Dear Friends,
My COVID has been dispatched! I’m back at work. Thanks to the many who sent kind words of support.
Friday is the day that the cyberSW team and the Tribal Working Group await with anticipation. Applications for the Native American Fellow are due. Although there is still a bit of time for a last-minute question, the time to press “send” and submit your application is upon you. Just do it!
We truly do look forward to reviewing some highly creative applications. See our first item below for more information.
Another current news item is also a reminder of the importance of that final step—submitting an application. Yesterday the National Trust for Historic Places shared its 2023 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. In late 2021, Camp Naco applied, and just one year ago, Camp Naco appeared on the 11 Most Endangered List. Subsequently, Camp Naco received two major grants totaling $8.1 million. And now the City of Bisbee and the Naco Heritage Alliance are hard at work planning for building restoration and establishment of community-based programming.
You can read about the latest at Camp Naco here, and you can listen to yesterday’s NPR story on the 2023 list at the link below.
Until next week,
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
P.S. Check out this inspiring New York Times photo essay about produce gardeners and small farmers in Arizona »
Time Is Almost Up! Complete Your cyberSW Native American Fellowship Application Today
The deadline is Friday, May 12. Please share this notice with possible candidates. Candidates, check out this webinar and contact Joshua Watts jwatts@archaeologysouthwest.org with any questions. We are looking forward to reading your proposals and welcoming you to the team! cyberSW (Archaeology Southwest) | Complete the application »
New Mexico Delegation Reintroduces Chaco Cultural Heritage Protection Act
Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation are again pushing to make permanent a stop on oil and gas development outside the boundaries of Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The Democrats reintroduced legislation Tuesday that would formalize a 10-mile (16-kilometer) buffer around the park that would span more than 490 square miles (1,269 square kilometers) of federal land. It’s the latest attempt to protect what environmentalists and Native American tribes consider the greater Chaco region, an expansive stretch of northwestern New Mexico that includes locations that are culturally significant to New Mexico pueblos and other tribes. Susan Montoya Bryan for AP | Read more »
Read commentary from Paul Reed and our coalition partners »
Continuing Coverage: Justice Dept. Asks for Dismissal of Utah’s Case to Downsize National Monuments
A bid by Utah officials to see the boundaries of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments shrunk should be dismissed because they have not demonstrated a cause of action for the court to consider nor has the federal government waived its sovereign immunity to allow a lawsuit against it, according to a motion filed by the federal government. The state of Utah and two of its counties went to federal court last August in an effort to overturn the latest boundary change to the two national monuments, arguing that President Biden overreached the authority given him under The Antiquities Act. Last Friday the U.S. Justice Department filed a motion (attached below) to have the lawsuit dismissed, noting in part that the Utah officials failed to show that Congress relinquished its sovereign immunity in the matter and in part because they failed to show they’ve suffered any injuries that would give them standing in the case. Kurt Repanshek for National Parks Traveler | Read more »
Interview with Chuck Sams, Director of the National Park Service
