Native Tribes Decry Utah Public Lands Initiative as a Corporate Land Grab

Correction: Carrie Heitman Is Leading Chaco Research with Assistance from NASA
In the September 25, 2016, issue of Southwest Archaeology Today, I miscredited an article about NASA’s involvement in Chacoan Research to John Kantner, when in fact the project is the effort is being directed by Carrie Heitman. I regret this error and wish Dr. Heitman and all our fellow researchers the very best.

Native Tribes Decry Utah PLI as a Corporate Land Grab
A congressional bill touted as an alternative to the Bears Ears proposal, an intertribal request to designate nearly two million acres of land as a national monument in southeast Utah, is moving forward to the full House of Representatives…. Committee Democrats, including ranking member Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, expressed several concerns with the bill, saying it did not contain a tribal consultation component or protect half a million acres identified by the tribes in their larger Bears Ears designation request. http://bit.ly/2ddixqm – Indian Country Today

Contesting the Concept of the “Peaceful Entrada”
A loud group of about 50 mostly Native protesters disrupted the Entrada kickoff event of the Fiestas de Santa Fe. This is the annual reenactment of Don Diego de Vargas’s “peaceful reconquest” of Santa Fe in 1692 as produced by Caballeros de Vargas, a group which is a member of the Fiesta Council, and several current and past City of Santa Fe Councilors are members of the Fiesta Council or played parts in the Entrada over the years. So these are layers you must wade through when people ask questions and protesters demand changes. And changes or outright abolishment of The Entrada are what the groups “The Red Nation” and “In The Spirit of Popay” are asking for. http://bit.ly/2ddmF9P – Indian Country Today

Learning More about the Ancient Ones of the Tucson Basin
As many as nine centuries before Pima County voters approved a bond for a new animal care facility in 2014, the plot of land slated for construction was the site of an ancient homecoming. That’s according to an excavation recently finished near the current Pima Animal Care Center at the corner of North Silverbell Road and West Sweetwater Drive by county contractor Desert Archaeology. What the company found was evidence that two Hohokam villages were established on the same site during periods separated by as many as five centuries, according to company project director Mike Lindeman. http://bit.ly/2dY1yGg – Arizona Daily Star

Heritage Tourism Is up an Astonishing 34% in Colorado
the Colorado Tourism Office credits its national marketing campaign for a 34.2 percent increase in overall traveler spending in 2015 and an increase in spending from visitors outside the West. http://bit.ly/2ddgVgg – Cortez Journal

Spruce Tree House Closed
With 120 rooms, two towers and eight kivas, Spruce Tree House for more than a century has been a tourist destination inside Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park. Here, a quarter of a million people per year embark on self-guided tours, scrambling up and down ladders, wiggling through tight doorways and pausing inside kivas. Time seems to slow in this majestic ruin as tourists walk in the footprints of the past. But Spruce Tree House is crumbling, said Tim Hovezak, preservation archaeology program manager at Mesa Verde, a national park established 110 years ago. The park was designed to protect archaeological sites built by the ancestral Puebloans, but even the best preservation methods are not sustainable. http://bit.ly/2ddlfMB – Indian Country Today

Arizona Farming Experts to Be Honored in Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame
A Gila River Indian Community couple are part the latest class for the Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame. Terry and Ramona Button, who will be inducted at a ceremony in March, have been farming in the community for more than 40 years, focusing on traditional crops once commonly grown by the Pima people. “We’ve dedicated ourselves to preserving the crops of the Pima people and encouraging people to get back to a traditional diet,” Terry said. http://bit.ly/2dXH54s – Tri Valley Central

Archaeology Café (Phoenix): Riding the Serpent
Lyle Balenquah, Hopi writer, anthropologist, and outdoor guide, joins us for our October 18, 2016, Archaeology Café in Phoenix. Lyle will share “Riding the Serpent: The Cultural Relevance of Being a Hopi River Guide.” The program is free, but participants are encouraged to order their own refreshments. We meet in the Aztec Room of Macayo’s Central, 4001 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, near the Indian School light rail stop. Presentations begin after 6:00 p.m. It is best to arrive around5:30 p.m., as seating is open and unreserved, but limited. http://bit.ly/2dXJig9 – Archaeology Southwest

