BLM Temporarily Defers Leases in Chaco Buffer Zone

BLM Temporarily Defers Leases in Chaco Buffer Zone
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management reversed course Friday, saying certain land near Chaco Culture National Historical Park would no longer be offered at an oil and gas lease sale in March. Environmental advocates, tribal groups and Democratic lawmakers said last week they opposed the agency’s move to auction off land for oil and gas development within 10 miles of the culturally sensitive site. http://bit.ly/2SsfNvu – Santa Fe New Mexican

Commentary: We Must Protect Greater Chaco Landscapes
In response to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) announcement today that its New Mexico State Office has deferred nine parcels for its scheduled March oil and gas lease sale, Paul F. Reed, Preservation Archaeologist and Chaco Scholar, has issued the following statement on behalf of Archaeology Southwest: “I think this is probably a temporary victory, and the parcels will come up again in a future lease sale. I am still deeply disappointed that BLM continues to conduct quarterly oil-gas lease sales while the long-awaited Resource Management Plan (RMP) amendment and draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) sit unfinished.” http://bit.ly/2SjZ4dH – Archaeology Southwest

Today, the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) New Mexico State Office announced it will defer 1,500 acres of land for its March 28 oil and gas lease sale. Development on land parcels would have directly impacted Chaco Culture National Historical Park and its surrounding landscape. While the nine land parcels were deferred, the BLM will still move forward with 37 parcels throughout New Mexico and Oklahoma, ignoring the concerns of local communities and tribes within the region. http://bit.ly/2SAdpDi – National Parks Conservation Association

Reintroduced: The ANTIQUITIES Act, 2019
U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representative Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), along with U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), led a group of more than 100 Democratic Members of Congress in re-introducing legislation to protect America’s treasured national monuments against the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on public lands. The America’s Natural Treasures of Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of States (ANTIQUITIES) Act of 2019 reinforces Congress’ clear intent in the Antiquities Act of 1906: only Congress has the authority to modify a national monument designation. http://bit.ly/2SystBn – tomudall.senate.gov

Rising support for Bears Ears advances in the Senate. Senator Udall (D-NM) and Representative Haaland (NM-01), along with over one-hundred Congressional members, reintroduced the America’s Natural Treasures of Immeasurable Quality Unite, Inspire, and Together Improve the Economies of States Act (ANTIQUITIES Act). Hopi Tribe Vice-Chairman, Clark Tenakhongva, expresses the appreciation felt across the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, stating “We applaud Senator Udall and Congresswoman Haaland for the reintroduction of the ANTIQUITIES Act, which would expand protection of 1.9 million acres of the Bears Ears National Monument, along with fifty other monuments, and ensure that existing presidential proclamations establishing national monuments cannot be illegally diminished by current or future presidents.” These key tenets to the ANTIQUITIES Act ensure the nation’s public lands remain protected once designated, except by an act of Congress. http://bit.ly/2DzZToH – Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition

Senate Passes Major Public Lands Bill
The Senate on Tuesday passed the most sweeping conservation legislation in a decade, protecting millions of acres of land and hundreds of miles of wild rivers across the country and establishing four new national monuments honoring heroes including Civil War soldiers and a civil rights icon. https://wapo.st/2Dx2M9L – Washington Post

Commentary: Leasing in Bears Ears
Under the Obama Administration, requests by energy companies for leasing in the area were deferred due to the region’s vast and largely undiscovered cultural resources. A Master Leasing Plan was initiated to facilitate landscape-level planning that would allow for responsible energy development in targeted areas, while protecting the integrity of nationally important archaeological districts. The Trump Administration, by contrast, has abandoned “smart from the start” planning efforts and sought to grant every request of the oil and gas industry. Over the course of three lease sales (March 2018, December 2018 and March 2019), the Department of Interior is attempting to lease off almost every acre of these archaeologically rich lands. http://bit.ly/2Sz0QrB – Friends of Cedar Mesa

Society for American Archaeology Releases Best Practices for Legacy Collections
In 2017, the SAA Board asked the Committee on Museums, Collections, and Curation (CMCC) to consider drafting guidelines for archaeologists who are responsible for, or are aware of, collections that should have been curated long ago. For various reasons, these collections were not curated, often beyond the control of the archaeologist. Realizing that preparing old collections for curation could easily become overwhelming—and potentially result in an abandoned collection—these guidelines were developed to help navigate the process. The guidelines provide an overview of tasks and considerations that are necessary prior to transferring collections to a repository. http://bit.ly/2SvqdL1 – Society for American Archaeology

Decolonizing Museums
In the past few years, museums across the US, Europe, and Australia are trying to tackle the challenge of decolonizing their institutions. However, the very meaning of decolonizing is being debated. The Washington Post defines it as “a process that institutions undergo to expand the perspectives they portray beyond those of the dominant cultural group, particularly white colonizers.” Whereas, the Abbe Museum in Maine take a stronger approach by incorporating it into their Strategic plan and defining it as “at a minimum, sharing authority for the documentation and interpretation of Native culture.” http://bit.ly/2Sr53xs – Museum Next

