Dear Friends,
From time to time I receive comments from readers who feel there is too much political content in my notes or in the articles we share.
I read every comment I receive. And I respectfully consider the message that is being delivered.
My goal, when I get “political,” is to advance Archaeology Southwest’s advocacy goals.
Advocacy is a core element of Archaeology Southwest’s mission.
We protect heritage places. We seek better protections for public lands—which are the ancestral lands of Indigenous peoples. We do our best to include Indigenous voices and perspectives in our work and in the information we share. We also consider what archaeology could and should be.
Nonprofits can’t expend dollars to support candidates for public office, and we can’t endorse—either directly or indirectly—political candidates. That is illegal.
We can (and must) advocate for laws and policies.
That is how major issues like establishing national conservation areas or addressing climate change or changing an entire discipline get accomplished.
Thanks for your time and attention every week. We do appreciate it. And please keep in touch.
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
Banner image: R.E. Burrillo
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Celebrates 25 Years of Learning from the Land
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) celebrates its 25th anniversary as the first national monument managed by the Bureau of Land Management on Sept. 18, 2021. In 1996, the Presidential Proclamation 6920 helped ensure 1.9 million acres would remain an ecological, scientific and cultural “living laboratory” and “working landscape” national monument located in south-central Utah, within the Colorado Plateau geographic region, where public lands are managed by the BLM, the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. Bureau of Land Management | Read More >>
Learn more from our friends at Grand Staircase Escalante Partners >>
Conservation Lands Foundation Announces Partnership with The Public Lands Fund
Through a partnership with the Public Lands Fund, we are able to provide more grant funding to our Friends Grassroots Network and support the work of our local Network members to save places in the National Conservation Lands and build a strong, diverse, and inclusive public lands constituency. We also look forward to getting out to Bears Ears National Monument and some of our priority landscapes with members of the Public Lands staff. Conservation Lands Foundation | Read More >>
Commentary: Reform Oil and Gas Policies for Public Lands
Unfortunately, outdated policies prioritize oil and gas development over other public land uses. Spurred by antiquated federal leasing policies—some of which are over a century old—recent energy development proposals threaten the landscapes Americans from all walks of life cherish. Matt Kirby and Steve Kandell in The Hill | Read More >>
Internship Opportunity: Student Trainees (Archeology)
Explore a new career with the BLM—where our people are our greatest natural resource. BLM Pathways Programs provide opportunities for students and recent graduates to be considered for federal employment. Bureau of Land Management (Utah) Pathways Program | Learn More >>
Sept. 25 Bradfield Campground Cleanup, Cahone CO
On National Public Lands Day, pitch in with the Bureau of Land Management’s Tres Rios Field Office, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Canyon of the Ancients Visitor Center & Museum | Learn More >>
Podcast: The Science Behind Leave No Trace
“Leave No Trace” is not a new concept for most outdoor enthusiasts but the LNT recommendations for engaging with the outdoors are always updating as new learnings evolve. We talk with Ben Lawhon, the head of LNT’s research team about the science behind the curriculum of LNT. Science Moab | Listen Now >>
Osage Nation Devastated by Auction Sale of Sacred Cave
A Missouri cave considered to be the most important rock art site in North America was sold at auction on Tuesday to a private buyer, devastating leaders of the Osage Nation tribe who had hoped to buy the cave to “protect and preserve our most sacred site.” The buyer, who remained anonymous, agreed to purchase what is known to historians as the Picture Cave, along with 43 acres of hilly surrounding land, for $2.2 million, outbidding tribal representatives who were present at the auction. Isabella Grullón Paz in the New York Times | Read More >>
Destination: Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park
