/1wpHYty – Arizona Republic

Educational Opportunity – Tucson
On September 8-November 17 Mondays, 6:30- 8:30 PM, archaeologist Allen Dart offers “Prehistory of the Southwest” at Old Pueblo Archaeology Center, 2201 W. 44th Street, Tucson for $50 ($40 for Old Pueblo and Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary members) not counting the text cost. Developed by the Arizona Archaeological Society, the course’s 10 evening sessions cover the American Southwest’s archaeological culture sequences, dating systems, subsistence strategies, development of urbanization, abandonments of different areas at different times, and general characteristics of the major cultural groups that have lived in the Southwest for 13,000-plus years. Registration deadline September 4. 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org.

Lecture Opportunity – Cave Creek
At the next meeting of the Desert Foothill Chapter of the Arizona Archaeology Society Geologist Wayne Ranney will give a presentation on the life of Writer Martha Summerhays, who recorded a unique perspective on army life in Fort Apache and the territorial west. The general public may attend an AAS–Desert Foothills Chapter meeting at no charge. The September 10th meeting has refreshments available beginning at 7:00 PM and ends by 9:00 PM.  The meetings are held in the community building (Maitland Hall) at The Good Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church, 6502 East Cave Creek Road, Cave Creek, AZ  85331 (near the Dairy Queen).  http://bit.ly/1aYMEY2 – Desert Foothills AAS

Lecture Opportunity – Cortez
As part of the Four Corners Lecture Series, the Hisatsinom Chapter of the Colorado Archaeology Society is pleased to present Dr. Jeffrey Dean on Tuesday, September 2nd at 7:00 PM at the Methodist Church, 515 Park Street, Cortez, CO to discuss “New Research on Old Dates: Dendroarchaeology of Pueblo III Kiva Construction on Mesa Verde.” Dean’s presentation will focus on four kivas on Mesa Verde (Kivas F and G at Square Tower House, Kiva I at Long House, and Kiva A at Badger House). These structures exhibit markedly different construction sequences and wood-use practices that illuminate past construction behavior. Contact Kari Schleher at 505-269-4475 with questions.

Thanks to Terry Colvin for contributing to this week’s SAT newsletter.