Dear Friends,
As I looked out my kitchen window on Sunday, I saw the first Black-throated Sparrow since sometime in May. And for the last several weeks, I have had to replenish my hummingbird feeder every morning. The nectar-feeding bats that take on the night shift consume a lot more than the day-shift hummers. By early October, the bats will fly south.
Nature gives us many clues that annual changes are taking place. Sometimes it takes a while before I process the information and realize that a message is being delivered. I rarely see the bats in action, but I see their “messes”—because they can’t hover like hummingbirds, they splash as they sip. The result is a distinctive, sticky splatter zone on the feeder that greets me each morning—“Oh, yeah, it’s that time of year. Fall is coming.”
Nonprofit organizations follow a surprisingly large number of annual behaviors, too. And today we are sharing one with you: It’s our 2022 Annual Report (opens as a PDF). This is the first time our annual report is digital-only. It’s posted to a web page with 19 other annual reports, 2003 through 2022. It’s impressive to be able to peruse that time span. I actually appreciate our annual report and those I receive from partner organizations and other orgs I donate to. For me, these markers celebrate accomplishments and provide content to reflect upon.
I hope you take some time to read through our report. You’ll see that change is in the air. And we highlight continuities and opportunities for the future. We are far enough into 2023 that we know we’re truly on the right track.
My annual friends—sparrows, bats, and many others—only ever bring me feelings of optimism through cycles of change. Our annual report does, as well.
Thanks for reading, thanks for subscribing, and thanks for your support,
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
Continuing Coverage: Tribal Co-Management of Public Lands
Tribal representatives [from the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition] have been working with agencies like the Bureau of Land Management to share Indigenous knowledge and priorities on land stewardship, said Hopi Tribe Vice Chairman Craig Andrews. It’s a process of balancing a variety of uses—ranging from rock climbing in Indian Creek to livestock grazing—with protecting the cultural sites and relationships that each tribal nation maintains in the area. It’s figuring out “what their perception of it is, and what our Native perception of it is, and trying to mesh that together as close as we can to speak for the monument,” said Andrews, who serves as the Hopi commissioner for Bears Ears. This requires bringing together many different worldviews, and “we’re having to speak two languages,” Andrews said. Anna V. Smith in High Country News | Read more »
“We are very proud to be stewards of the land for all this time,” said Willie Johnson, director of the Ziibiwing Center of Anishinabe Culture & Lifeways, a museum and cultural center overseen by the tribe. “People from all over the Great Lakes region come to be part of it; it’s a true sacred site where people gather to learn about the history of the Anishinabe people.” The collaboration in Michigan is part of a growing movement to restore tribes’ role in managing the lands and waters within their ancestral territories. Proponents note that many of America’s most cherished public lands were established only after the displacement of the Indigenous people who called them home. “We’re seeing the expansion of these collaborative relationships,” said Monte Mills, director of the Native American Law Center at the University of Washington. Alex Brown for Stateline | Read more »
Analysis: How BLM’s Proposed Public Lands Rule Can Help Address Community Recreation Needs
Demand for outdoor recreation has skyrocketed in recent years, with many parks becoming overcrowded. At the same time, communities of color and other historically marginalized groups are experiencing the impacts of long-standing inequities in nature access. New analysis shows how vulnerable public lands overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) could help address nature access gaps, meet recreation demand, and relieve pressure on overcrowded parks. This analysis identified, among the lower 48 states, more than 20 million acres of unprotected BLM lands within 10 miles of the nation’s most socially vulnerable and nature-deprived census tracts; nearly 35 million acres within 50 miles of a national park; and nearly 50 million acres within 25 miles of either a national or state park. This analysis and specific place-based examples highlighted here—from Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona—suggest significant potential for BLM lands to improve nature access for communities with the greatest need, to meet recreation demand near popular and overcrowded parks, and to benefit visitors to state and national parks. Drew McConville and Sam Zeno for CAP (Center for American Progress) | Read more »
Davina Two Bears Joins ASU Faculty
With a career focused on Indigenous archaeology, Davina Two Bears is excited to be back in Arizona and researching at Arizona State University. Two Bears is joining the faculty at the School of Human Evolution and Social Change this fall as a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship Scholar. Her research focuses on the Old Leupp Boarding School on the southwest Navajo reservation. “I will be further researching and writing a book about the Old Leupp Boarding School’s history,” she said. “I will also research the Old Leupp Boarding School’s reuse as a Japanese isolation center during World War II.” Nicole Pomerantz interview with Dr. Two Bears for ASU News | Read more »
Editors’ note: We are honored by Dr. Two Bears’s service on Archaeology Southwest’s Board of Directors.
