Dear Friends,
I am in Albuquerque this week, attending the Conservation Lands Foundation’s 2022 Summit. Skylar Begay, Ashleigh Thompson, and I drove up from Tucson on Monday, had a couple of meetings in Albuquerque on Tuesday, and enjoyed the conference opening last night.
This is a significant convening of more than 80 diverse nonprofit organizations who are promoting respect for and protection of America’s National Conservation Lands. We are proud to be included in this impressive gathering.
We’ve been working with CLF for more than eight years. Their biennial gatherings are always inspirational, empowering, and, well, fun. There’s much to accomplish, and the three of us are looking forward to our immersion in this group of creative thinkers and doers.
Until next week,
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
P.S. Thanks for the reading recommendations!
Banner image: Lees Ferry, circa 1910. Courtesy of NPS
Glen Canyon Sites Re-emerge
“There have been some past managers at Glen Canyon that have just assumed that all archaeological sites that were inundated were destroyed,” says Kim Spurr, archaeologist with the Museum of Northern Arizona. “And we decided to go look and see what we found.” What they found surprised her. At least a quarter of the sites documented in the Glen Canyon Project still exist and are on dry land again. For archaeologists like Spurr, it’s a second chance to study the area’s complex cultural history. Melissa Sevigny for KNAU (NPR) | Read More and Listen Now >>
Homol’ovi Turquoise
Tracing the movement of turquoise indicates long-distance trade networks that existed between Homol’ovi and communities hundreds of miles away. For Hopi people, this research underscores the appreciation their ancestors held for this blue-green stone: A symbol of sky and water, carried across the dry, desert landscapes of Hopi Tutskwa, the Ancestral Hopi homelands. Lyle Balenquah at KNAU (NPR) | Read More and Listen Now >>
I wrote this for a couple reasons, one being that I have strong interest in turquoise and jewelry made from/with turquoise. But in truth, I really wrote this in honor of a good friend and colleague, Dr. Saul Hedquist. Saul also had a deep interest in turquoise and focused much of his research on the geo-chemical sourcing of turquoise found at ancestral sites, including Homol’ovi. The story you hear is based directly from Saul’s research. Lyle Balenquah at From the Earth Studio | Learn More >>
Interpreting the Past at the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park
One of our archaeological treasures in the Four Corners is Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park. All visitors must be accompanied by an official Native guide and one of the best is Rickey Hayes, who knows his sites and coaxes stories from stones. The park itself was the vision of Chief Jack House whose Weminuche band of Utes moved to the far western side of the Southern Ute Reservation rather than have their land allotted. “Chief Ignacio said NO. This land belongs to all of us and most importantly for your children and grandchildren,” Hayes said. “Take care of it. Make it better. Honor your mother and father and elders.” Andrew Gulliford in the Durango Herald | Read More >>
Photo Essay: The Comcáac
While documenting the work of the N.G.O., I became close with the Seri women, eventually promising them that, when I could, and when they were back in Mexico, I would visit them to help share their stories. Several months later, in 2017, I was finally able to fulfill my promise. The Seri people live in a stark and unforgiving—and intensely biodiverse—corner of the Sonoran Desert, in northwestern Mexico. Most of its members live either in Punta Chueca or in the nearby coastal village of El Desemboque, some 40 miles to the north. Traditionally, their communal homeland also included Tiburón Island, where certain bands of Seri lived for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Núria López Torres in the New York Times | Read More >>
Rappahannock Tribe Reacquires Portion of Ancestral Homeland
On Friday, the Rappahannock Tribe celebrated a historic win: the reacquisition of 465 acres of their ancestral homeland at Fones Cliffs, a sacred stretch of bluffs on the eastern side of the Rappahannock River in eastern Virginia. “We have worked for many years to restore this sacred place to the Tribe. With eagles being prayer messengers, this area where they gather has always been a place of natural, cultural and spiritual importance,” Rappahannock Chief Anne Richardson said. The federally recognized Rappahannock Tribe can trace its history in the area to before the 1600s, when English explorer John Smith arrived on their shores. The tribe lived in at least three villages on the Cliffs—Wecuppom, Matchopick and Pissacoac—before being chased away some 350 years ago. Jenna Kunze at Native News Online | Read More >>
First Volume of US Indian Boarding School Report Released
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland today released Volume 1 of the investigative report called for as part of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, a comprehensive effort to address the troubled legacy of federal Indian boarding school policies. This report lays the groundwork for the continued work of the Interior Department to address the intergenerational trauma created by historical federal Indian boarding school policies. … The investigation identified marked or unmarked burial sites at approximately 53 different schools across the school system. As the investigation continues, the Department expects the number of identified burial sites to increase. US Department of the Interior (press release) | Read More >>
Curated: SAPIENS Editor-in-Chief Chip Colwell’s Five Podcast Episode Recommendations
In the months following George Floyd’s murder, the magazine and podcast I work on, SAPIENS, started a collaboration with the Society of Black Archaeologists and the Indigenous Archaeology Collective. This work culminated in a special season of SAPIENS, which tells the stories of a new generation of Black and Indigenous archaeologists who are changing the way we think about history—and our future. During this effort, we learned that so many podcasters are part of a movement to rewrite and reimagine the events and people who made us who we are! EarBuds Podcast Collective | Learn More by Listening Now >>
Blog: Lower Gila Topophilia
