Support Your Source for Preservation Archaeology News – Support Southwest Archaeology Today

Support Your Source for Preservation Archaeology News – Support Southwest Archaeology Today
For the past nine years, Archaeology Southwest has had the privilege of sharing our weekly index of news in southwestern archaeology, anthropology, and historic preservation with a dedicated and growing audience. In this new age of social media channels, we take pride in the fact that Southwest Archaeology Today remains focused solely on the archaeological news and events that matter most to our readers. We are also delighted by the ways our readers share this content on services like Facebook and Twitter. We hope you find Southwest Archaeology Today to be the most reliable free service for sharing information about archaeology in this region. To keep this service free to its users, we are asking for your financial support. Your gift of any amount will help sustain our efforts to share relevant news with you. For those who can contribute $35.00 or more, we have also included the option to become a member of Archaeology Southwest through your support for Southwest Archaeology Today. Besides receiving several benefits, such as our award-winning Archaeology Southwest Magazine, members of Archaeology Southwest help support our long-term efforts in Preservation Archaeology. http://bit.ly/1t8FNna – Archaeology Soutwest

Greater Canyonlands Coalition Makes Case for Canyonlands National Monument
A new publication released today by the Greater Canyonlands Coalition, Secrets of the Past in a Rugged Land: the archaeological case for protecting Greater Canyonlands, takes the reader through 12,000 years of human history embedded in that landscape, offering highlights of the remarkable artifacts left behind by ancient inhabitants. The publication calls for monument designation to protect the area’s cultural treasures. http://bit.ly/1uUezml – Greater Canyonlands.org

The Fight Against Fracking Places of the Past Continues in Southeast Utah
The BLM’s latest package of parcels up for oil and gas leasing encompasses much of the southern Utah town of Bluff and surrounding areas precious to the Hopi Indian Tribe, opening the agency up to claims of cultural insensitivity. After public outcry, federal land managers carved out the 20 acres under the historic St. Christopher’s Episcopal Mission outside town. But drilling rights around the lot are available. http://bit.ly/1BrhSUp – Salt Lake Tribune

Tree Rings Used to Determine History of Geological Features
A new study uses tree rings to document arroyo evolution along the lower Rio Puerco and Chaco Wash in northern New Mexico, USA. By determining burial dates in tree rings from salt cedar and willow, investigators were able to precisely date arroyo sedimentary beds 30 cm thick or greater. They then combined this data with aerial imagery, LiDAR, longitudinal profiles, and repeat surveys to reconstruct the history of these arroyos. Arroyos are deep, oversized channels that have vertical or steeply cut walls made up of silt, clay, or sand. http://bit.ly/1pl0taj – Science Daily

New York Times Resorts to Myths of Anasazi “Disintegration” in Attempt to Relate Ancient Puebloan Migrations to Modern Climate Change
We won’t ever know what the Anasazi were thinking on the eve of the 13th century when they abandoned the cities they had worked so long to build on the Colorado Plateau. The reasons had something to do with climate — a great drought and, perhaps on top of that, a mini ice age. If that wasn’t enough to defeat a thriving culture, there was the turmoil that came from just not knowing. Why were the sky and earth behaving so strangely? Why wasn’t the old magic working anymore?  http://nyti.ms/1uUoqIF – New York Times

Current Research at Jemez Historic Site
Jemez Historic Site was established in 1935 to preserve and interpret San Jose de los Jemez Mission and Giusewa Pueblo. Giusewa Pueblo is a Native American village believed to have been first settled by the Jemez People around AD 1300. It is most likely one of the large settlements in the Jemez Mountains mentioned by Captain Barrionuevo during the Coronado Expedition in 1541. In 1598, a Franciscan Priest by the name of Alonso Lugo was dispatched to the Jemez area. It is possible that he built a small church at Giusewa Pueblo. However, San Jose de los Jemez Mission – which stands on the site today – was built by one of his successors. Fray Geronimo de Zarate Salmeron was sent to Jemez Province in 1621. He designed the baroque church and Spanish Mission which was then constructed using indigenous labor. http://bit.ly/1uUhECW – Jemez Daily Post

Hopi Sacred Objects Returned to Tribe
A Hopi official says 24 ceremonial items purchased last year at a French auction house have been returned to the tribe in northern Arizona. Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, says representatives from the Annenberg Foundation brought them Friday afternoon to the village of Walpi on Hopi land. http://bit.ly/1qKeIoj – Arizona Daily Star

