Shutdown Leads to Closure of Mesa Verde National Park

Shutdown Leads to Closure of Mesa Verde National Park
An unpaid park ranger posted at the front entrance to Mesa Verde National Park has been turning away visitors for about two weeks because the partial federal government shutdown has parked the snowplows. There are no paid plow operators in the park, and the road is unsafe, he said. The park also has limited cellphone service. “Everything is closed right now,” the ranger said. “We can’t maintain it.” http://bit.ly/2TTb2av – Cortez Journal

Shutdown Leaves Heritage at Risk…
The ravages of time touch all things, even more so when you study humanity’s ancient past. Archaeologists work in a constant battle against decomposition as they seek to document and preserve the objects that shaped the lives of our human ancestors. That battle is grinding to a halt as the partial government shutdown enters its fourth week while lawmakers debate the merits of a southern border wall. http://bit.ly/2TYt77t – Forbes

…But Leasing Continues
The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees energy production on federal land, has opened offices in New Mexico and on Monday plans to reopen four more offices in Wyoming to approve oil and gas drilling applications – even as other businesses that depend on access to federal public lands remained shuttered and conservation and environmental groups say their calls to bureau offices went unanswered. http://bit.ly/2TTMmPq – US News and World Report

Utah Senator Re-Introduces PURE Act
Senator Mike Lee re-introduced the Protect Utah’s Rural Economy (PURE) Act on Thursday afternoon. Senator Lee said the PURE Act would “give Utah’s rural communities a real voice in local land management policies, a voice they currently do not have today.” Lee explained the act would prevent the president from establishing or expanding a national monument in Utah unless the proposed monument has been authorized by an act of Congress and Utah’s state legislature. http://bit.ly/2TS2yjY – KPCW (NPR)

Bears Ears Litigation News
A federal judge is allowing the state of Utah and San Juan, Garfield and Kane counties to intervene in a series of lawsuits challenging President Trump’s decision to shrink the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. In a ruling handed down in Washington D.C. on Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan granted the state and the counties’ motions. She also agreed to allow the Utah Farm Bureau to intervene as well. http://bit.ly/2TT9Zaz – Fox13 Salt Lake City

Video: Painted Walls and Tree-Ring Dates in the Embattled Bears Ears Cultural Landscape
In this Tea and Archaeology talk, Benjamin Bellorado presents some results of the Cedar Mesa Building Murals Project, his five-year study of decorated buildings at Ancestral Pueblo cliff-dwellings in the southern Bears Ears area. Results indicate that, in the early A.D. 1200s, murals expressed important aspects of social identities related to community, political, and religious identities on local scales. Subsequent changes in mural styles reflect broader changes in the political and ritual systems of the larger region. https://youtu.be/qbMqd9BuYX8 – Archaeology Southwest (opens at YouTube)

Podcast: Heritage Voices on Technology
Panelists include Aaron Brien (Apsáalooke), a member of the Night Hawk Dance Society and faculty in Salish Kootenai College’s Tribal Historic Preservation and Native American Studies programs, Emily Van Alst (Sihasapa Lakota descent), a PhD student at Indiana University, and Briece Edwards, Manager of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde. The panelists discuss how they use technology in their work, the positives and negatives of technology for tribes and heritage preservation, and tribes and Indigenous Archaeologist’s innovative adaptations of technology to serve their needs. They shared some especially exciting ways they are using technology to share information back to the communities they work with and as non-invasive or destructive alternatives. http://bit.ly/2TRWZCd – Heritage Voices

Reminder: Applications for Undergrad Funding to Attend SAAs Due January 25
The Institute for Field Research (IFR) believes in immersion experiences and the power of mentorship to change the lives of aspiring scholars. To that end, the IFR has donated $2,000 to the Society for American Archaeology to support undergraduate student travel to attend the 2019 SAA Annual Meeting. The SAA will select several qualified undergraduate students from a pool of applicants, on a competitive basis, to receive travel awards up to $1,000. http://bit.ly/2CYKIqc – Society for American Anthropology/Institute for Field Research

Repost: Job Opening, University of Utah
The Natural History Museum of Utah (NHMU) and the Department of Anthropology at the University of Utah invite applications for a tenure-track joint position as Curator of Archaeology and Assistant Professor of Anthropology beginning July 1, 2019. The majority of this split appointment is funded by the Museum, but retention, promotion, and tenure decisions will be made according to the Department criteria. https://utah.peopleadmin.com/postings/85384

Book Announcement: Navajoland Trading Post Encyclopedia
Navajoland Trading Post Encyclopedia by Klara Kelley and Harris Francis. Order from Navajo Nation Heritage and Historic Preservation Department, r.begay@navajo-nsn.gov.

