Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act Passes House

Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act Passes House
A bill to establish a permanent 10-mile buffer around Chaco Canyon to protect it from oil and gas extraction activity passed the U.S. House on Wednesday with bipartisan support. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland and Xochitl Torres Small, would prohibit oil and gas activity on nearly 500 square miles of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) held land surrounding the Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The bill passed 245-174, with all Democrats in the House voting in favor of the legislation, along with 17 Republicans. The legislation would withdraw BLM-held land within the 10-mile buffer around the Chaco Canyon park from future oil and gas development, but would not prevent the Navajo Nation or individuals with allotments in the buffer zone from pursuing energy development. http://bit.ly/2JTnJ2x – NM Political Report

Senate to Take up Bill
“Chaco is more than just a historic city with buildings and roads,” U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said in a press call after the U.S. House passed legislation intended to protect the culture and heritage of the region. “It’s a living cultural landscape that is still very much in use today.” He and fellow New Mexico Democrat Tom Udall vowed to continue to work for permanent protections for the area. Udall said Chaco “should not be under constant threat,” citing past efforts by the Bureau of Land Management to open up the area to new oil and gas leasing. “Only a fraction of the artifacts are protected by the National Park Service,” the senator said. http://bit.ly/2Cj6unm – Albuquerque Journal

Audio: Senator Heinrich on the Chaco Protection Legislation
KSFR News Director Tom Trowbridge brings you the latest input from Senator Martin Heinrich. The U.S. House of Representatives voted Wednesday to permanently prohibit oil and gas drilling on federal land within a 10-mile radius of Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico. Congressman Lujan and several of his New Mexico Senate and House colleagues discussed the measure with reporters via a conference call Thursday. http://bit.ly/2NHMaRK – KSFR (Santa Fe Public Radio)

Commentary: It Will Be a Fight
Protecting Chaco—despite the show of support from the House—will be a fight. The bill’s main sponsor, Representative Ben Ray Luján, is committed to the uphill battle. “We do need a vote out of the Senate,” Luján told me by phone, the day before the House vote. “We need to sign into law to make sure that we are able to protect Chaco in perpetuity, for the Pueblo people and the Navajo people and the significance of what it means to us, not just in New Mexico or America, but the significant site that it is even globally.” http://bit.ly/32juOzS – The New Republic

Audio: Utah Public Radio Interview with Archaeologist Bill Lipe
Bill Lipe is professor emeritus of anthropology at Washington State University. He has spent much of his more than 50 year career in Utah archaeology beginning with the archaeological salvage of Glen Canyon before the dam construction and on into Cedar Mesa where he became a leading scholar in the early Basketmaker agricultural societies of southeastern Utah. Dr. Lipe began his work at a time when there was little federal legislation protecting archaeology or guiding preservation efforts. Because of his involvement in CRM and his work in Cedar Mesa, he remains one of archaeology’s main voices in the Bears Ears controversy. http://bit.ly/2rafzMK – UPR

Continuing Coverage: Unusual and Important Preservation Project at Aztec Ruins National Monument
Most visitors here admire the remnants of a lost civilization. Fred Blackburn studies the graffiti. “There’s some good stuff here, Fred,” Zoe Matney, an assistant, called to Mr. Blackburn one afternoon in early October from atop scaffolding in a 900-year-old room. She wiped away dust to reveal a signature on a wooden ceiling beam. Mr. Blackburn specializes in a relatively new field, studying what he calls “historic inscriptions” and others might label old-time graffiti. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, settlers scrawled names, dates and messages at Native American ruins and other sites across the American West. https://on.wsj.com/2WPAfFO – Wall Street Journal

School for Advanced Research Launches eMuseum
Today we officially launch our eMuseum, a public online collection of the IARC’s [Indian Arts Research Center] remarkable assemblages of Southwestern Native American art. The database includes several collection sets reflecting both historic and more recent works as well as artistic contributions to the collections by our ongoing Native American artist fellow program. Our eMuseum is especially unique because it reflects SAR’s decades-long commitment to collaborative documentation work with Indigenous communities. EMuseum visitors can view the results of this work in action by browsing through “tribal collection review remarks” section of each object in the Zuni materials collection. We are honored to share this important resource with you: https://emuseum.sarsf.org

Public Class on Colorado Archaeology, Fort Lewis College, Durango CO
Assistant State Archaeologist Becca Simon will teach a class on Colorado Archaeology from Nov. 22 through Nov. 24 at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College. This 20-hour course is part of the Program for Avocational Archaeological Certification, and is open to the public. No prior classes are required. For more information, visit www.historycolorado.org/paac. http://bit.ly/36G2YkH – The Journal

Lecture Opportunity, Tucson AZ
On Thursday, November 7, the Tucson chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America will welcome John Senseney for a presentation on “Classical Architectural Modeling and the Origin of the Parthenon Frieze.” The talk will be held at 5:00 p.m. in Harvill 204, 1103 E 2nd St., on the University of Arizona campus. http://bit.ly/2qmH7yj – AIA Tucson

Lecture Opportunity, Durango CO
The public is invited to the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, November 13, at Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College. Dr. Randy McGuire will present “Building an International Archaeology in Sonora, Mexico.” There will be a social at 6:30 p.m. preceding the talk. For more information, visit www.sjbas.org. http://bit.ly/2pyYcFb – The Journal

Lecture Opportunity, Winslow AZ
The Homolovi Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society welcomes Richard Jenkinson on Wednesday, November 13, with “Rock Art of the Dinetah: Stories of Heroes and Healing” which will consider the Navajo rock art in the Largo Canyon area in relation to Navajo mythology and ceremonies. Richard will delineate these connections and tell a few stories along the way. The meeting is at 7:00 p.m. at the Winslow Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center (Historic Lorenzo Hubbell Trading Post), 523 W. Second St. in Winslow; talks are free to the public.

Lecture Opportunity, Santa Fe NM
The Santa Fe Archaeological Society is pleased to announce that Mike Bremer, Santa Fe National Forest Archaeologist, will be making a presentation “Since Time Immemorial: Peopling of the Santa Fe National Forest.” Pecos Trail Cafe (back room) 2239 Old Pecos Trail, 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, November 19.

Reed 11/12/19 Lecture in Taos to Be Rescheduled
Paul Reed’s presentation to the Taos Archaeological Society, previously set for November 12, is being rescheduled. We’ll let you know the new date when it has been set.

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

Editors’ note: Burrillo is the guest editor of the most recent edition of Archaeology Southwest Magazine, “Enigmatic and Endangered: Cultural and Natural Wonders of Greater Grand Staircase-Escalante,” produced with the help of Grand Staircase Escalante Partners and the Conservation Lands Foundation.

REMINDER: 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

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