Bipartisan Bill Would Expand Arizona’s Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Bipartisan Bill Would Expand Arizona’s Casa Grande Ruins National Monument
Congressman Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01) joined a bipartisan group of Arizona lawmakers to introduce the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Boundary Modification Act, legislation that would create a federal land exchange to expand Casa Grande Ruins National Monument by transferring administrative jurisdiction of 11.21 acres of federal land to the National Parks Service (NPS) and 3.5 acres of NPS land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the San Carlos Irrigation Project. “Casa Grande Ruins attracts tens of thousands of yearly visitors from all over the world and supports the Pinal Country tourism industry,” said Rep. O’Halleran. “My bill would expand this National Monument to more completely preserve historic lands and ruins and ensure that the San Carlos Irrigation Project has access to critical irrigation infrastructure.” http://bit.ly/36gY8Ku – ohalleran.house.gov

Archaeology Southwest Supports Boundary Expansion
In the 1300s, skilled and ingenious builders erected a four-story adobe structure that still stands at the center of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Today, their descendants reside nearby, in communities that are living links to past, present, and place. In the Hohokam era, the village now protected by the National Park Service was one of several in a larger farming community that extended along more than 20 miles of irrigation canal. The national monument’s expansion will help convey a landscape-scale view of how villages cooperated to maintain the canal systems that enabled them to thrive. The proposed legislation is a fitting act of respect for the nation’s first archaeological preserve, which was established at Casa Grande in 1892. It’s also an appropriate bipartisan congressional action on a matter that has strong tribal and local community support. http://bit.ly/2paAq1X – Archaeology Southwest

Imminent: House to Vote on Bill to Protect Chaco
H.R. 2181, the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act of 2019, is expected to come before the House of Representatives for a vote this week—perhaps even today, October 30. After passage in the House, it will require additional bipartisan support in the Senate. Please be ready to contact your representatives to thank them for their support, and please reach out to your senators to urge their support. Here is the text of the bill: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/hr2181/text. Follow Archaeology Southwest on Twitter for the latest news: https://twitter.com/Arch_SW.

Background from the National Parks Conservation Association: https://www.npca.org/case-studies/chaco-culture-national-historical-park

Background from Archaeology Southwest: https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/projects/oil-development-and-the-chaco-cultural-landscape/

2020 World Monuments Watch List Includes Bears Ears
The Notre-Dame de Paris, which suffered a devastating fire earlier this year, and Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, which is the subject of a legal battle with implications for the future of protected public lands across the United States, have been named to the 2020 World Monuments Watch, a biennial list of cultural heritage sites that are in urgent need of conservation. The 25 sites on this year’s list, which represent 22 countries, were announced on Tuesday by the World Monuments Fund (W.M.F.). https://nyti.ms/2BVMMxO – New York Times

Video: Seeking Common Ground on Public Lands: Voices and Views from Bears Ears Country
In this Tea and Archaeology lecture, Rebecca Robinson and Stephen Strom discuss the many views and debates surrounding the future of Bears Ears. https://youtu.be/MjTUUeM58Q4 – Archaeology Southwest (opens at YouTube)

Commentary: What #BearsEarsHeals Means
The original designation of the monument in 2016 was a big step toward righting centuries of injustices and wrongdoings. The wounds of colonization are real for Indigenous peoples, and they persist today. President Trump’s gutting of the monument is a setback, but we’re hopeful that when the courts or Congress restore the monument, the healing process can be fully reinvigorated. The opportunity to heal is not just among tribes, but among non-Native people too. We have much to learn about how we and others relate to the land, our history, and the path forward. https://www.grandcanyontrust.org/blog/bearsearsheals -Tim Peterson at Grand Canyon Trust

Archaeological Survey on Mesa Verde Escarpment Shows Thriving Community
The next time you look south toward the Mesa Verde escarpment, imagine prehistoric Pueblo villages from 1,000 years ago with reservoirs, farms, stone dwellings, kivas and perhaps signal fires to communicate town to town. For the past three years, the Bureau of Land Management area just below Mesa Verde National Park has been surveyed by a group of archaeologists led by Kelsey Reese, a doctoral candidate for archaeology at the University of Notre Dame. The researchers had BLM permission to enter the area, which has no general public access because it is hemmed in by private land. As part of the Four Corners Lecture series, Reese recently shared some of her findings to a packed house at the Methodist Church in Cortez. http://bit.ly/36heLpz – The Journal

