Dear Friends,
Museums are back in the news again.
This week, the American Museum of Natural History in New York announced the closure of two major exhibitions focused on Native American material culture from the Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains. Earlier this month, Chicago’s Field Museum, where I once worked, decided to cover several exhibit cases containing problematic displays of sacred or otherwise sensitive objects. Both museums announced these changes in response to regulatory changes in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, known colloquially as NAGPRA.
NAGPRA, like all legislation, constitutes an imperfect compromise—in this case among the federal government, Indigenous nations, and museums, as well as other collections-based institutions that receive federal funding. Although the law intended to facilitate the return of ancestors, funerary objects, and sacred objects, the fact is that only a fraction of the total in museums has been returned to Tribal Nations. It is also a fact that NAGPRA privileged Euro-American ways of understanding the world while inadvertently creating procedural loopholes allowing museums to delay the repatriation process, as ProPublica made plain in a scathing critique last year. The new NAGPRA regulations, which privilege Indigenous ways of knowing, require museums to justify their NAGPRA-related decisions in much greater detail.
It’s an extraordinary shift that’s been a long-time coming.
As museums continue to (belatedly) confront the troubled history among archaeologists, anthropologists, museum curators, and Indigenous populations, I nevertheless have faith that such institutions maintain a solid civic, scientific, and historic place in society, and I publicly said so in a column at SAPIENS late last year.
What does all this have to do with Archaeology Southwest? Like many museums, Archaeology Southwest is engaged in cultural heritage preservation. Rather than focusing exclusively on objects, however, Archaeology Southwest also seeks to preserve sites, landscapes, and other traditional cultural properties, in addition to helping preserve collections. I am thrilled to report that in May of last year, long before the new NAPGRA regulations came into effect, the amazing Archaeology Southwest team published a Model for Tribal Collaboration, which we are using to guide many of our projects today and into the future. We hope that other institutions will follow our lead.
Until next week,
Stephen E. Nash
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
P.S. See below for more info on my colleague Sarah Oas’s Feb. 6 Archaeology Café on archaeologies of foodways and cuisine. You can attend online or in person at Tucson’s iconic Loft Cinema for free. I look forward to seeing you there!
Continuing Coverage: US Museums Respond to New NAGPRA Regulations
The American Museum of Natural History will close two major halls exhibiting Native American objects, its leaders said on Friday, in a dramatic response to new federal regulations that require museums to obtain consent from tribes before displaying or performing research on cultural items. “The halls we are closing are artifacts of an era when museums such as ours did not respect the values, perspectives and indeed shared humanity of Indigenous peoples,” Sean Decatur, the museum’s president, wrote in a letter to the museum’s staff on Friday morning. “Actions that may feel sudden to some may seem long overdue to others.” The museum is closing galleries dedicated to the Eastern Woodlands and the Great Plains this weekend, and covering a number of other display cases featuring Native American cultural items as it goes through its enormous collection to make sure it is in compliance with the new federal rules, which took effect this month. Julia Jacobs and Zachary Small for the New York Times | Read more »
Several museums across the country are covering displays of artifacts from federally recognized Native American and Native Hawaiian groups, in response to newly bolstered regulations that require museums to obtain consent for such exhibits from the communities, and to hasten the return of human remains and other culturally significant objects to them. … The law’s updates were based on input from more than 180 individual submissions, many from members of Native American tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, museums and students who want human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and other culturally significant objects to be returned quickly to their ancestral communities. Samantha Chery for the Washington Post | Read more »
Updated regulations from the Biden administration regarding the display of Native American art and cultural items are causing major museums around the country to remove or conceal certain exhibits. Two Cincinnati museums [Cincinnati Art Museum and Cincinnati Museum Center] are following suit. … Even before the NAGPRA update, Cincinnati Art Museum would proactively take “sacred or cultural Indigenous objects off view,” Darcy Schwass, the museum’s director of marketing and communications, wrote in a statement to The Enquirer. “The Cincinnati Art Museum has a history of working with Indigenous nations and lineal descendants,” the statement reads. “We take seriously our responsibility to partner alongside tribal communities to educate about their histories and to respect the sacred nature of many aspects of material culture.” Grace Tucker for the Cincinnati Enquirer | Read more »
Continuing Coverage: Tribes Sue USBLM over Rights-of-Way for SunZia Transmission Line
In the rush to build green energy, tribes sometimes lose. There’s a driving demand for more renewable energy projects such as wind and solar. In the rush to build, important cultural resources are threatened. The news outlet ProPublica wrote about an instance in Washington state where an archaeological survey paid for by the wind developers failed to list potential cultural sites that were obvious to state regulators. Tribes in Arizona are at odds with a solar project that would put a power transmission line across traditional cultural places. (With guests B. “Toastie” Oaster, Noah Oliver, Skylar Begay [Archaeology Southwest], and Chairman Verlon Jose, Tohono O’odham Nation.) Native America Calling | Listen now »