Change in Leadership at New Mexico History Museum
Andrew Wulf, whose four-year tenure as director of the New Mexico History Museum was marked by cultural controversies in recent months, has been fired. Wulf’s termination was confirmed Friday by Cultural Affairs Secretary-designate Debra Garcia y Griego. In July, he angered some locals when he said he wanted to stop the Santa Fe Fiesta Council’s tradition of hanging colorful wooden plaques bearing Spanish coats of arms of local families’ ancestors across the front of the Palace of the Governors during Fiesta de Santa Fe. http://bit.ly/2Svve6j – Santa Fe New Mexican

Dendrochronology Opportunity, Tucson AZ
The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (LTRR) is offering three concurrent short courses in dendrochronology, convening May 13–31, 2019. Students will select a specific course based on their preferred discipline, including dendroclimatology, dendroecology, or dendroarchaeology. Many of the lectures and activities are cross-cutting and include all students together. The three groups will separate for the latter half of the course to conduct fieldwork and focus on specific research projects. http://bit.ly/2SspYR1 – Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona

Field School Opportunity, NM: Gallina Landscapes of History
The Institute for Field Research’s Gallina Landscapes of History field school held in northern New Mexico is currently accepting applications for our 6 week season running from May 26–July 6. College credits are available through Colorado College. Scholarships are available, as well: (https://ifrglobal.org/students/scholarships/). This project investigates differences in political and social organization in the North American Southwest by exploring changing architectural patterns through time. We will focus on the “out-of-phase” nature of Gallina archaeology (~A.D. 1100–1300) which researchers argue is actually evidence for a social movement aimed at contesting regional changes in religious and political power aggregation and centralization in northern New Mexico. Part of the material expression that may have created and supported this social movement was the re-unification of a previously split sacred and secular space. This project will focus on sites in the Llaves Valley at approximately 7,000 feet above sea level. Excavation, survey and site assessments, artifact analysis and processing, community outreach and public blogs, and collaborative discussions with local communities about the nature of our fieldwork and its future directions will all be incorporated. More information can be found here: https://ifrglobal.org/program/us-nm-gallina/

Field School Opportunity, NM: Preservation Archaeology
Join us for the Preservation Archaeology Field School in southwestern New Mexico, May 27 through July 5, 2019. Offered by Archaeology Southwest and the University of Arizona, this unique six-week program provides students with an opportunity to learn excavation, survey, experimental archaeology, and laboratory methods in a beautiful, remote, and archaeologically exciting part of the U.S. Southwest. Our innovative curriculum highlights the goals, ethics, and practice of Preservation Archaeology, which integrates research, education, and preservation within a community-based framework. We share what we learn throughout the project with the public via local events, blog posts, and other venues. Together, students and staff explore ethically responsible and scientifically rigorous field and research methods while investigating compelling questions about our shared past. http://bit.ly/2EBhvzm – Archaeology Southwest

Internship Opportunity, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ
The Future Park Leaders of Emerging Change (FPL) Internship Program is issuing a special call for applications for a paid internship at Organ Pipe National Monument in summer 2019. Eligible applicants are highly accomplished undergraduate and graduate students with an academic and/or professional background in archaeology and/or history, with a preference towards the American Southwest and Sonoran Desert. http://futureparkleaders.org/

Internship Opportunity, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
Grand Canyon National Park, in partnership with the Grand Canyon Conservancy, is currently accepting applications for the Eugene T. Polk internship in archaeology. The intern will support Grand Canyon’s Cultural Resource Management Program by helping complete archaeological surveys, compliance monitoring, ruins preservation, public outreach, data entry, and report writing. This is a 10-week paid internship that includes shared housing in Grand Canyon Village on the South Rim. For more information about the internship and how to apply, please email Donelle Huffer at donelle_huffer@nps.gov. Applications will be accepted through April 12, 2019, and the selected applicant will be notified by April 29.

Mesa Verde in 3D
At Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park, hundreds of cliff dwellings provide a glimpse of how the region’s ancestral pueblo people lived a thousand years ago. Now, using laser scanning and specialized photography, a nonprofit called Cyark has created detailed 3D models of this and other world heritage sites. Elizabeth Lee is Cyark’s vice president of programs and development. Lee: “We work on sites that are threatened from a number of factors, but more and more sites are really being impacted by climate change.” http://bit.ly/2SvzimT – Yale Climate Connections

Lowry Pueblo in 3D
History Colorado has awarded Ekaterini Vlahos and Michael Nulty, of the University of Colorado Denver, a 2019 Stephen H. Hart Award for their recent work documenting the Lowry Pueblo, a national historic landmark west of Pleasant View off County Road CC. http://bit.ly/2DBRXTZ – The Journal

