Dear Friends,
I like to maintain a balance in my life.
Last week I endured six days of cool ocean breezes in San Diego. When you read this, I will be driving west from Tucson.
Balance will be achieved via two days in Las Vegas and one in Yuma…
Our current, unexpectedly generous monsoon may suppress some of the dry heat that would normally be roasting those two destinations. Perhaps balance will be harder to achieve than I had hoped?
Stay balanced,
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
P.S. Thanks for trusting us to help you reach more people in our shared community of friends. Please submit news, events, video and podcast links, publication announcements, and other resources to this link for consideration. It makes it so much easier for us to bring you this news digest every week. Questions?
Banner image: Montezuma Castle, courtesy of the National Park Service and Sharlot Hart
Continuing Coverage: Unauthorized Drilling at Petroglyph Site
A Caltech professor who outraged Native American tribes by drilling holes in an ancient petroglyph site while doing research without a permit near Bishop, Calif., has issued a public apology, saying he was “horrified” by what he had done. … But even as [professor Joseph] Kirschvink and officials at Caltech seek to make amends for damage caused at a protected archaeological site, a growing number of Indigenous groups and academics say more needs to be done to protect cultural resources from unfettered scientific inquiry. Louis Sahagún in the Los Angeles Times | Read More >>
The Bureau of Land Management should impose much stiffer penalties for the transgressions it is able to confirm. And professors and students should not be able to profit from breaking the law; studies based on illegally obtained samples and objects should be barred from publication in journals, as they are in the field of archaeology, said Linea Sundstrom, co-chair of the nonprofit American Rock Art Research Assn.’s conservation and preservation committee. Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times | Read More >>
Interior Will Consult on Major Changes to NAGPRA
“Changes to NAGPRA regulations are long overdue,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said. “It is crucial that as we consider changes, we consult with Tribes and Native Hawaiian communities at each step. I’m hopeful this process will eliminate unnecessary burdens to the repatriation process and allow Indigenous peoples greater access to their ancestors’ remains and sacred items.” Andrew Kennard at Native News Online | Read More >>
Continuing Coverage: The Red Road to D.C.
“We’re just sending off the carvers and their entourage with lots of food for the road – our hopes, our prayers,” said Ahjani Yepa, Jemez Pueblo, the co-founder of Women of Bears Ears. “As women, we put our prayer into our food when we cook,” she said. … “We’re making sure we’re praying for our landscape,” she said, “but also all of the landscape that is connecting this journey.” Krista Allen in the Navajo Times | Read More >>
Commentary: Building Back Better with Tribal Nations
As we emerge from the dark days of the pandemic, I hope that America’s rebuilding efforts include the wisdom and resilience of tribal nations. For the first time in our modern history, America is talking about its Indigenous citizens. Hilary C. Tompkins in Indian Country Today | Read More >>
Lloyd Masayumptewa Appointed Superintendent of Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot
Masayumptewa is Hopi from the third mesa village of Orayvi, “Old Oraibi,” and is of the Water-Coyote clan. … Masayumptewa has plans to grow the interpretive programs at both parks and change the way the stories of the lands are told, and how the tribes that came from the Sinagua are connected. “I think in dealing with the Hopi tribe, in particular, and how stories and the connections should be told is one of the things that we’ve kind of struggled with,” he said. Mikayla Blair in the Red Rock News | Read More >>
Continuing Coverage: Developer Requests Cancellation of Two of Its Little Colorado Dam Proposals
Good news! After two years of tireless advocacy led by the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, and Hualapai Tribe, a would-be hydroelectric dam developer has requested the cancellation of two preliminary permits for dams on the lower Little Colorado River above the confluence with the Colorado River inside the Grand Canyon. Amanda Podmore at the blog of the Grand Canyon Trust | Read More >>
Audio: Arizonans Speak Up for the Grand Canyon
Arizonans are speaking up to protect the Grand Canyon and the surrounding region from uranium mining. In a series of 60-second radio testimonials, individual Arizonans say why the Grand Canyon is important to them and call for its protection. The Wilderness Society | Listen Now >>