School for Advanced Research Publishes Guidelines for Collaboration
The School for Advanced Research (SAR) is pleased to announce the publication of the Guidelines for Collaboration, theoretical and practical guides to building successful collaborations between Indigenous communities, museums, and other collecting institutions. The Guidelines are the product of several years of critical discourse between over sixty Native and non-Native museum professionals, cultural leaders, artists, and scholars experienced in collaborative work in various institutions in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. Available only in limited release until now, the Guidelines are already being used by internationally recognized institutions including Chicago’s Field Museum and University of California–Los Angeles (UCLA) in collaboration with the Getty Conservation Institute. To see the Guidelines and case studies or to download the resource, visit https://guidelinesforcollaboration.info/. http://bit.ly/345nwRI (article) – School for Advanced Research

Tewa Pueblos Celebrate Pottery’s Return
Emotions are high for potters and others at New Mexico’s six Tewa-speaking Pueblos. They’re celebrating the return of 100, century-old pots from the Smithsonian Institution, and the reunion is stirring deep feelings. “It’s very spiritual for me, because they’re my great-grandparents, my great aunties, my great uncles, that are being brought back,” says Evonne Martinez of San Ildefonso Pueblo. “It’s very important because it’s our culture, it’s our spirit, it’s our wholeness, and it’s our heart.” http://bit.ly/3307318 – Santa Fe New Mexican

Fort Lewis College Prepares Repatriation
Fort Lewis College is working to give 43 Native American human remains and 51 funerary objects to the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute tribes for reburial to abide by a decades-old federal law. “This is a really important ethical obligation,” said Kathleen Fine-Dare, chairwoman of FLC’s Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act Committee. http://bit.ly/2BVRxra – Durango Herald

Continuing Coverage: Hopi Tribe Says Possible Dam Projects at Confluence Would Be Unacceptable
The Hopi Tribe has weighed in against a large hydroelectric proposal that would build four dams on the Little Colorado River. KNAU’s Ryan Heinsius reports. In a letter written to federal officials this week, tribal leaders say the proposal is “simply unacceptable” and would “forever adversely impact Hopi sacred places.” The Grand Canyon is among the tribe’s most culturally significant areas, and leaders oppose any development near the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers. http://bit.ly/2JyG8l7 – KNAU (NPR)

Continuing Coverage: Utah National Parks Will Not Have to Allow Off-Road Vehicles
To cheers from environmentalists and sneers from off-road enthusiasts, the National Park Service reversed direction Friday, announcing that utility terrain vehicles will not be allowed on park roads in Utah after all. http://bit.ly/2BSWX6j – Salt Lake Tribune

Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said the Park Service didn’t have the staffing to enforce the rule that would have required ATVs to stay out of the back country and on designated roads. “ATVs are designed and intended to be driven off road at high speeds, creating a lot of dust and noise,” Bloch said. https://wapo.st/34dTtXW – Washington Post/Associated Press

Travelogue: Parowan Gap Petroglyphs
At the Gap, the rocks soon revealed their secrets. We spent an hour walking on the walkways along the road admiring the myriad petroglyphs on the huge boulders and rocks. Ancient Native Americans created petroglyphs by pecking and scratching the top layer of brown desert varnish. The removed varnish reveals a lighter colored Navajo Sandstone underneath. The more we looked, the more petroglyphs we saw with a huge variety of images. http://bit.ly/34cd4b6 – Lake Powell Chronicle

Job Announcement, Archaeology Southwest, Tucson AZ
Reporting to the President/CEO, the successful Director of Operations will be a hands-on and participative manager supporting the following areas: finance, business planning and budgeting, human resources, administration, and IT. The Director of Operations is a critical member of the senior leadership team in strategic decision-making and operations as Archaeology Southwest continues to enhance its quality programming and build capacity. http://bit.ly/2oQN4mq

Special Event, Huhugam Ki: Museum, Scottsdale AZ
The Huhugam Ki: Museum will celebrate its 32nd anniversary on Saturday, November 2, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Events include a mesquite pancake breakfast, mesquite pod milling, a community garden booth, traditional art demonstrations, tortilla making, and more. Open to the public. 10005 E Osborn Rd., 480-362-6320. http://bit.ly/2osLcjH – Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (opens at Facebook)