In 2023, the Bureau of Land Management allowed the project to move forward without notifying the tribes involved first, which falls afoul of the National Historic Preservation Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and multiple executive orders on preservation and tribal consultation, the tribes write in their joint statement. They further allege that the Bureau has failed to adequately inventory cultural resources in the area, and ignored repeatedly raised concerns about cultural safety. “This disregard for tribal cultural resources corrupted the NHPA process and resulted in the unlawful granting of a LNTP which has allowed SunZia and Pattern Energy to plow forward with construction despite the permanent damage to sacred and cultural resources in the San Pedro Valley,” the tribes write. Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose said the line “must change course” to avoid damaging cultural resources in the area. Chez Oxendine for Native News Online | Read more »
The plaintiffs want a federal court to halt construction and require the BLM to comply with the law before continuing further activity. Fifty miles of the transmission line will traverse the middle and lower San Pedro Valley, which has ecological and historical values that Indigenous tribes and conservation groups hope to protect. … Developed by Canadian-owned Pattern Energy, the SunZia project is a 550-mile transmission line that will carry renewable energy from central New Mexico, through Arizona and into California. Hayleigh Evans for the Arizona Republic | Read more »
Request for Comments: Draft Bulletin on Identifying, Evaluating, and Documenting Traditional Cultural Properties
The National Park Service (NPS) is soliciting written comments from its Tribal, national, State, and local historic preservation partners, NPS regional offices and parks, other Federal agencies, and the public regarding the Draft TCP Bulletin. Comments should be submitted by March 25, 2024. A Portable Document Format (PDF) copy of the Draft TCP Bulletin may be accessed here. Comments may be submitted via email to nr_tcp@nps.gov; via the project website; or by U.S. mail or alternative carrier to Sherry A. Frear, Chief and Deputy Keeper, National Register of Historic Places/National Historic Landmarks Program, 1849 C Street NW, MS 7228, Washington, DC 20240. National Park Service | Learn more »
Tribe Reclaims Massacre Site, Helps Restore Great Salt Lake
On a crisp and sunny November morning, the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation welcomed nearly 400 people onto their land to plant 8,500 trees and shrubs. Steam rose from the Bear River’s hot springs. As volunteers arrived, the tribe’s conservation partners unloaded black plastic trays filled with cuttings of willow, cottonwood, chokecherry and more. Brad Parry, the tribe’s vice chairman, stood in a pickup truck bed and greeted tribal members, environmental activists, college students and church groups. “This is the Bear River Massacre site,” he said, “what we call Wuda Ogwa, or Bear River.” Brooke Larsen for High Country News | Read more »
Travelogue: Homol’ovi State Park
Tucked in the great state of Arizona lies a hidden park where Hopi culture is out in full force. Homolovi State Park is home to over 300 historic Puebloan sites and serves as a place of peace for both visitors and the local Native community. What many people don’t realize is that Arizona is where many Native American tribes live and continue on with their traditions and cultures. Homolovi State Park is a prime example of this rhetoric and is an underrated place to check out while driving through Najavo County, AZ. Noah Staats for The Travel | Read more »
Tribes Recover Birch Bark Scrolls from NY Auction House
Some gave $5; some gave $100. In the end, more than 100 people united over a single mission to save sacred Ojibwe birch bark scrolls from falling into a black hole of private collectors of Native artifacts. The good news swept across Facebook late Wednesday afternoon. “We did it!! The scrolls are back in Anishinaabe hands!” wrote Jerry Jondreau of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community in Baraga, Michigan. The names Anishinabe and Ojibwe are used interchangeably by citizens of the tribe. Mary Annette Pember for Indian Country Today | Read more »
Scholarship Opportunity: 2024 Henrietta Stockel Scholarship in Cultural Anthropology
This scholarship is open to currently enrolled graduate students specializing in cultural anthropology, ethnohistory or linguistics. Students of all geographic areas can apply. Indigenous students are encouraged to apply. Deadline for submission of all application materials is April 30th, 2024. Two scholarships will be awarded: $1,500.00 to the first place awardee, and $1,000.00 to the second place awardee. (Link goes to 2023 opportunity, but info is much the same and contact for VP Jeffery Hanson is at the bottom of the linked page.) Jornada Research Institute | Learn more »
February Subscription Lectures (Santa Fe NM)
Feb. 5, Karen Kramer, Our Cooperative Nature: Contrasting Child Development in Traditional Indigenous with Industrialized Societies; Fe. 12, Lisa J. LeCount, Like Water for Chocolate: Ka’kaw in Domestic and Political Rituals among Ancient Maya of Central America; Feb. 19, John H. Blitz, Death from a Distance: How Our Ability to Throw, Create Stone Tools, and Use Projectile Weapons Affected Human Evolution; Feb. 26, Joseph Henry Suina (Pueblo of Cochiti), Water Is Life. Mondays, 6:00 p.m., Hotel Santa Fe. $20 per or $75 for the February series. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »
REMINDER: Feb. 3 In-Person Class: How Did People Haft a Knife?