Landslide Vote Quashes 400-Acre Development Project in Southern CA, Saves Sacred Sites 
Almost as soon as it began unfolding, the standoff over the routing of the Dakota Access oil pipeline under the Missouri River began having an impact on tribal consultation elsewhere. In a stunning victory for nine Southern California indigenous nations, on September 7 the California Coastal Commission (CCC) rejected a permit to build a massive commercial and residential development in Newport Beach, California. The 400-acre property, known as the Banning Ranch, contains numerous sites considered sacred by the local Tonva and Acjachemen people, who know the land as Genga. The permit was rejected in a landslide 9-1 vote, ending a 20-year battle reported The Orange County Register. And at least one commissioner cited the events at Standing Rock in emphasizing the need to consult with tribes. http://bit.ly/2ddmU4F – Indian Country Today

Tucson Thoroughfare Named One of National Trust’s 11 Most Endangered Places
The Sunshine Mile corridor — the two-mile stretch of Broadway that’s generally between Park Avenue and Country Club Road — was named this week to the annual list of Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “The Sunshine Mile is a significant commercial corridor and a beloved historic resource for Tucson residents,” said Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Through careful planning and collaboration between Tucson’s city leaders and the community, these buildings can continue to contribute to the economic vitality — and quality of life — for people in Tucson.” http://bit.ly/2ddh8jT – Arizona Republic

Hands-On Archaeology Class Opportunities—Tucson and Oro Valley, AZ
Allen Denoyer is offering flintknapping, atlatl-making, and shell and stone jewelry-making classes in October, November, and December. For information about fees, dates, and times, visit http://bit.ly/2dHbQg0 – Archaeology Southwest

Opportunities Still Available for Crow Canyon’s Hohokam and O’odham Tour
The tour is November 1-7 and departs from Phoenix. Explore the world of Arizona’s desert dwellers, past and present. Walk through ancient cities of adobe, enjoy behind-the-scenes museum tours, and find connections between the ancient Hohokam and contemporary O’Odham people. Details are available at: http://bit.ly/2ddkx25 – Crow Canyon Archaeological Center

Lecture Opportunity – Cave Creek
Desert Foothills Chapter – AAS (www.azarchsoc.org/desertfoothills) presents on October 12 th from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM at no charge, Dr. E. Charles Adams.  Six years of research on Rock Art Ranch near Winslow, AZ, have documented human use going back to Clovis times.  The meeting is 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).

Lecture Opportunity – Cortez
Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Tribe Cultural Preservation Office, will present The Hopi Connection to the Four Corners, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. Kuwanwisiwma will discuss the history of the Hopi across the Four Corners region as well as his involvement in Crow Canyon’s Pueblo Farming Project – a collaborative effort that helps Crow Canyon researchers learn more about ancient farming techniques while helping pueblo leaders preserve the ancient knowledge and pass it on to younger generations. http://bit.ly/2ddlUxx – Cortez Journal

Lecture Opportunity – Phoenix
On Tuesday, October 11, 2016, at 7:00 pm, the Phoenix Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society invites you to join us in the Pueblo Grande Museum Community Room for a lecture by Chris Loendorff. Dr. Loendorff will present Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh Bow and Arrow Technology: Modern Experimental Testing of Ancient Designs. The Pueblo Grande Museum is located at 4619 E. Washington Street, Phoenix. Attendance is free and the public is welcome.

