New York Times Takes a Look at Crow Canyon’s Northern Chaco Outliers Project

New York Times Takes a Look at Crow Canyon’s Northern Chaco Outliers Project
On the site of a former auto-repair shop here, broken stone walls mark the site of a 900-year-old village that may yield new insights into an ancient desert culture. The ruins are what remains of two “great houses” — apartment buildings, essentially — that formed a northern outpost of a civilization based at Chaco Canyon, about 100 miles away in northwestern New Mexico. Archaeologists from the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, in nearby Cortez, have just begun the first systematic excavation of this site in an effort to learn how its residents lived in the early 1100s, and how they related to the wider Chaco culture. http://nyti.ms/2wSOZbq

New Mexico Representatives Argue for Chaco Protections
Amid uncertainty about how the Trump administration intends to administer use of public lands and national monuments, New Mexico’s Democratic congressional delegates are urging Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to refrain from allowing oil and gas extraction on culturally sensitive lands in the Chaco Canyon area. On behalf of local communities, the Navajo Nation and the All Pueblo Council of Governors, Democratic U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján wrote in a letter to Zinke this week that protecting Chaco Culture National Historical Park is tantamount to protecting the culture and history of New Mexico. http://bit.ly/2wioed4 – Santa Fe New Mexican. Also see http://bit.ly/2wiM9c5 – Associated Press via News Observer

Commentary: Archaeology Southwest’s Paul Reed on the New Mexico Delegation’s Statement 
“We are grateful that the New Mexico Delegation is continuing to urge BLM and BIA to defer leasing within the 10-mile cultural protection zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Despite nearly 100 years of oil-gas development, this zone remains relatively pristine and we hope to continue to see protection for the irreplaceable archaeological and cultural sites so close to the UNESCO World Heritage sites in Chaco Canyon.” http://bit.ly/2wj45Uj – Archaeology Southwest

Interpreting Chaco through the Works of a Hopi Artist
In 2016, the University of New Mexico’s Maxwell Museum of Anthropology put out a call to indigenous artists to apply for a five-day residency program called the Chaco Heritage Project. Participants gained access to the museum’s Chaco archaeological collections and those of the Chaco Culture National Historical Park Museum, and Sakiestewa, a Hopi Native who was born in Albuquerque, was one of 10 artists selected for the residency. The 18 works in Light Echoes are divided into four distinctive groups, each inspired by imagery that Sakiestewa encountered during her residency. http://bit.ly/2wih5cx – Santa Fe New Mexican

Pew Charitable Trust Campaigning to Restore Our National Parks
A campaign by the Pew Charitable Trust to raise awareness of eroding infrastructure at national parks recently swung through Cortez. Restore America’s Parks aims to address an estimated $11.3 billion worth of deferred maintenance needs across 400 national park units, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts report. Colorado’s 12 national parks and monuments have racked up $277.2 million in backlogged maintenance needs, based on fiscal year 2016. Mesa Verde National Park reports $65.7 million in maintenance needs that have been delayed because of budget constraints. http://bit.ly/2wiDZRd – the Journal

Rock Art 2017 Symposium – San Diego, CA
The San Diego Rock Art Association (SDRAA) announces Rock Art 2017, San Diego’s 42nd Annual Rock Art Symposium, to be held on Saturday, November 4, 2017, at the San Diego Educational Cultural Complex Theatre, 4343 Ocean View Blvd, San Diego, CA  92113. Registration is $25, with complimentary registration for Native Americans. Full information, online registration, and the 2017 Call for Papers at www.SDRAA.org

Arizona Archaeology Expo Planning Meeting Scheduled for Sept 19
The 2018 Arizona Archaeology Expo will be held on Saturday March 10 at the Arizona Museum of Natural History (AzMNH). In order to begin planning this event, we will meet at the AzMNH on Tuesday, September 19, 2017 at 10 am. The AzMNH is located at 53 N. MacDonald in Mesa (north of Main Street on MacDonald). All are invited to attend. Teleconferencing is available for those who are not able to join us in person. For more information, please feel free to contact Kris Powell at kpowell@azstateparks.gov or 602-542-7141.

Lecture Opportunity – Durango
The public is invited to attend the next meeting of the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, at 7 p.m. in the Lyceum at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College. After a brief business meeting, Jesse Tune will present The Times They Were ‘A-Changin’: Life on the Colorado Plateau at the End of the Ice Age. A social will be held before the meeting at 6:30 p.m. http://bit.ly/2wjo19t – Durango Herald

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Nicholas LaLuk (White Mountain Apache), Postdoctoral Research Assocciate in Anthropology, Center for the Study of Race andEthnicity in America (CSREA), Brown University and 2009 Recipient Del Jones Award, Society for Appied Anthropology; Author, Apache Occupation of the Chiricahua Mountains who will give a lecture Apache Archaeology: Collaboration, Identity, and Sovereignty-Drived Research September 18 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Native Culture Matters Lecture Series. Admission is by subscription or $15 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt: tel. 505466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com, http://www.southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity – Sedona
The next monthly meeting of the Verde Valley Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society, will be held on Thursday, September 28, in the Community Room at the Sedona public Library, 3250 White Bear Road, Sedona, at 7:00 pm. We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Jaime J. Awe as our evening’s speaker, who will present Let’s Talk of Graves, Eccentrics and Epitaphs: The Socio-Political Implications of Recent Discoveries at Xunantunich, Belize.

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
On Saturday, September 30th, the Presidio San Agustin del Tucson Museum presents historian and author Jim Turner, who will discuss The Manso Apaches: Native American Auxiliaries on the Spanish Frontier. Not all Apaches were hostile raiders. The ‘Manso’ or friendly Apaches enjoyed beneficial relationships with the Presidio’s Royal Spanish Army and Tucson valley settlers around the turn of the 19th century. This group of Apaches settled and lived in the Santa Cruz River vicinity near the Presidio. The talk will be held at the Dusty Monk Pub at La Cocina, 201 N. Court Street, Tucson.  A fee of $5 per person at the door will be collected to defray expenses.