A Tohono O’odham View of the Legacy in the Landscape

Editorial: A Tohono O’odham View of the Legacy in the Landscape
‘Legacy” is a word we’re hearing a lot lately. Words and ideas are but one kind of legacy, though. For me and other American Indians, our legacy is through the land. Our history is in the land. So much of the nation’s rich history is beneath the ground as archaeology, preserved in the oral histories of American Indian tribes, and embedded within the land, in extensive natural and cultural landscapes. Our nation’s public lands are an invaluable reservoir of this remarkable heritage. http://bit.ly/2iSbc44 – Arizona Daily Star

Editorial: A Tohono O’odham Leader Reflects upon Martin Luther King and His Own Nation’s Heritage
Today recognizes a great man who told great truths about humanity. His words are written down for all to read, recorded for all to hear. They are in every library in this nation. My ancestors also teach great truths about humanity. Their words have been passed from mouth to heart for centuries. They are also preserved in a library, but a library of a different kind. They are preserved in the land. http://bit.ly/2iSuaHV – Arizona Republic

Editorial: Fracking the Chaco Landscape: An Opinion from Acoma
With the arrival of the winter solstice, those of us with a deep cultural connection to the Greater Chaco Landscape ponder its future in the face of oil and gas drilling. In recent weeks, pueblo and community leaders have amplified and unified our calls on the Bureau of Land Management to protect remaining undeveloped public lands as it amends its Farmington Resource Management Plan for the coming years. Last month, the All Pueblo Council of Governors — which represents pueblos in the Southwest, including all 19 in New Mexico — ratified a resolution to protect the Greater Chaco region from the risks of oil and gas development. With more than 90 percent of the Bureau of Land Management-administered lands in this region already leased, the resolution calls on the Bureau of Land Management to protect the remaining parcels in the Greater Chaco region from inappropriate drilling and to support a “Master Leasing Plan” approach by the BLM. http://bit.ly/2iS8T0R – Santa Fe New Mexican

100 People Protest BLM Fracking Leases on the Chaco Landscape
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is ignoring the pleas of Navajos and others in its planned lease of 843 acres near Chaco Canyon National Historic Park in northwest New Mexico for oil and gas drilling, protesters said Tuesday during a demonstration by more than 100 people at BLM’s office in Santa Fe. “We don’t sell our mother earth … our water … our air,” Etta Arviso, a member of the board of directors of the Diné Medicine Men’s Association, said at the protest. http://bit.ly/2iSedkU – Santa Fe New Mexican

The New York Times Publishes 5 Editorials on the Federal Lands Debate
House Republicans have made it easier for Congress to transfer federal lands to state and local authorities — an idea that was championed in the most recent Republican platform — by overturning the requirement that the government account for budgetary losses from such land transfers. But Ryan Zinke, Trump’s pick to head the Interior Department, has opposed transferring federal land, as do some Republican governors out West, in part because the government pays for emergency services like battling wildfires. If federal land is transferred to the states, could the states handle the responsibility? http://nyti.ms/2kggp1U – NYT

The Conservation Lands Foundation Inaugural Day Statement
Presidential inaugurations are celebrated with parades, performances and all-night parties. But an inauguration’s real purpose—and the only element mandated by the U.S. Constitution—is for the new president to stand before all and take a public oath to “faithfully execute the Office of President […and…] preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” The Conservation Lands Foundation staff want to mark this Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017, by affirming our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, as well as our guiding principles and vision that will steer our work over the next four years. http://bit.ly/2kg6rgM – CLF

Archaeologists Posit Humans Living in the New World 24,000 Years Ago
“The earliest settlement date of North America, until now estimated at 14,000 years before present, is now estimated at 24,000 years before present,” said lead author Lauriane Bourgeon, a doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Montreal, and co-authors. They made their discovery using artifacts from the Bluefish Caves, located on the banks of the Bluefish River in northern Yukon. Excavated from 1977 to 1987 under the direction of Archaeological Survey of Canada researcher Dr. Jacques Cinq-Mars, the site occupies a unique place in Eastern Beringian prehistory. http://bit.ly/2iShRv7 – Sci-News.com

Congratulations to Desert Archaeology’s New President, Dr. Sarah Herr
On Tuesday, I became majority owner and president of Desert Archaeology, Inc., and the company founder, Bill Doelle, became vice president. This is a tremendous honor. Desert Archaeology is one of a few strong, early-established cultural resources management-only firms in Arizona. Under Bill’s leadership, we have earned a strong local reputation for helping to reveal some of the iconic historic places of the Southwest, like the earliest field systems in North America, the plaza-oriented villages of O’odham ancestors, villages transformed by the eruption of Sunset Crater nearly a thousand years ago, the fragile Western Apache landscapes of central Arizona, and the fortress and mission built by Spanish soldiers and priests in early Tucson. Archaeologists on our staff are well-regarded nationally, and even internationally, for their contributions to archaeological scholarship on a wide range of topics that you will learn more about in our forthcoming blogs. http://bit.ly/2kg4Mbg – Desert Archaeology Inc.