Book Release and Presentation with Jonathan Bailey, Tucson AZ
On November 19, at 6:00 p.m., at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd., join author and photographer Jonathan Bailey for an exploration and discussion of Utah’s Molen Reef, following the release of his latest book, Rock Art: A Vision of a Vanishing Cultural Landscape. Through stunning photography and thoughtful research, Jonathan helps highlight ancient and delicate traces from lives lived long ago, as expressed through rock art carvings in some of the Southwest’s most culturally rich—and continually threatened—landscapes. http://bit.ly/2MQkWIp

Lecture Opportunity, El Paso TX
On Saturday, November 9, at 2:00 p.m., the El Paso Museum of Archaeology will welcome Dody Fugate for “Tails of Long Ago.” Fugate’s presentation will share a look at how dogs arrived in the western hemisphere and the relationship between dogs and people in the Southwest. 4301 Transmountain Rd. http://bit.ly/2PATelX – El Paso Museum of Archaeology

Lecture Opportunity, Cortez CO
The Hisatsinom Chapter of the Colorado Archaeology Society is pleased to present Grant Coffey on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. at the Methodist Church, 515 Park Street, to discuss “Designing Social Landscapes in the Central Mesa Verde Region.” Grant will discuss how archaeologists can use spatial analysis of the relationships between public buildings at different spatial scales to identify how the built environment was designed to create a sense of social balance in the Pueblo world. Contact Kari Schleher at 505-269-4475 with questions.

Lecture Opportunity, Taos NM
On Tuesday, November 12, at 7:00 p.m., the Taos Archaeological Society will welcome Paul Reed for “Aztec, Salmon, and the Middle San Juan as a Pueblo Heartland.” The Middle San Juan region of northwestern New Mexico is often misunderstood regarding its Puebloan history. Reed will highlight the special nature of the ancient Puebloan use of the Middle San Juan region, and he will also provide a brief update on our coalition’s efforts to protect the Greater Chaco Landscape from oil-gas development. https://taosarch.wildapricot.org/

Lecture Opportunity, Cave Creek AZ
On Wednesday, November 13, at 7:00 p.m., the Desert Foothills Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society will welcome Mark Hackbarth for “Recent Archaeological Investigations in the Foothills.” Three recent excavation projects near Cave Creek have identified small Classic, Sedentary, and earlier sites spanning a timeframe from AD 1–1250. All three project areas were used to process plant resources but only one included temporary shelters. The different artifact and feature assemblages provide information about prehistoric adaptations to seemingly barren landscapes. Community Building (Maitland Hall) at The Good Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church, 6502 E. Cave Creek Rd. http://www.azarchsoc.wildapricot.org/desertfoothills

Lecture Opportunity, Flagstaff AZ
On Wednesday, November 13, at 5:30 p.m., Bright Side Bookshop, 18 N. San Francisco St., will welcome R. E. Burrillo for a presentation on “The Anthropology of Paleontology: A Quick Look at Native American Depictions of the Fossil Record in the Grand Staircase-Escalante Region and Beyond.” http://bit.ly/2JvIQb4 – Bright Side Bookshop (opens at Facebook)

Editors’ note: Burrillo is the guest editor of the latest edition of Archaeology Southwest Magazine on greater Grand Staircase-Escalante, which will be sold by the bookstore.

Lecture Opportunity, Tucson AZ
On Saturday, November 16, at 2:00 p.m., the Arizona State Museum will welcome John Fryar and Garry Cantley for “Looting and the Law: Preventing, Detecting, and Investigating Archaeological Resource Crime.” Treasure hunting, tomb raiding, forgeries, and museum heists are the stuff of action movies. In real life, these types of crimes make up the world’s third most lucrative trafficking industry behind drugs and weapons. The U.S. Southwest, with its abundant, well-preserved archaeological sites, is a huge draw for criminals who are either working for themselves or for black-market syndicates. The good news is, there are those who work every day to prevent, detect, and investigate crimes against archaeology. Center for English as a Second Language 103, 1100 E. James E. Rogers Way. http://bit.ly/2Pv1SlD – Arizona State Museum

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