Tribes across the United States have really looked at land management through stewardship eyes. And while there are a number of tribes that were agricultural tribes, every tribe — and every tribe wasn’t necessarily an agricultural tribe — all tribes were horticulturalists, which means they managed the landscape. We at the National Park Service are charged under the Organic Act of 1916 with being the stewards of the flora and fauna, and of, of course, there are memorials and monuments also. But tribes working with them and cooperating with them and co-stewardship and co-management is a great opportunity for the National Park Service to learn from their millennia, years, of understanding of the landscape. Right here in Boston, a great example is, we’re working on Deer Island and figuring out things around climate change and adaptation and resiliency, and working with the Narragansett, Wampanoag and several other tribes to figure out how we can tackle this important issue. Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel for WGBH | Read more or listen now »
Meet Spokespebble, Who Speaks for Our National Conservation Lands
You won’t find a list of rules posted anywhere on America’s National Conservation Lands—so if you want to enjoy them safely and respectfully we’re here to share things you need to know. Led by Conservation Lands Foundation, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management and an array of local and other groups, “Respect. Connect. Protect.” is a campaign to support enthusiastic, respectful and safe visits on National Conservation Lands—places beyond and between national parks. Conservation Lands Foundation | Learn more »
11 Most Endangered Historic Places List for 2023
“The most endangered historic places list looks like America,” Malone-France says. “It tells our layered and interconnected stories. Each site on it, of course, is a powerful place in its own right. But I think there are also common themes, like creativity and entrepreneurship, perseverance, cultural exchange. There are sites that are deeply sacred. All of the sites have multi-generational narratives, and there are sites where descendants are stewarding the legacies of their ancestors. …” Neda Ulaby for NPR | Read more or listen now »
Funding Opportunity: Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area (AZ)
Are you a like-minded organization within our National Heritage Area that is already involved with important projects and programming related to our unique heritage? Do your activities align with those listed in our Management Plan? If so, you could be eligible for up to $50,000 in funding. We look forward to discovering the creative approaches to preserving our resources—whether natural, cultural, or historic—and celebrating the Area’s rich diversity. We encourage all projects to include a public education element to increase heritage awareness and inspire long-term stewardship. Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance | Learn more »
Blog: A Visit to the Great Bend of the Gila
HECHO brought Hispanic Conservation Leadership Council (HCLC) members, Adriana Garcia Maximiliano and Consuelo Hernandez, to the Great Bend of the Gila to experience its natural beauty firsthand and learn about the cultural richness, significance, and legacy, Native Americans, Spaniards, Mexicans, and Euro-Americans left behind. … “This is my first time visiting the Great Bend of the Gila with HECHO. I knew there was history in the area, but seeing the petroglyphs in person and knowing how much history each petroglyph has, has been very impactful to me,” said Consuelo Hernández, HCLC member and Arizona State Representative for District 21 in Tucson, Arizona. Jessica Chavarria for HECHO | Read more »
Publication Announcement: From Frontier to Centre Place
Mills, Barbara J. From Frontier to Centre Place: The Dynamic Trajectory of the Chaco World. Journal of Urban Archaeology 7:215–252. Read now (open access) »
Publication Announcement: Pottery Southwest Journal
The new edition of Pottery Southwest is available online. Featured articles include: Dean Wilson: Two unusual black painted Starkweather Smudged decorated bowls; Linda Wheelbarger and Steven Rospopo: Initial ceramic data from the Point Site along the Middle San Juan River; Hayward Franklin: Early historic Pueblo and Hispanic pottery from the site of Las Casitas Viejas in northern NM. Albuquerque Archaeological Society | Download now (free) »
May Subscription Lectures (Santa Fe NM)
5/15 Dr. Ruben G. Mendoza, War on Heaven: The Aztec Sun Stone; 5/22, Dr. Grant S. McCall, New Perspectives on Southern African Rock Art & Hunter Gatherer Social Systems; 5/29, Dr. Stephen H. Lekson, Chimney Rock: Chaco’s Shining City on the Hill. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »
REMINDER: May 11 In-Person Event (Bluff UT): How Will You Experience the Annual Eclipse?