Video Games for Preserving Languages and Cultures
Indigenous children in Mexico can now learn their mother tongues with specialized computer games, helping to prevent the further loss of those languages across the country. “Three years ago, before we employed these materials, we were on the verge of seeing our children lose our Native languages,” asserted Matilde Hernandez, a teacher in Zitacuaro, Michoacan.  http://bit.ly/1rCVWEM – Indian Country Today

Annual Julian Hayden Student Paper Competition
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society and Arizona Archaeological Council sponsor an annual Julian D. Hayden Student Paper Competition, named in honor of long-time southwestern scholar Julian Dodge Hayden. The winning entry will receive a cash prize of $750 and publication of the paper in Kiva, The Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History. The competition is open to any bona fide undergraduate and graduate student at any recognized college or university. Co-authored papers will be accepted if all authors are students. Subject matter may include the anthropology, archaeology, history, linguistics, and ethnology of the American Southwest and northern Mexico, or any other topic appropriate for publication in Kiva. http://bit.ly/195IpaS – Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society

Tucson’s Presidio San Agustin: Living History Days Begin October 11th
The Presidio’s Living History season kicks off on October 11^th. The Presidio San Agustin first was built in 1775 by Spanish soldiers establishing a frontier in New Spain.Today a portion of the Presidio has been reconstructed and stands on the original site in downtown Tucson. See interpreters in Colonial dress as they take you back to Spanish Colonial Tucson and show you what daily life was like. Experience the life of soldiers who drill and shoot the cannon hourly, right in front of you! See demonstrations of spinning and weaving, bread baking in an adobe oven, blacksmithing, and cooking tortillas on an open comal. Visitors will get a glimpse of what life was like for early Tucsonans as they forged a culture of cooperation that lives on here in Southern Arizona.

2015 Arizona Archaeology Expo Planning Meeting
The 2015 Archaeology Expo will be on March 7, 2015 in Yuma at the Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park. Join us for our second planning meeting for the Archaeology Expo. We will meet on Thursday, October 2, 2014 at Arizona State Parks in Phoenix at 10:00 am. For those of you who can’t make it to Phoenix, please let me know and I can send you a call in number so you can join us via teleconference. For additional information, please contact kd2@azstateparks.gov or 602-542-7141.

Lecture Opportunity – Cave Creek
The Sears Point Archaeological District is an extensive complex site across terraces south of the Gila River and west of present day Gila Bend with over 2000 panels of petroglyphs. There are thousands of petroglyph elements and archaeological elements including geoglyphs, rock piles, rings, alignments, cleared areas, trails, and historic features from the 1800s as well as temporary habitation. Evelyn Billo, our presenter, studied Rock Art for over 30 years. Robert Mark, co-presenter, earned his Ph.D. in Geology from Stanford in 1972. The event is open to the public, on October eighth, with refreshments available at 7:00 PM and the meeting begins at 7:30 PM, usually ending prior to 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 – Arizona Archaeological Society – Desert Foothills (Cave Creek)

Lecture Opportunity – Cortez
The Hisatsinom Chapter of the Colorado Archaeology Society is pleased to present Erica Olsen on Tuesday, October 7th at 7:00 PM at the Methodist Church, 515 Park Street, Cortez, CO to discuss “Cultural Material: Writing About Archaeology.” Writer Erica Olsen will read from her story collection, Recapture, as well as work in progress. She will discuss the role of archaeology as inspiration and provocation in her work. Themes of her award-winning stories include archaeology, memory, and the lines between fact and fiction and between nature and culture. Contact Kari Schleher at 505-269-4475 with questions.

Lecture Opportunity – Glendale
The public is invited to a free lecture on A New Theory About Ceramic Sherds offered by the Agua Fria Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society at 7:00 PM on Monday, October 13, 2014 at the West Valley Unitarian Universalist Church, 5904 W. Cholla St., Glendale, AZ (off 59th  Avenue, south of Cactus).  Membership in the Society is not required. Our speaker, Walter “Dutch” Duering, has been involved with Arizona Archaeology for over fifty years. He worked for the Arizona Department of Transportation for many years, participating in numerous archaeology projects throughout the state. He is currently an Associate Curator of Anthropology at the Arizona Museum of Natural History. For more information contact Tim Cullison, 602-863-9744, tcullisonaz@gmail.com.