Special Event, Tucson AZ
The Old Fort Lowell Neighborhood Association invites you to Fort Lowell Day, an annual gathering of friends and residents on Saturday, February 9, 2019. Mariachi Mass at 10 a.m. at the Historic San Pedro Chapel, 5230 E. Fort Lowell Road, Tucson. Walking Tours 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. http://OldFortLowellNeighborhood.org

Lecture Opportunity, Albuquerque NM
On January 15 at 7:30 p.m., the Albuquerque Archaeological Society will host Lou Schuyler for The Jewelry of Pottery Mound with a Comparison to Tijeras Pueblo. This presentation is built on research of the jewelry artifacts excavated at Pottery Mound from the 1950s through the 1980s by Frank Hibben, and separately by Linda Cordell in 1979. It will include photos and descriptions of jewelry artifacts in the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology collections and the site context. The talk will be at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, 2000 Mountain Rd. NW.

Lecture Opportunity, Santa Fe NM
Southwest Seminars Presents Steve Elmore, Researcher of Hopi pottery museum collections and Author, In Search of Nampeyo: The Early Years, 1875–1892; Owner, Steve Elmore Indian Art Gallery, painter, and freelance photographer who will give a talk Nampeyo of Hano: Her Early Years on January 21 at 6:00 p.m. at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the annual Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture Series. Admission is by subscription or $15 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at tel:505 466-2775; email: southwestseminar@aol.com; website: southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunities, Tucson AZ
On Saturday, January 26, at 2:00 p.m. join Dr. Suzanne Fish for her lecture, Two Early Villages of Tumamoc Hill, at the Dusty Monk Pub. $5 at the door. The lecture is brought to you by the Presidio San Agustin Museum. Tumamoc Hill is a trincheras site, defined by location on a hill and the architecture made of unshaped stone. It is recognized as an ancestral site of today’s O’odham people. On the hill are remains of pit houses and a village structure. Dr. Suzy Fish, lead archaeologist at the site with her husband Dr. Paul Fish, will share their discoveries made during their long career. https://tucsonpresidio.com/

Kelsey Hanson presents Layering Diverse Relationships to Place: A View from the Top of Inscription Rock for Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s February 21, 6-8:30 p.m. Third Thursday Food for Thought dinner at Karichimaka Restaurant, 5252 S. Mission Rd., Tucson. Her talk discusses how to recognize and fairly protect diverse relationships to culturally important places like New Mexico’s Inscription Rock, known for early Spanish inscriptions but also for much older petroglyphs, pictographs, trails, and pueblos. No entry fee. Guests may purchase their own dinners. Make reservation by 5:00 p.m. Feb. 20. https://www.oldpueblo.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/20190221V1_ThirdThursday_KelseyHanson_InscriptionRock.pdf

Lecture Opportunity, Benson AZ
Archaeologist Allen Dart presents “Set in Stone but Not in Meaning: Southwestern Indian Rock Art” at noon on February 9 at Cochise College Benson Center, 1025 S State Route 90, Benson, AZ. Mr. Dart illustrates southwestern petroglyphs and pictographs, and discusses how even the same rock art symbol may be interpreted differently from popular, scientific, and modern Native American perspectives. Co-sponsored by Arizona Humanities. Rita Miller, millerr@cochise.edu or 520-586-1981. http://azhumanities.org/event/set-in-stone-but-not-in-meaning-southwestern-indian-rock-art-benson/

Please submit news, book announcements, and events at this link for consideration: https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/submit-to-sat/

Questions? sat-editor@archaeologysouthwest.org