Surveying Texas Hill has been a challenge, physically and logistically. How do you systematically survey a massive conical landform? Archaeological surveys usually employ transects to cover block-shaped regions, where surveyors space off a given distance and walk a straight line, usually in a cardinal direction or along a defined azimuth, and walk from one edge of the block to another. Although great for plains, valleys, and rolling hills, that kind of approach doesn’t work so well for landscapes with extreme relief, such as mountains and steep-sided hills. I thought about this logistical problem for a few weeks leading up to the project. Having done this a couple of times now, I’ve settled on what I call the “wedge method.” Aaron Wright at the Preservation Archaeology blog (Archaeology Southwest) | Read More >>
ICYMI: Protecting Chaco’s 10-Mile Zone
Our friends at Archaeology Southwest just released a new film, “Protecting Chaco’s 10-Mile Zone,” that illustrates the urgent need to protect the Greater Chaco Landscape and its cultural resources from encroaching oil and gas development in northwest New Mexico. Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a World Heritage site that is thought to be the center of what was once a hub of Indigenous civilization and the ancestral home of both Pueblo and Navajo peoples. The area holds deep cultural and spiritual significance for many Tribal nations to this day. Road to 30 (Center for Western Priorities) | Learn More by Watching Now >>
Publication Announcement: A Collaborative Agenda for Archaeology and Fire Science
Snitker, G., Roos, C.I., Sullivan, A.P. et al. A collaborative agenda for archaeology and fire science. Nature Ecology & Evolution (2022). >>
Latest News from Old Pueblo Archaeology Center (Tucson AZ)
This newsletter edition, number 87, features an article by Dr. Suzanne Eckert, Head of Collections, Arizona State Museum: “More than Meets the Eye: Slip, Paint, and Color Horizons on Ancestral Pueblo Pottery.” Old Pueblo Archaeology Center | Read More (opens as a PDF) >>
May Subscription Lectures (In-Person, Santa Fe)
May 23, Linda A. Brown, Dream Bundles: Cultural Preservation & Contemporary Maya Ritual Practitioners. May 30, Steven H. Lekson, Azteques, Cliff-Dwellers, Anasazi, Ancestral Pueblo…What’s in a Name? Southwest Seminars | Learn More >>
REMINDER: May 19 Webinar: The Elk Ridge Community in the Mimbres Pueblo World
With Barbara J. Roth. Elk Ridge was the largest pueblo in the northern portion of the Mimbres River valley during the Classic Mimbres period (1000–1130 CE). Recent excavations at the site combined with survey data indicate that it was part of a thriving community with social ties to other nearby pueblos and likely served as the ritual and perhaps economic hub for these smaller pueblos. In this presentation, Dr. Roth will discuss data from fieldwork she directed at Elk Ridge and surrounding sites and will explore how and why Elk Ridge played such a prominent role in this portion of the Mimbres River Valley. Third Thursday Food for Thought (Old Pueblo Archaeology Center) | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
REMINDER: May 19 Webinar: The Point Great House
With Linda Wheelbarger. The Point Great House sits on an isolated terrace directly above the San Juan River and at the base of the Shannon Bluffs overlooking the city of Farmington with La Plata Mountains in the distance. The site is on property owned by B-Square Ranch owner and manager Tommy Bolack. San Juan College archaeological field school excavations have been conducted at the site since 2006. Those efforts have revealed occupation dating to the entire sequence of Ancestral Puebloan occupation of the Four Corners. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, Four Corners Lecture Series, and Colorado Archaeological Society, Hisatsinom Chapter | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
May 21 Webinar: Macaws and Parrots in the Ancient Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico
With Pat Gilman, Steve Plog, and Christopher W. Schwartz. Although these birds have been noted and marveled at through the decades, new syntheses of early excavations, new analytical methods, and new approaches to understanding the past now allow us to explore the significance and distribution of scarlet macaws to a degree that was previously impossible. Three leading experts explore what we currently know about the scarlet macaws from archaeological sites in the SW/NW. Amerind Museum | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
May 23 Webinar: Millennium on the Meridian
8:00 p.m. EDT. In 1999, Stephen H. Lekson published a study linking the sequential southwestern capitals of Chaco Canyon (850-1125 CE), Aztec Ruins (1110-1280), and Paquimé (Casas Grandes, 1250-1450) along a north-south alignment, the “Chaco Meridian.” He concludes that the Chaco capital moved north to Aztec, then to Paquimé. Subsequent research extends the importance of the Meridian back to 500 CE and forward to 1600 CE. During that 1100-year span, clearly the largest and more important sites were located on or very near that north-south line. What does that mean? In 2015, Lekson published an expanded “Chaco Meridian” that attempted to answer that question. But just what do these large-scale distributions mean? What are we to make of pottery styles that became common over large portions of three states? How do we understand large-scale distributions of more esoteric items, like Hohokam ballcourts? Tune in for Lekson’s answers. The Aztlander | Zoom Link >>
May 26 Webinar: The Central Arizona Project and the Taking of Diné (Navajo) Resources
Using archival documents, this presentation accounts for the colonial politics necessary to bring Colorado River water into Phoenix and Tucson. It highlights how the following moments worked to enlarge Arizona’s population and power while denying Diné water claims: the 1922 Colorado Compact, Arizona’s 1960s campaign for the Central Arizona Project, and recent Indian water settlements between Arizona and Navajo Nation. The infrastructures that emerged from these events formed a coal–energy– water nexus reliant on Navajo coal while constructing Arizona’s water network. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
REMINDER: May 28 Grand Opening: Kids’ Adventure Room (Camp Verde AZ)
We are very excited to reveal our newest addition to VVAC, the Kid’s Adventure Room! Admission will be free for parents and their children. Activities include an augmented reality archaeological sandbox, face painting, meeting live Scarlet Macaws, pottery painting, and more. Verde Valley Archaeological Center | Learn More >>
Remember to send us notice of upcoming webinars and Zoom lectures, tours and workshops, and anything else you’d like to share with the friends.