Zuni Youth Artists Apprentice at Grand Canyon
Last month, three young artists from the Pueblo of Zuni had the opportunity to share their culture, history and traditional arts with the public through the Grand Canyon Cultural Demonstration Program. They are LaShea Harris, 24; Chasady Simplicio, 19; and Cassandra Tsalate, 21. All three young people participated in the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project’s Emerging Artist Apprenticeship program, and Harris and Tsalate also completed the Advanced Artist Apprenticeship program. Kandis Quam, ZYEP’s assistant art coordinator, chaperoned the trip. Native News Online | Read more »
New Season of Archaeology Café Debuts Oct. 3
First speaker, Nicole Mathwich, with “Tame or Wild? Emergent Ranching Cultures of Spanish Colonial Pimería Alta.” Savor recent developments in the understanding and practice of North America’s Traditional Foods and Foodways at the 2023–2024 season of Archaeology Café. From archaeological evidence of culinary practices to modern-day farming and food sovereignty, there will be something for every palate! A wide variety of experts from zooarchaeologists to Indigenous dry-farmers will fill your hungry minds with the latest on the past, present, and future of culinary heritage. Come ready to pile your plate high with new knowledge about the social and ecological life of food, from production to preparation to consumption. Archaeology Café (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more about the season and register today (free) »
Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Plants and Indigenous Plant Knowledge
Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument has great potential to contribute to protecting some of the Colorado Plateau’s most fascinating plants, plants of deep cultural importance to many local tribes of the region. It also lies within a region of the world that is botanically distinctive and rare, a home for plants that have become highly specialized to the Colorado Plateau’s distinct climate, geology, and topography. In fact, the Colorado Plateau is home to one of the highest levels of plant endemism in the United States, with one out of every 10 plant species being found nowhere else in the world. Carrie Calisay Cannon for Advocate Magazine (Grand Canyon Trust) | Read more »
Chinatowns on Route 66
I didn’t really know much about Route 66 before I began this journey, or what the theme of the project would be. I approached the road trip as a blank canvas. As I traveled, I discovered so many amazing places and stories. I realized that despite the size or location of the community, all Chinatowns share the same narrative, they represent the American Dream. Priya Chhaya interviewing Sammy Yuen for the National Trust for Historic Preservation | Read more »
Blog: On the Trail of Trails, A Dialogue
Trails can tell us a lot about the people who use them, in the past as well as the present. Rather than speculate about the ebb and flow of life from relatively stationary archaeological sites, trails archaeology allows us to chart the movement of people, goods, and information literally on the ground. Archaeologists have posited countless interpretations about how things got where they were ultimately found, how people and places were connected or not, who were friends and who were enemies, and so forth. Trails archaeology enables the reframing of these sorts of interpretations as hypotheses, and then the testing of those hypotheses with data from actual trails. Moreover, trails literally materialize the connectivity of people across distances and among disparate places. Trails can show how information and items moved, approximately when, and how long it took. They are utterly integral to pretty much every type of landscape archaeology. John R. Welch and Aaron Wright at the Preservation Archaeology blog (Archaeology Southwest) | Read more »
Publication Announcement: The Paleoindian and Archaic Occupation of Grants, New Mexico
Joseph M. Birkmann, Bruce B. Huckell, M. Steven Shackley & C. Vance Haynes Jr. (2023) The Paleoindian and Archaic Occupation of Grants, New Mexico: A Review and Reanalysis of the Grants San Jose Sites and Projectile Point Collections, KIVA. Learn more »
REMINDER: Sept. 30 Online Event: Caretakers of the Land: History of Land and Water in the San Xavier Community
With Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan, PhD (Tohono O’odham). San Xavier del Bac is known as the White Dove of the Desert, but not many know the rich history surrounding the community called Wa:k (where the water goes in). Long before our urban centers and city lights lit up the dark desert skies, the Tohono O’odham were cultivating and shaping the land with abundant agriculture – from squash and beans to corn and cotton. For generations they passed down the rich knowledge and culture grown from their connection to the desert. Amerind | Learn more and register (free) »
REMINDER: Oct. 3 Online Event: Tame or Wild? Emergent Ranching Cultures of Spanish Colonial Pimería Alta
With Nicole Mathwich. This talk will explore the emergent animal husbandry culture in the Pimería Alta through the first introduction of livestock to the region through the Spanish mission system (1687–1833). Mathwich compares and contrasts faunal bone from five mission sites from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and then we’ll go deeper into the site of Mission Guevavi and examine how levels of ferality were strategically employed at the mission. Archaeology Café (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more and register (free) »
REMINDER: Oct. 5 Online Event: Creating Community during the Basketmaker III Period in Southwest Colorado
