Interview with Matthew Liebmann

Interview with Archaeologist Matthew Liebmann: “My work with the tribe…strives to work for tribal interests, instead of just my own academic interests”
Archaeology Professor Matthew Liebmann has been collaborating with the Pueblo of Jemez in New Mexico for two decades, having served as tribal archaeologist and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act program director for the Jemez Department of Natural Resources. Author of “Revolt: An Archaeological History of Pueblo Resistance and Revitalization in 17th Century New Mexico,” Liebmann took a group of undergraduate and graduate students to Jemez this summer to help members of the tribe excavate the site of two mission churches. Liebmann sat down with the Gazette to talk about his research, how his field has reckoned with the past, and how both influence his teaching. http://bit.ly/31pp7jX – Harvard Gazette

Interview with Curtis Schaafsma: “Collaboration has to happen…you have to come to grips with the human experience”
“I was a geology major at the University of Colorado and needed a job in the summer of 1959…” Curtis Schaafsma is Emeritus Curator of Anthropology, Museum of New Mexico, and former director of the Laboratory of Anthropology. The Society for American Archaeology’s “Archiving the Archaeologists” series is an oral history project designed to capture personal insights and recollections of archaeologists near retirement or already retired. Archaeologists interviewed in the series reflect on their careers, how and why they became archaeologists, and their contributions to the discipline. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C734-AVHM8w – Society for American Archaeology

New Excavations at Ancient Farming Community in Tucson
It’s been a long wait for some archaeologists and for drivers who travel the bedeviled I-10 and Ruthrauff interchange. Both are getting something they have wished for, for a very long time. For drivers, the end of the eternal backups and waiting for trains that often hold up traffic at the underpass. That’s still a couple of years away but work has begun. The archaeologists are getting access to a dig at a site they’ve been eyeing for the past couple of decades. http://bit.ly/31qKUIa – KOLD Tucson

Job Opportunity, Desert Archaeology, Inc.
Excavation Field Crew (Tucson, Phoenix). Excavation crew members are sought for an ongoing project at Los Pozos, near I-10 in north Tucson, and upcoming projects in the Phoenix area. Tucson: Starts immediately and continues through September. Excavation experience is required. Experience with Early Agricultural period contexts is a plus but not required. Phoenix: Starts soon. Excavation experience required. For either location, send a resume along with a cover letter indicating your experience to tucson@desert.com. https://desert.com/open-positions/ – Desert Archaeology, Inc.

Commentary: Public Lands Hold Sacred Indigenous Landscapes
The conflict on Mauna Kea—between Indigenous people and the state of Hawaii—illustrates not only the issue of how public lands are managed but also an emerging debate over how Indigenous rights to those lands are addressed. What we see in these conflicts are two ways of viewing and using public lands in the American West: as places for development and as culturally important landscapes. Public lands are often the only places where Native American sacred landscapes still exist since so much land was lost to conquest and colonization, and they are among the few places where Native people can practice their religions, hunt, fish or gather their sacred medicines. http://bit.ly/31qCksW – Rosalyn LaPier in High Country News

BLM Acting Director Remains under Scrutiny
This next story involves 250 million acres of land. That’s how much public land is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. One way to think of 250 million acres is, that’s roughly equal to the entire land area of Texas, plus California. This week, the Trump administration installed an acting director to supervise all that land. He is a man who has called for transferring public lands to states or selling them to private industry. NPR’s Kirk Siegler has more. https://n.pr/2KiBhFq – Morning Edition, NPR

Ruling Blocks Hotly Contested Copper Mine
“This is a victory for the Nation and all of southern Arizona,” said Ned Norris Jr., chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation. “The devastation that the Rosemont mine would bring to our land, water and cultural resources is well-documented and cannot be allowed to happen.” The tribes had said that the mining company planned to excavate Gaylor Ranch, a historic Hokokam village, within the first few months of construction. https://lat.ms/2KhOD4R – Los Angeles Times

Continuing Coverage: Protecting the Greater Chaco Landscape
Environmental advocates and tribal groups have filed another lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management over its continued approval of oil and gas lease sales near Chaco Culture National Historical Park, despite widespread opposition. The new suit, filed Thursday in federal District Court by counsel for the Western Environmental Law Center, WildEarth Guardians and the Sierra Club, challenges the BLM’s actions from 2016 to the present on 32 environmental assessments and 225 wells. http://bit.ly/31pLplo – Santa Fe New Mexican

Continuing Coverage: Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Statement on Monument Management Plan
This illegal, political and rushed process cannot stand. President Trump’s unlawful action left hundreds of thousands of priceless and significant cultural, natural and sacred objects unprotected. Not to mention the cultural practices and traditional tribal intellectual knowledge that would be lost or diminished. Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service MMPs and FEIS provide no rational basis to exclude these sites and objects. http://bit.ly/31oDp4s – Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition

Job Opportunity, Pueblo de San Ildefonso
The Administration has a Tribal Historic Preservation Officer position available. THPO: Under the general supervision of the Governor or designee. This position promotes, protects, preserves and manages the San Ildefonso Tribe’s Cultural Resources. This position must have knowledge of the Tribe’s culture and a strong commitment to preserving it. The Tribal Historic Preservation Officer (THPO) is responsible for the development and implementation of programs which promote and protect the Pueblo’s culture and heritage resources in accordance with the requirements of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the National Park Service (NPS), and other federal laws and regulations. http://bit.ly/2Klm5Yg – Pueblo de San Ildefonso (opens as a PDF)

Lecture Opportunity, Santa Fe NM
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Patricia L. Crown, Archaeoloigst and Distinguished Professor of Anthropology & Archaeology; Ceramics Analysis Laboratory, University of New Mexico; Co-Editor, Social Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest; Editor, The Pueblo Bonito Mounds of Chaco Canyon: Material Culture and Fauna; Co-Author, “Ritual Drinks in the Prehispanic U.S. Southwest & Northwest Mexico”; Author (w/T. Emerson, J.Gu, J. Hurst, T Pauketat, & T. Ward) “Ritual Black Drink Consumption at Cahokia,” Proceedings National Academy of Sciences; who will give a lecture “Dead Parrots and Hot Chocolate” at 6:00 p.m. on August 12 at Santa Fe Woman’s Club as part of the annual 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 at tel: 505 366-2775; email: southwestseminar@aol.com; web: southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity, Durango CO
The public is invited to the next meeting of the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society on Wednesday, August 14, at 7:00 p.m., at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College. Richard Friedman will present, “Using Computer Technology to aid in the Identification, Documentation, and Visualization of the Chacoan Landscape (Built Environment).” Friedman combines diverse skillsets in geology, remote sensing, archaeology, and new digital technologies to study the Chaco world. There will be a social at 6:30 p.m. before the meeting. http://www.sjbas.org

We’re happy to help get the word out, but we’re not mind readers! Please submit news, book announcements, and events at this link for consideration: https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/submit-to-sat/

Questions? sat-editor@archaeologysouthwest.org