With Allen Denoyer. Explore the history of hafted stone knives inspired by Southwest traditions. Use pitch, sinew, and cordage to haft your knife. All materials provided, including an obsidian blade and saguaro root handle. Experience a live demonstration of making a pitch-resin adhesive. Shape the handle with stone tools and learn to saw the notch for blade insertion. Wear long pants and bring gloves for carving. Beginners are welcome! Open to individuals 12 years and older. $50 fee. Hands-On Archaeology (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more »
REMINDER: Feb. 6 In-Person (Tucson AZ) and Online Event: Archaeologies of Foodways and Cuisine
With Sarah Oas. This talk highlights the importance of food to our minds, bodies, and societies, and explores what archaeological approaches that center foodways and cuisine bring to the table in understanding life in the past. Drawing on several archaeological case studies from the Zuni/Cibola Region, this presentation will explore how the archaeology of kitchens, meals, and staple ingredients can expand our understanding of the importance of foods and foodways both in daily life and in processes of social change. Archaeology Café (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more »
Feb. 6 In-Person Event (Cortez CO): Bis sa’ ani Pueblo: A Late Bonito Phase Community on Escavada Wash, NW New Mexico
With Cory Breternitz. Bis sa’ ani, a Chaco great house, and 20 associated community sites were excavated by the Navajo Nation Archaeology Division in the early 1980s under the direction of Cory Breternitz and represent the only Chacoan Community excavated in its entirety. The community was short-lived, dated to a fifty-year period between A.D. 1100–1150. Several unique architectural features are present at the great house including stairways and a 20-room coursed adobe pueblo associated with five oversized blocked-in kivas perched on top of a 20-meter-high clay ridge. The illustrated talk with discuss the attributes of the great house and the surrounding community sites, and their relationship to the Chaco Canyon core area and other outlier communities in the greater San Juan Basin. Colorado Archaeological Society, Hisatsinom Chapter | Learn more »
REMINDER: Feb. 8 Online Event: Why Corrugated Cooking Pots?
With Chris Pierce. During the 1990s while working at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center and as part of my PhD research, Dr. Pierce performed extensive literature review, detailed technological analyses, and controlled experiments to further the understanding of the adoption of corrugated cooking pots. Dr. Pierce’s work identified the technological changes involved in the development of corrugation, documented the spread of these technologies across the northern Southwest, and demonstrated cost and performance differences between plain and corrugated vessels. In this presentation, Chris reviews the results of his earlier work, presents four new possible explanations for the adoption and eventual rejection of corrugated cooking pots, and evaluates evidence to test one of these hypotheses. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
Feb. 19 Online and In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Road Signs and Walking Shoes: Sandal Imagery as Part & Parcel of the Chaco Road System
With Benjamin Bellorado. “The roads that crisscross the Chaco landscape have fascinated archaeologists and the public for over a century. Scholars have investigated these features within Chaco Canyon and more broadly across the Chaco World. Using newly developed technologies and ethnographic insights to inform their interpretations, they have proposed that roads served several potential purposes, such as aiding resource procurement, facilitating exchange networks, or projecting religious power. However, even when using the most revealing techniques, archaeologists often come to dead ends when trying to trace road alignments across rocky surfaces. Definitive interpretations of their meaning and use also remain largely elusive. In this presentation, I argue that roads were a unique kind of performance space, and I present new research on roads, rock art, and footwear, using communication theory that provides clues to how these perplexing avenues were used and who used them.” Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | Learn more »
March 14 Tour (Tucson AZ): Tucson’s O’odham and Spanish Food Heritage
Spend the day with ASM scholars Dr. Dale S. Brenneman and Monica Young, MA, exploring our city’s rich Native and Hispanic food heritages. See how culture, religion, and farming intersected and transformed the landscape in multiple ways, shaping southern AZ and the future city of Tucson. Per-person fee for motor coach, meals, etc., applies. Arizona State Museum | 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!