With Shanna Diederichs and Kari Schleher. The central Mesa Verde region of southwest Colorado was a new frontier for Ancestral Pueblo farmers during the Basketmaker III period (A.D. 500–750). The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center investigated a Basketmaker III settlement on Indian Camp Ranch from 2011–2018. The project found a settlement made up of culturally diverse immigrants with architectural and pottery production practices from various traditions across the Southwest. Public gatherings in the settlement’s great kiva transformed this diverse group into an integrated community. As the community grew, descendants of the original settlers found themselves with managerial control of the great kiva and many production practices, such as pottery manufacture and design. This development appears to have contributed to the community’s stability and economic viability and likely influenced Ancestral Pueblo social practices in the central Mesa Verde region for centuries. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
Oct. 9 In-Person Event (Phoenix AZ): Indigenous Peoples’ Day Fest
Cahokia PHX announced its second annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day Phx Fest to take place on Monday, October 9, 2023, at the Margaret T. Hance Park located at 67 W Culver Street. The Indigenous-led, Indigenous-owned art and entrepreneur space will expand festival activities to include an official Launch Party on Wednesday, October 4, at the Phoenix Art Museum and other signature events with valley partners the Heard Museum, and the Burton Barr Central Library. The Gila River Indian Community and Becker Boards join as title sponsors for this year’s celebration. In April of this year, Mayor Kate Gallego and the Phoenix City Council voted to designate the second Monday of October each year as a city holiday in observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Organizers hope this year’s festival theme “Indigenize the Valley” will catch on to other metropolitan areas and increase the awareness of Indigenous contributions and ingenuity prior to Arizona’s statehood, since time immemorial. Cahokia PHX | Learn more »
Editors’ note: Come visit the Respect Great Bend/Save History/Chispa AZ/other partners and friends booth at this event!
Oct. 14 In-Person Workshop (Tucson AZ): Arrowhead-Making and Flintknapping
With flintknapper Sam Greenleaf. Participants will learn how to make arrowheads, spear points, and other flaked stone artifacts from obsidian and other stone like ancient peoples did. The class is designed to foster understanding of how people made essential tools, not to make artwork for sale. $35 fee. Old Pueblo Archaeology Center | Learn more »
Oct. 16 Online and In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Tree-Ring Dating Techniques for the Desert Basin of Southern and Central Arizona
With Nicholas Kessler. This talk will explain how recent advances in radiocarbon dating and calibration, referred to as wiggle-matching, enable high-resolution tree-ring-based chronology building. Wiggle-matching has already been applied to well-known Arizona sites such as Montezuma’s Castle and Snaketown, and the results of these case studies will be detailed. Prospects for larger-scale projects—some already underway—will also be discussed, and the future of tree-ring radiocarbon dating will be forecast as it pertains to what can be gained from a new focus on tree-ring dating in the desert basins of the Southwest. Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | Learn more »
Oct. 19 Online Event: Sources and Distribution of Salado Polychrome Pottery
With Mary Ownby. Neutron activation and petrographic analyses of both decorated and utility ware vessels from six Tonto Basin sites show there were multiple pottery production locations and significant exchange among sites in the basin. Third Thursday Food for Thought series (Old Pueblo Archaeology Center) | Learn more and register (free) »
REMINDER: Oct. 20–21 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): AAHS Fall Book Sale
Our annual fall used book sale will be held in the lobby of the Arizona State Museum. Ninety percent of the proceeds go to support the Arizona State Museum. All books are half-price on Saturday from 12–2. Come browse and stock up. It is a great time to find “gray” literature not commonly available. We also have plenty of books in other genres, history, biography, Native American culture, Mexican and Mesoamerican anthropology and culture. Many books are priced at $2.00. Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | Learn more »
Oct. 21 In-Person Workshop (Tucson AZ): How Did People Make Shell & Stone Jewelry?
With ancient technologies expert Allen Denoyer. In this workshop, you’ll learn to make jewelry with stone (argillite and steatite) or shell. Master ancient techniques by using stone tools to shape, perforate, incise, and polish your masterpiece. Beginners are welcome! Open to individuals 12 years of age and older. $40 fee. Hands-On Archaeology (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more »
Save the Date: Nov. 11 NMAC Annual Meeting
The NMAC Annual Meeting will be held on November 11, 9AM–5PM at the Hibben Center on the University of New Mexico campus. A keynote address will also be held at the Hibben Center from 6–7:30PM on November 10. The 2023 NMAC Annual Meeting’s theme will be Innovative Research and Management of Cultural Resources on Federal Lands in New Mexico. As you all know, federal lands make up over 30 percent of New Mexico’s land base, and with this conference, NMAC hopes to highlight innovative research, collaborations, partnerships, programs, and management related to cultural resources taking place on these lands. We hope to have a wide variety of papers from land managers, land stewards, and their collaborators on federal lands throughout New Mexico. This year’s keynote address will be given by David Rachal. David will be presenting work on the White Sands Footprints and why Ruppia lake balls present a problem for dating. New Mexico Archeological Council | 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. Thanks!