Archaeology Café (Phoenix): What’s West of Phoenix?
Join us at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, as Dr. Aaron Wright explores “What’s West of Phoenix: Patayan Archaeology of the Lower Gila River.” The Patayan tradition in southwestern Arizona is commonly dismissed as a mobile hunting-and-gathering lifestyle with little relevance to the Big Picture of Southwest history. This presentation shares recent archaeological and ethnohistoric research that counters this prevailing narrative, and restores Patayan as one of the four main cultural traditions of the indigenous Southwest. http://bit.ly/2DCDYxj – Archaeology Southwest

Exhibition: La Quinta Museum Unveils Rediscovered Photos of the California Desert
Postcards from Mecca: The California Desert Photographs of Susie Keef Smith and Lula Mae Graves is on view through May 11, 2019, at the La Quinta Museum. This is the first exhibit to showcase the work of 1930s Mecca postmaster Susie Keef Smith and her cousin Lula Mae Graves. Their subjects include desert prospectors, Corn Springs petroglyphs, and workers on the Colorado River Aqueduct project. A new book accompanies the exhibit. California archaeologists Russell Kaldenberg and Ron May contributed to the book and exhibit. Published by the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association. https://www.postcardsfrommecca.com/

Job Opportunity, Archaeology Southwest
The Outreach and Volunteer Coordinator (O&VC) is responsible for managing Archaeology Southwest’s current volunteer programs as well as expanding the effective use of volunteers throughout the organization, especially the development of a group of “citizen scientists” who will contribute critical data to the groundbreaking cyberSW project. The O&VC assists in the management of the membership program, planning and implementing membership/donor events, and maintaining donor information in databases. A new position, the O&VC will join a small, hardworking, and effective Outreach Team that includes the Communications Director and the Marketing and Design Director. The position reports to the Deputy Director, who also serves as the organization’s Chief Development Director. http://bit.ly/2DzZdj9 – Archaeology Southwest

Job Opportunity, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Duties include monitoring the storage environment and security, conducting object condition reports, and maintaining appropriate collections documentation and databases. Other duties include: assisting the Curator with the coordination of incoming and outgoing loans; processing new acquisitions; helping supervise visiting researchers; supervising student workers, interns, and Anthropology volunteers; and working with curatorial and exhibits staff to facilitate preparation, packing, and transportation of objects for exhibit. http://bit.ly/2Ss0t29 – University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Job Opportunity, Northern Rio Grande NM
The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project is hiring a project archaeologist to run the organization’s Preservation arm. Click the link to view the full job description and requirements. To apply or request additional information please contact Jennifer Goyette at Jennifer@mesaprietapetroglyphs.org. Interviews will be held after March 11 for a start date of April 1, 2019. No applications will be accepted after March 7, 2019. – https://www.mesaprietapetroglyphs.org/join-the-team.html

Lecture Opportunity, Tucson AZ
Archaeologist Dr. Michael Lindeman presents “The Hohokam Landscape during Times of Transition” for Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s March 21, 6–8:30 p.m., “Third Thursday Food for Thought” dinner at Karichimaka Mexican Restaurant, 5252 S. Mission Road, Tucson. His presentation will show and discuss archaeological excavations he directed at a Hohokam village site located where the Pima Animal Care Center was recently expanded. No entry fee. Guests may purchase their own dinners. Reservations required before 5 p.m. Wednesday March 20: 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org. http://bit.ly/2SwWwJk – Old Pueblo Archaeology Center

Tour Opportunity, Tucson AZ
At 9:00 a.m., Saturday, March 9, archaeologist Allen Dart leads Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s free educational tour of an archaeological village site that was inhabited by the Hohokam culture in the AD 1100s, at the Vista del Rio Cultural Resource Park, 7575 E. Desert Arbors St., Tucson. Reservations required by 5:00 p.m., Thursday March 7: 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org. http://bit.ly/2DzuId6 – Old Pueblo Archaeology Center

Educational Opportunity, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
The art of silversmithing is a relative newcomer to the Hopi people of Northern Arizona. Although their history stretches back over 1,000 years, a distinct Hopi style didn’t appear until the 1930s. Why did it take so long for this incredible art form to come to life? Read more about the history of Hopi Jewelry in this “A Tradition in Silver” article. Join Crow Canyon Archaeological Center and expert Hopi silversmith, Gerald Lomaventema, on the Hopi Jewelry Workshop in Flagstaff, Arizona, from April 15–20. http://bit.ly/2SwEHua– Crow Canyon Archaeological Society

Lecture Opportunity, Santa Fe NM
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Richard I. Ford, Ethnobotanist and Archaeologist; Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Botany, University of Michigan (Ret.) and Research Associate, Laboratory of Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico, Department of Cultural Affairs who will give a talk Cupules: What They Are and Why They Are Made on February 18 at 6pm 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 tel: 505 466-2775; email: southwestseminar@aol.com; website: southwestseminars.org

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