With Cris White. Sol, our Sun is having a big year this coming year. An annular eclipse is happening on October 14, 2023, followed by a total eclipse on April 8, 2024, and ending with the closest approach of the Parker Solar Probe in December 2024. Join a discussion on these upcoming events, plus the forthcoming PUNCH mission launching in 2025. This event will be culturally sensitive, with no images or artwork of eclipses displayed. 6:00 p.m. at the Bears Ears Education Center, 567 W. Main St. Bears Ears Partnership | Learn more »
REMINDER: May 11 Online Event: NAGPRA Compliance and the Necessary Frictions of (Ir)reconciliation
With Kathy Fine-Dare. Dr. Fine-Dare will examine NAGPRA compliance practices as they have been informed by sets of frictions and contradictions emanating from under-examined tropes of expertise, authenticity, and reconciliation. Drawing examples from her engagement over more than three decades as a NAGPRA scholar, activist, and practitioner, Dr. Fine-Dare will suggest that firmly embedded patterns of institutional resistance to compliance cannot change unless murky and often coercive faux transparencies are better understood through dialogue and analysis that go beyond permitted arenas of engagement. Although people understandably wish to avoid situations of discomfort and anger, Fine-Dare proposes that refusing to accept ideologies and attitudes of “harmony” and “resilience” as sufficient may be quite necessary in realizing the human rights work of NAGPRA. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
May 12 In-Person Event (Bluff UT): Art, Community, Archaeology: 30 Years in Bears Ears
Local legend Joe Paychak will discuss recording rock imagery, archaeology, and how his sculptures bring the community together. 6:00 p.m., Bears Ears Education Center, 567 W. Main St. Bears Ears Partnership | Learn more »
REMINDER: May 15 Online Event: The Legacy of New Deal Programs to Northern AZ and Southwest Archaeology
With Peter J. Pilles Jr. During the 1930s, federal New Deal programs financed and supported a number of archaeological projects in northern Arizona. Within National Parks and Monuments, surveys and excavations were undertaken so that people could see archaeological sites and visitor centers were constructed to display and interpret archaeology for the public. Several major expeditions by the Museum of Northern Arizona were also supported by New Deal programs. This presentation explores the relationship of archaeological research conducted by the Museum with federal New Deal Programs and its enduring legacy to the archaeological profession and the American public. Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | Learn more and register (free) »
REMINDER: May 17 Online Event: First Peoples of Great Salt Lake
With Steve Simms. The story of the Great Salt Lake is long, and full of human history. Join the person who wrote the book on prehistoric Utah in this webinar! This is a story of more than 700 generations of Indigenous Americans in a cultural landscape centered on, but also much larger than, the Great Salt Lake. The story challenges the Pristine Myth, the cultural bias that Indigenous peoples were timeless, changeless children of Nature. This presentation tempers some of archaeology’s received wisdoms about ancient Native American history. It is story is far deeper in time than any modern genealogy can trace. Utah State Historic Preservation Office | Learn more and register (free) »
May 24 Online Event: Resiliency in Historic Helper
With Mayor Lenise Peterman. Who better to explore historic Helper, Utah with than the Mayor? Mayor Peterman has been hard at work revitalizing Helper, find out how! Helper, a small rural town in southeastern Utah, has utilized a number of tools to revitalize its historic Main Street and the surrounding area. Tools include change management, community involvement and creative funding strategies to restore pride in a town in decline due to the single economic driver of coal. Get a glimpse of how meaningful change occurred while maintaining historic integrity to build a better future. Utah State Historic Preservation Office | Learn more and register (free) »
June 3 Online Event: Origins of Maya Civilization
With Takeshi Inomata. The talk will discuss recent findings from the site of Aguada Fénix, Mexico, which was discovered in 2018. Its central platform, which measures 1400 x 400 m horizontally and 10-15 m in height and was built around 1000 BC, is the largest and oldest monumental building in the Maya area. The results of investigations at this site are changing our understanding of how the Maya civilization and surrounding societies developed. Amerind | Learn more and register (free) »
Video Channel Roundup
Find out which webinars and videos you missed and get caught up at the YouTube channels of our Partners and Friends. (And please do let us know if your channel isn’t in this list but should be!)
Amerind Foundation
Archaeology Southwest
Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society
Arizona State Museum
Aztlander
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Grand Canyon Trust
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners
Mesa Prieta Petroglyphs Project
Mission Garden (Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace)
Museum of Indian Arts and Cultures
Museum of Northern Arizona
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center
San Diego Archaeological Center
School for Advanced Research
The Archaeological Conservancy
Verde Valley Archaeology Center
Our friends at Southwest Seminars offer pay-per-view videos of their past lectures here.
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. Thanks!
Your moment of Zen »