The ruins here are more famously synonymous with neighboring Mesa Verde National Park, widely regarded as America’s richest archaeological preserve. The tribal park, more than double in size at 125,000 acres, has been called “the other Mesa Verde.” The crow seamlessly flies from the national park to the western boundary, where the rugged roads are only for tribal members to drive, sometimes with paying guests in tow. Says Ernest House, Ute Mountain Ute member and former executive director for the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs: “I often tell people it’s the best-kept secret in Colorado.” Seth Boster in the Colorado Springs Gazette | Read More >>
Video: Indigenizing the Academies
Dr. Joseph Aguilar presents “Indigenizing the Academies: Asserting Indigenous Thought and Practice in Archaeology and Museums.” Dr. Aguilar is an enrolled member of San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, and is also the pueblo’s Deputy Tribal Historic Preservation Officer. UNM Anthropology | Watch Now >>
Podcast: Redefining Tribal Archaeology
In this episode, Jessica Yaquinto interviews Dr. Martina Dawley, Senior Archaeologist with the Hualapai Nation’s Department of Cultural Resources (HDCR) in Peach Springs, Arizona. First, we discuss her early work in CRM in the 80s and 90s and the empowerment of getting her degrees in American Indian Studies. She also discusses the challenges of working in a museum setting and how museums and other organizations can work to be more inclusive. Finally, we look at what the job of a tribal archaeologist is really like and how she collaborates with the cultural advisory team and elders on the Hualapai Nation. Heritage Voices | Listen Now >>
Podcast: Three Native Women on Living in and around the Grand Canyon
Havasupai, Hopi, Hualapai, and many other native tribes have been living in and around the Grand Canyon for time immemorial. For most of their lives, the threat of uranium mining or Disneyland-like tourist attractions [was] absent…until now. On this episode, we hear from three Native women who have spent their lives in and around The Grand Canyon, about their knowledge of this area, their work to protect the land today, and what they hope for the Grand Canyon’s future. Parks. | Listen Now >>
Blog: This Old House Group
At Big Tex, we see both larger structures with features like prepared floors, adobe walls, and hearths—interpreted as houses people lived in—and smaller, more ephemeral pit structures that may have been used for storage. These cluster within house rings, with “storage” structures placed between or behind relatively evenly spaced residences. Groupings of residences and storage structures within the ring may belong to individual nuclear families. Erina Gruner at the Field Journal (Desert Archaeology, Inc.) | Read More >>
Reminder: Sept. 23 Webinar: K’uuyemugeh as a Center Place
With Scott Ortman. Pueblo people today often refer to their home village as their center place, and this concept is also routinely applied to ancestral sites. What does a center place look like from an archaeological perspective? In this talk, Dr. Ortman combines Tewa traditional knowledge and archaeological evidence to illustrate all of the ways in which the ancestral Pojoaque village of K’uuyemugeh was a center place for the people who lived there between the era of Tewa origins and the era of Spanish colonization. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
Sept. 24 Streaming Event: Perspectives from a Hopi Archaeologist
An interview about Hopi perspectives in cultural landscapes and protection of ancestral sites with Indigenous archaeologist Lyle Balenquah. Live Q & A to follow. Moab Festival of Science (Science Moab) | Learn More >>
Reminder: Sept. 25 Webinar: Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) can provide models for a time-tested form of sustainability in the world today. Dr. Melissa K. Nelson, co-editor of the book Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Learning from Indigenous Practices for Environmental Sustainability, worked with a team of scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, to explore TEK through compelling cases of environmental sustainability from multiple tribal and geographic locations in North America and beyond. Amerind Museum and Arizona G&T Cooperatives | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
Sept. 30 Webinar: Ask an Archaeologist
Hosted by Dr. Liz Perry, Chief Executive Officer; Dr. Jonathan Dombrosky, Postdoctoral Scholar; Dr. Benjamin Bellorado, Laboratory Director; Dr. Kelsey Reese, Research Associate; and Tim Wilcox, Research Associate. This is your opportunity to ask five Crow Canyon staff members and research associates any questions you have about archaeology, anthropology, and southwestern cultures! Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
See you next week! Remember to send us notice of upcoming webinars and Zoom lectures, and anything else you want to share.