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The Arizona Chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt presents its October 13, 2016, lecture, “Enemies in a Box: Execration Figures and Protective Magic,” by Tori Finlayson, University of Arizona. This talk will examine the practice of execration in ancient Egypt and will briefly discuss some unique pieces in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The event takes place at 5:30 p.m. in the University of Arizona’s Bannister Building, Room 110, 1215 E. Lowell Street. Nearest parking is the 6^th Street Garage. http://bit.ly/2dMc0ly – University of Arizona

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Jack Loeffler, who will present The Role of Indigenous Mind in the Commons of Human Consciousness on October 10 at 6pmat Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Native Culture Matters Lecture Series held to honor and acknowledge the Indian Arts Research Center at School for Advanced Research. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt tel: 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Jerry Rightman, longtime docent for Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and New Mexico Museum of Art, and Lecturer in Art, Architecture and Art History of New Mexico, who will give a talk, Georgia O’Keeffe: Her Life and Inspiration in Nature on October 17 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the annual Mother Earth Father Sky: Perspectives on the Environment, Natural Sciences and Cultural History offered to honor and acknowledge the work of The New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt tel: 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
The Santa Fe Archaeological Society, Archaeological Society of America, is pleased to present Catherine Sease, an AIA National speaker from Yale University on Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 7:30 pm at the Pecos Trail Cafe, 22339 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe, NM. Her subject is “Antiquities as Casualties of War.” She will discuss two cases where war and civil unrest have led to the looting of sites and museums.

Lecture Opportunity – Taos
The Taos Archaeological Society is pleased to present Michael Burney, Teaching Archaeologist for Tribal Governments, who will lecture on “Prehistoric Sites of the Northern Plains,” on Tuesday, October 11, 2016 at 7 pm at the Kit Carson Electric Board Room, 118 Cruz Alta Road, Taos. Contact Don Keefe @575-224-1023 or Phil Aldritt @575-770-3408 for questions or further information.

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
On October 19, 2016, at 5:30 p.m., the Tucson chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America welcomes Dr. Agnieszka Helman-Wazny (University of Arizona, Laboratory for Tree-Ring Research and University of Hamburg, Asia-Africa Institute) for The Archaeology of the Silk Road Manuscripts. This talk outlines some of the crucial aspects of research on the earliest surviving archive of paper and ink preserved in the manuscripts from Dunhuang and Turfan. The presentation will take place in room 216 of the Haury Building on the University of Arizona campus, 1009 E. South Campus Dr. http://aiatucson.arizona.edu/

Archaeology Southwest Celebrates International Archaeology Day
As International Archaeology Day (October 15, 2016) approaches, we’re celebrating by sharing posts about what we’re working on now—the daily work of archaeology. But the author of our first post, we’re happy to note, is, for once, NOT working!

William Doelle – A Special Person, Two Places, and My Dog:  (October 7, 2016)—On this day in 1975, Linda Mayro and I were married at the church right across the street from what is known today as the Haury Building—then the home of the University of Arizona’s Anthropology Department, now the School of Anthropology. That makes today our 41^st anniversary. So, not surprisingly, the special person noted in my blog title is—Linda Mayro. http://bit.ly/2dXTXHI – Archaeology Southwest

Katherine Dungan – Juggling: One of the things I like most about working in archaeology is the variety. By that I mean the huge range of subjects and types of data that we engage with (high-flown social theory; the production steps required to make a specific type of pottery; the basics of the chemistry or physics or biology or math that we need to make sense of artifacts or samples; etc. etc.) and the diversity of tasks that go into the job. http://bit.ly/2dXU8Tk – Archaeology Southwest

Karen Gust Schollmeyer – Indiana Jones and the Artiodactyl-Sized Long Bone Shaft Fragment: It’s a familiar question for every archaeologist: “What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found?” I like to think I have several interesting answers to that question, but none of those answers mentions the items I’ve spent many months (maybe even years) of my life thinking about: artiodactyl-sized long bone shaft fragments. http://bit.ly/2dXV0Yg – Archaeology Southwest

Doug Gann – The Blog Must Go On
For the last 13 years I have had the pleasure of editing the weekly Southwest Archaeology Today (SAT) newsletter. It has become one of my favorite weekly duties, which I enjoy for two important reasons.  First and foremost, the SAT newsletter system now reaches roughly 3,500 subscribers, making the newsletter an effective tool for maintaining and communicating with a network of like-minded professional and avocational practitioners in southwestern archaeology and historic preservation. http://bit.ly/2dDZLLW – Archaeology Southwest

Thanks to Adrianne Rankin for contributing to this week’s newsletter