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
The Archaeological Society of Santa Fe is proud to have Scott Fitzpatrick speaking at our October meeting. Join us and travel back in time to far away places. Dr. Fitzpatrick will consider questions of resource acquisition as mediated by oceanographic and wind conditions. He will be comparing results from archaeological projects in the Pacific and the Caribbean. How Oceanographic Effects Influenced the Prehistoric Colonization of Islands: a Pacific-Caribbean Comparison. Join the Santa Fe Archaeological Society for a fascinating presentation by Scott Fitzpatrick from the University of Oregon and one of our national speakers Enjoy dinner before or after at the Pecos Trail Cafe. The talk will be presented after the monthly meeting of the Santa Fe Archaeology Society, Tues, Oct. 14, 2014 at 7:15 pm at the Old Pecos Trail Cafe, 2239 Old Pecos Trail.

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Chris Loendorf, Archaeologist and Senior Project Manager, Gila River Indian Community, Cultural Resource Management Program, Bapuche, Arizona who will give a lecture Akimel O’odham Warfare and Projectile Point Design Along the Middle Gila River, 1500-1900 on October 6 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the annual Native Cultures Matter Lecture Series held to honor and acknowledge the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). No reservations are necessary and admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. Refreshments are served and seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at 505 466-2775; email: southwestseminar@aol.com. http://bit.ly/YhJddr  – Southwest Seminars

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS) is pleased to present Dr. Christian E. Downum on Monday, October 20th at 7:30 pm in the University Medical Center’s Duval Auditorium (1500 N Campbell Ave, Tucson 85724), who will present Homes of Stone, Place of Dreams: The Ancient People of Flagstaff. Dr. Downum explores how ancient hunters first came to the Flagstaff area toward the end of the last Ice Age, then will describe a much later time when descendants of these hunters began to farm and live in pit house and pueblo villages. Meetings are free and open to the public. For more information contact John D. Hall at jhall@sricrm.com with questions about this or any other AAHS program. http://bit.ly/1uhONZh  – Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
Join us Monday, Oct 20 at 6 pm and learn about Dr. Roberto Cintli Rodriquez’s new book, Our Sacred Maiz Is Our Mother: Indigeneity and Belonging in the Americas. He will discuss the long history of maíz cultivation and culture, its roots in Mesoamerica, and its living relationship to Indigenous peoples throughout the continent, including Mexicans and Central Americans now living in the United States. Native Seeds/SEARCH Salons happen every third Monday of the month at our Conservation Center at 3584 E. River Road, and have a little something for anyone who has ever wielded a fork or pitchfork.  Event is free and open to the public. http://bit.ly/1pzP5q0 – NativeSeed/SEARCH

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
During Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s October 16, 6-8:30 p.m. “Third Thursday Food for Thought” dinner at Dragon’s View Asian Cuisine, 400 N. Bonita Ave., Tucson, Erik Berg presents “The Eagle and the Archaeologists: The Lindberghs’ 1929 Southwest Aerial Survey.” Erik will describe and illustrate how aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne helped archaeologists conduct the first aerial photographic survey of southwestern archaeological sites. There is no entry fee. Guests may select and purchase dinner from the restaurant; donations will be requested. Seating is limited: To attend one must call 520-798-1201 and have reservations confirmed before 5 p.m. October 15.

Lecture Opportunity – Winslow
The Homolovi Chapter of AAS (Arizona Archaeological Society) is pleased to present Charly Gullett on Wednesday, 8 October, at 7 p.m. at the Winslow Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center (Historic Lorenzo Hubbell Trading Post), 523 W. Second St, Winslow, AZ. Charly will presents growing evidence that prehistoric engineers in Chaco Canyon and their hereditary descendants were not simply building monumental architecture to pile rocks in interesting shapes, but were were constructing an architectural metaphor of their worldview which, much like our own, contained a significant mathematical component. For question or further information, call Sky Roshay at 928-536-3307.  You can also join us for dinner at 5 p.m. at the Historic La Posada Turquoise Room (on your own tab).

Reminder – Tucson Archaeology Cafes Begin October 7th!
On October 7, 2014, Dr. Stephen E. Nash (Denver Museum of Nature & Science) will present Many Roads to the Truth: The Paul Sidney Martin Collections. We meet on the patio of Casa Vicente, 375 S. Stone Ave., Tucson. Enter through the restaurant. Presentations begin after 6:00 p.m. It is best to arrive before 5:30 p.m., as seating is open and unreserved, but limited. Share tables and make new friends! http://bit.ly/1s6fb5N – Archaeology Southwest

Thanks to Brian Kreimendahl, Cherie Freeman, and Adrianne Rankin for contributions to this week’s newsletter.