Palatki Heritage Site Reopens—UPDATE: CLOSED AGAIN DUE TO ROAD DAMAGE
The Palatki Heritage Site in Sedona, reopened to the public July 20. The Palatki Heritage Site includes the Sinagua Dwelling and rock art from various cultures dating back to the Archaic Period. Guides will be available on site to answer visitor questions. Site hours will be 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week. Reservations will be required and can be made by calling (928) 282-3854. Navajo-Hopi Observer | Learn More >>
REMINDER: July 29 Webinar: Ute Rock Art in Southeast Utah: Identity and Land Use in a Rapidly Changing West
With Shanna Diedrichs. Highly adapted to the rugged landscape of the inter-mountain West, the Ute people have lived in southeast Utah for at least six centuries. Petroglyphs left in the canyons and mountains of the region speak to deeply rooted Ute beliefs and how the settling of the West affected Ute personal lives, social responsibilities, land use, economy, and relationship with other native groups. With little other cultural material left behind by the Utes, these images are an extraordinary record of their historical experience in southeast Utah and their adaptability in a rapidly changing West. Bureau of Land Management, Monticello Field Office and Bears Ears National Monument, in partnership with Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
Aug. 12 Webinar: The Utes—Colorado’s Forgotten People
The Ute Tribes have a rich history of adaptation in a region that could otherwise be harsh. They have a timeless culture and relationship to what we call Colorado and today’s Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Tribal communities. Join Ernest House, Jr., Senior Policy Director for the Keystone Policy Center and former executive director of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, as he draws connections between the past and contemporary life of Colorado’s oldest continuous residents. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
Now Open Access: Migration, Skill, and the Transformation of Social Networks
Migration, skill, and the transformation of social networks in the pre-Hispanic Southwest, by Barbara J. Mills, Jeffery J. Clark, and Matthew A. Peeples. Economic Anthropology 3 (2): 203–215 (2016). Open Anthropology 9 (2) | Download Now >>
Podcast: Mesa Verde Voices Season 4
In season 4, we’re digging into some of the most commonly asked questions at Mesa Verde National Park. Five episodes: “The First Migrations”; “The Largest Villages”; “Why Move into the Cliffs?”; “What Is Rock Art?”; and “Where Did They Go?” Mesa Verde Voices | Listen Now >>
Podcast: Methods in Indigenous Archaeology
On today’s podcast we have Carlton Shield Chief Gover back on the show. We talk about the three podcasts he hosts and an upcoming volume on Indigenous Archaeology methods he is co-authoring with some of your favorite past Heritage Voices guests. He also talks about his efforts in work showing that Indigenous people in the US had horses before the historical records acknowledge and his recent work conducting interviews with elders on the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma. Finally we talk about museum accessibility and collaborations. Heritage Voices | Listen Now >>
Blog: The Ancestral Native American Past in Downtown Tucson
Hidden beneath the streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and buildings of downtown Tucson are traces of our community’s Ancestral Native American past. Archaeological fieldwork since 1943 has gradually uncovered evidence that the terrace on the east side of the Santa Cruz River floodplain has been occupied for thousands of years. Homer Thiel in Field Journal (Desert Archaeology, Inc.) | Read More >>
Excerpt: Anthropology Intelligence
…[A]nthropology is an intellectual framework that enables you to see around corners, spot what is hidden in plain sight, and gain empathy for others and fresh insight on problems. This framework is needed more than ever now as we grapple with climate change, pandemics, racism, social media run amok, artificial intelligence, financial turmoil, and political conflict. Gillian Tett at SAPIENS | Read More >>
Job Opportunity: Phoenix Field Crew
Desert Archaeology is seeking archaeological technicians for excavations at the site of La Ciudad, just east of downtown Phoenix The excavations provide a unique opportunity to investigate the core of one of the largest Hohokam sites in the Phoenix Basin. Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Learn More (scroll down) >>
Take care, and see you next week!