Reflections on the Life and Career of Archaeologist George Frison

Reflections on the Life and Career of George Frison
The story, Frison said, is exactly what the title suggests. He recounts a mid-life transition from rancher to university student to professor of anthropology. Drawing on experience working with and hunting large animals, Frison focused his research on hunting practices of Paleoindians who occupied the northern plains. During his decades at UW, Frison researched almost a dozen bison bone beds, became the first Wyoming state archaeologist, authored dozens of articles and books, and garnered international recognition for his work. According to Todd Surovell, director of the George C. Frison Institute at UW, Frison “wrote the book on Wyoming archaeology.” http://bit.ly/1whXXWI – Laramie Boomerang

Pondering Clovis Origins
I find it fascinating to think about when humans first populated the Americas. Just how long ago did they arrive? There is disagreement among some archaeologists who are debating that very matter. For a long time, there was nearly a consensus among archaeologists that a group referred to as the Clovis people dating to 13,000 years ago discovered the Americas by coming across the Bering Strait from Asia. The Clovis people are named after the fluted projectile points they made, which were unique to their culture. http://bit.ly/1t2T0Df – Columbus Dispatch

Sacred Objects Returned to Hopi
On September 26th the Bureau of Land Management returned four items held sacred by the Hopi people to the tribe. These items were previously held by a private collector who gave them to the BLM as part of an agreement to avoid prosecution in a federal case. These items were returned on the same day that dozens of other objects purchased in disputed a Paris auction were also returned. http://bit.ly/11RLvnh – Albuquerque Journal & http://bit.ly/1FmNMWU – Santa Fe Reporter

Petrified Forest National Park Buildings Named National Treasures
The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently designated the Petrified Forest compound a national treasure because of its architectural significance. Outside national park boundaries, saving midcentury modern structures has been a chore. There are plenty of examples that have been threatened by the wrecking ball, including a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home in Phoenix and Philip Johnson’s Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. http://bit.ly/1sZlgoV – Mohave Daily News

Sanborn Maps are Historic Treasures
Daniel A. Sanborn created these maps for one, very specific (and kind of dry) reason: to provide insurers a catalogue of city structures that could be fire risks. But over the years, these maps came to serve another purpose. Flipping through a series of maps of the same location, you can see mushrooming buildings, shops, and churches and deduce who lived, worked, and prayed in these structures. http://bit.ly/1nvZE2S – CityLab

Rural and Remote, BIA Schools Becoming a National Disgrace
The cheer comes in the midst of dire surroundings: Little Singer, like so many of the 183 Indian schools overseen by the federal government, is verging on decrepit. The school, which serves 81 students, consists of a cluster of rundown classroom buildings containing asbestos, radon, mice, mold and flimsy outside door locks. The newest building, a large, white monolithic dome that is nearly 20 years old, houses the gym. http://dpo.st/1sZroO1 – Denver Post

Archaeology of Hollywood’s The Ten Commandments
Buried for more than nine decades under the sand dunes of Guadalupe, Calif., the giant plaster sphinx from The Ten Commandments has been rediscovered. Hidden for more than 90 years beneath the rolling sand dunes of Guadalupe, California, an enormous, plaster sphinx from the 1923 blockbuster movie “The Ten Commandments” has been rediscovered and is now above ground. The public will be able to see the sphinx on display as early as next year, once it has been reconstructed — a necessity since it became weather-beaten during its stint beneath the sand, said Doug Jenzen, the executive director of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Center, who oversaw the recent excavation. http://bit.ly/1wdDovj – Christian Science Monitor

Arizona Archaeology Expo Update
The 2015 Expo will be held on March 7, 2015 at Quartermaster Depot State Historic Park. Our next planning meeting for the Expo is on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at 1:00 pm in Yuma. We will hold the meeting at the Park (201 N. 4th Avenue, Yuma). For those who can’t attend in person, we will have a conference call number set up. Please call (602) 542-7141 for that number. The theme for this year’s AAHAM is “Confluence of Travel, Trade, and Culture Through Time”. For those of you who participate in the Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month Activities, please note that the Listing of Events Brochure Forms are now available and are available on line at http://azstateparks.com/archy. Contact Kris Dobschuetz, kdobschuetz@azstateparks.gov. for more information.

Reminder: Archaeology Southwest’s Phoenix Archaeology Cafés Start Tuesday!
On Tuesday, October 21, 2014, in a presentation entitled How Hohokam Canals Changed My Life, Dr. Jerry Howard (Arizona Museum of Natural History) will explain how he became the leading expert on irrigation canals built and maintained by the Hohokam people of ancient Arizona. We gather after 5:30 p.m. at Macayo’s Central, 4001 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. Presentations begin at 6:00 p.m. http://bit.ly/1v0rs0D – Archaeology Southwest

Lecture Opportunity – Albuquerque
Baker H. Morrow will discuss Fray Alonso de Benavides’s History of New Mexico, 1630, which Mr. Morrow edited and translated on October 21, at 7:30 pm, in the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, 2000 Mountain Road NW. The most thorough account ever written of southwestern life in the early seventeenth century, Fray Alonso de Benavides, a Portuguese Franciscan, was the third head of the mission churches of New Mexico. In 1625, Father Benavides and his party traveled north from Mexico City to New Mexico. This riveting narrative provides portraits of the Pueblos, the Apaches, and the Navajos at a time of fundamental change.

Book Sale – Santa Fe
The Museum of Indian Arts and Culture’s Laboratory of Anthropology (LOA) Library will hold its 21st book sale on Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 15 and 16. Book sale times and admission fees are Saturday, Nov. 15, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., $10; and 1 – 4 p.m., $1 and Sunday, Nov. 16, Noon – 4 p.m., Free. There are many books worthy of gracing any library, supplementing a collection or expanding one, such as the scarce, rare and first edition, finely printed and small literary press books on topics as diverse as the 1960s Beat Generation and Counter Culture movements, the Federal Writers’ Project/Works Progress Administration, Goreyana (Edward Gorey), as well as on New Mexico, Mexico, Spanish Colonial history and art, and on Central America. For more information on the Laboratory of Anthropology Library book sale media and the public may call the librarian, Allison Colborne, at 505-476-1264 or visit http://bit.ly/1rTrZvn – Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Position Open: Editor for Kiva, Volumes 81–83
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society seeks an editor for Kiva: The Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History. Kiva is the premier Southwest journal and has published peer-reviewed articles about archaeology, anthropology, history, and linguistics since 1935. The journal has a circulation of approximately 650 individual and institutional members. The editor is an independent contractor who accepts and solicits manuscripts for publication in four issues per year, maintains the journal’s established high standards of professional quality, and works in coordination with a book reviews editor and Maney Publishing’s editorial, production, and marketing team. Maney Publishing will train the editor for online article submission, tracking, and publishing. The editor has a working relationship with the Society’s Publications Committee and Board of Directors through a contract covering three volume years with an option for renewal. Compensation is $1,750 per issue ($7,000 per year). Please visit http://bit.ly/1uhONZh for more information. March 1, 2015 is the proposed start date. Please send a letter of interest and curriculum vitae by November 1, 2014, to: Jenny Adams, Ph.D., Chair, Kiva Acquisitions Editor Search Committee. 3975 N. Tucson Blvd. Tucson, AZ 85716 520-881-2244 or jadams@desert.com.

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