Hell Gap Declared a National Historic Landmark
Thousands of years ago, North America’s earliest people hunted bison and made tools in an area 13 miles north of Guernsey now called Hell Gap. Discovered accidentally by two students in the 1950s, Hell Gap is one of the most important paleoindian archeological sites in North America, said Marcel Kornfeld, a professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming. The stratified way cultural artifacts were preserved in the earth for thousands of years gives unprecedented information about paleoindian life across generations. The importance of the site was recognized Jan. 11 when Interior Secretary Sally Jewell designated the site in Goshen County a national historic landmark, citing its contribution to knowledge about North America’s earliest people. It is the 27th national historic landmark in Wyoming and is one of 2,500 landmarks nationwide. http://bit.ly/2iSiKDV – WyoFile

Farmington Area Parks Anticipate an Increase in Heritage Tourism
The newly declared Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah could draw more tourists to the Four Corners region, according to Michael Quijano-West, the superintendent of Aztec Ruins National Monument and Chaco Culture National Historical Park. That’s because new national monuments often see an increase in visitation and that can spill over to nearby National Park Service units, said Quijano-West, who previously worked as chief of parks and planning in the New England region. http://bit.ly/2kg57uk – Farmington Daily Times

Admission Fees Increase at Mesa Verde
“We are committed to keeping the park affordable, but we also want to provide visitors with the best possible experience,” said Mesa Verde National Park Superintendent Cliff Spencer. “The money from entrance fees is used to improve visitor facilities and amenities.” Admission fees have paid for water bottle filling stations, drinking fountains, additional visitor educational opportunities, new restrooms and stabilization work at Spruce Tree House and Cliff Palace cliff dwellings.  http://bit.ly/2iS4ZF8 – Denver 7.com

“High on Life” Social Media Hooligans Sentenced to Jail Time and Fines for Abusing National Parks
Three defendants from the Canadian group “High On Life” appeared Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman at the Yellowstone Justice Center in Mammoth Hot Springs, and were sentenced after pleading guilty to charges. On May 16, 2016, someone contacted park rangers in Yellowstone National Park after seeing four people walking on Grand Prismatic Spring. http://bit.ly/2iSbFDn – KRVT.com

Lecture Opportunity – Cortez
The Hisatsinom Chapter of the Colorado Archaeology Society is pleased to present Kristin Kuckelman on Tuesday, February 7th, 2017 at 7:00 PM at the Methodist Church, 515 Park Street, Cortez, CO to discuss “Thirteenth Century in the Northern San Juan: It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times.” Kristin discusses the thirteenth century in the northern San Juan region and the significant cultural changes that occurred in this period. Contact Kari Schleher at 505-269-4475 with questions.

Lecture Opportuinty – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Bruce D. Bernstein, Executive Director, Continuous Pathways Foundation and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Pojoaque Pueblo; former Executive Director, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts and former Director for Research and Collections, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; and former Director and Chief Curator, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture and Author, The Santa Fe India Market: A History of Native Arts in the Marketplace who will give a lecture Restoring Tewa Pueblo Cultural History: The People’s Pottery on January 23 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture Series. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at tel: 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: http://bit.ly/YhJddr

Lecture Opportuinty – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Joseph ‘Woody’ Aguilar (San Ildefonso Pueblo), Ph.D. candidate, University of Pennsylvania and Archaeologist, who will give a lecture Archeologies of Resistance at Tunny (Black Mesa): Pueblo Mesa-top Refuges and Reconquest of Don Diego de Vargas on January 30 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture Series. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at tel: 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website http://bit.ly/YhJddr

Lecture Opportunity–Tucson
On January 26, at 5:30 p.m., the Tucson chapter of the American Research Center in Egypt will welcome Dr. Aaron Burke (UCLA) for “Traces of Resistance to Egyptian Rule in Canaan: Excavations of the New Kingdom Fortress in Jaffa, 2011–2014.” This lecture presents a synthesis of NEH-funded archaeological research between 2011 and 2016 and its historical implications for understanding resistance to and social interaction within the Egyptian stronghold of Jaffa during the New Kingdom. The program will be held in Room 110 of the Bannister Building, University of Arizona campus, 1215 E. Lowell Street.

Lecture Opportunity–Tucson
On February 2, at 5:30 p.m., the Tucson chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America will welcome Dr. Andrea M. Berlin (Boston University) for “At Home on Board: the Kyrenia Ship and the Goods of its Crew.” The Kyrenia ship is the best preserved small Greek merchant ship ever found. Its cargo included 400 amphoras, 45 sizeable unused millstones, iron ingots, nearly 10,000 almonds, and a consignment of oak planks and logs, as well as 109 whole and fragmentary vessels that comprised the goods of the crew. The goods of the crew allow us a glimpse of life on board for the ship’s crew. The lecture will explain what these goods tell us of the place and date of the ship’s final departure, what they tell us about the character of the ship’s crew, and what some of the smallest fragments reveal of the ship’s beginnings before it became a Greek merchantman. The program will be held in Room 216 of the Haury Building, University of Arizona campus, 1009 E. South Campus Dr.

Hands-On Archaeology Workshop: How Did People Make and Use Stone Tools?
Enrollment for participants 18 and older is now open for Allen Denoyer’s next flintknapping workshop, which will be held on Saturday, February 25, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, at Archaeology Southwest’s Tucson headquarters, 300 N. Ash Alley. The fee for the workshop is $40. http://bit.ly/1VKAFHv – Archaeology Southwest