Dear Friends,
I didn’t expect to be thinking or writing about fences this week, but such is the nature of our work and conversations at Archaeology Southwest!
Last week, Vice President of Preservation and Collaboration John Welch traveled to Mattocks Pueblo in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. Archaeology Southwest owns a conservation easement on the site and is responsible for its long-term preservation. We’ve known for years that the fencing along the right-of-way leading to the site needed to be replaced.
Well, John and some colleagues finally (and literally) took matters into their own hands and built a new fence with 62 juniper logs and a lot of barbed wire. Just another day at the office for some; a highly unusual and physically demanding project for others. But it got me thinking….
What IS a fence, after all?
According to Google (of course!), a fence is “a barrier, railing, or other upright structure, typically of wood or wire, enclosing an area of ground to mark a boundary, control access, or prevent escape.”
I’ve spent decades hiking in the Southwest. Once, in Bull Basin in west-central New Mexico, I came across a modern barbed wire fence that went straight up and over a vertical cliff face in a scrub oak forest so thick I could barely walk. I remember admiring the dedication of the worker who laid that fence line while simultaneously cursing the legal entity, situation, or landowner that required the building of that fence. Regrettably, this situation is not unique—by one estimate there are 600,000 miles of barbed wire fence in the American West. That’s more than enough to go to the moon and back, with plenty to spare! It’s astonishing, really. And it seems wildly excessive if not inappropriate.
The post-colonial history of the West is (at best) a story of land and water litigation between people(s), businesses, and governments. Sadly, many of those entities have felt compelled to fence off “their” land as a result, in order to protect their interests against real or perceived threats. (Full disclosure: My wife and I own five acres of pinyon-juniper woodland near Vernon, Arizona. We dutifully pay taxes on it twice a year and have done so for three decades. It’s legal ownership and the land is not fenced. But if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t feel the same sense of ownership in that space as I do my house. It’s strange. Might my feelings change if we fenced it? I certainly hope not, but I suppose it’s possible.)
In response to my musing about fences, Skylar Begay, our Director of Tribal Collaboration, pointed me to Unfencing the Future: Voices on How Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People and Organizations Can Work Together Toward Environmental and Conservation Goals. As used in that document, the “unfencing” metaphor confronts the literal, physical fences erected around Indigenous peoples and spaces when Tribal Nations were forced onto Reservations that were, and in some cases still are, thousands of miles from their original homelands. Sky, John, and others used that concept, along with other resources, when they wrote Archaeology Southwest’s position paper on Tribal Co-Management.
The barriers fences create can be as powerful psychologically as they are physically. During the recession of 1992, I was a graduate student at the University of Arizona by day and a bartender at the Pack’Em Inn Steakhouse here in Tucson by night. A patron once lamented that she was unemployed. I told her there was a job fair on campus the next day and suggested she attend. She leaned over her drink and schooled me: “Steve, do you know how intimidating it is to go on a college campus if you never went to college?” Where I saw inclusive symbols, she saw barriers. That moment changed me. I’ve never looked at fences (or campuses) the same way since.
Next time you are out and about, take note of the many fences around you. Who put them up? Why? How might their meaning be interpreted from different perspectives? Somehow, someway, we need to begin unfencing our future.
Until next week,
Steve Nash
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
P.S. Breaking news from the AZ Daily Star (Associated Press): “President Joe Biden is expected to formally apologize for the country’s role in the Indian boarding school system during a campaign visit Friday to Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community. It will mark his first diplomatic visit to a tribal nation as president. The nation’s 150-year campaign to assimilate Indigenous children by taking them away to Indian boarding school system devastated the lives of generations of Indigenous children and their ancestors. ‘I would never have guessed in a million years that something like this would happen,’ said Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna. ‘It’s a big deal to me. I’m sure it will be a big deal to all of Indian Country.’”
Jemez Pueblo to Secure Right to Use Lands in Valles Caldera
About 12 years ago, the Jemez Pueblo asked a federal court to declare that the tribe had exclusive rights to use, occupy and possess lands in Valles Caldera National Preserve. This case may finally be coming to its close as the U.S. Department of the Interior filed a request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on Friday asking the court to close the litigation and accept a settlement that would recognize Jemez Pueblo’s ancestral claims to a part of the preserve. This settlement, which has been signed by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and the Jemez Pueblo, gives the Pueblo the rights to occupy and use a portion of Valles Caldera known as Banco Bonito for traditional cultural and religious practices. Hannah Grover in New Mexico Political Report | Read more »
Sec. Haaland Highlights Conservation Corps, Protected Cultural Landscapes on Four Corners Tour
On Tuesday, Secretary Haaland met with members of the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps (ALCC) and Acoma Traditional Farm Corps in Acoma Pueblo in New Mexico, as they undertook food sovereignty and historic preservation projects for the community. Secretary Haaland launched the Indian Youth Service Corps program in June 2022, a partner-based program designed to provide Indigenous youth with meaningful, Tribally led public service opportunities to support the conservation and protection of natural and cultural resources. … On Wednesday, Secretary Haaland traveled to Canyons of the Ancients National Monument in Colorado to meet with their ALCC trail crew. The monument encompasses 174,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management-managed public lands that contain the highest known archaeological site density in the country, with rich well-preserved evidence of Native American cultures, including a 1,000-year-old ancestral Puebloan site, which includes a 40-room village. On Thursday, at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, Secretary Haaland joined an ALCC team to learn about how the park has been connecting Indian Youth Service Corps members with their ancestral lands through work in different aspects of preservation and interpretation. This year, Indian Youth Service Corps members have helped maintain some 37 archeological sites in the park to preserve them and keep them safe for public access. U.S. Dept. of the Interior (press release) | Read more »
Fencing the Mattocks Pueblo Site
On October 20 and 21, the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site hosted Archaeology Southwest and White Mountain Apache Tribe Historic Preservation Office (THPO) staff to complete the long-anticipated re-fencing of the right-of-way for Mattocks Pueblo, a beautifully set Ancestral Pueblo village located just above the Mimbres River—and the only such site available for public visitation. John Welch at the Preservation Archaeology blog (Archaeology Southwest) | Read more »
Indiana University Museums Merge, Reopen
One of Indiana University’s lesser-known museums has a new name, a new focus and is reopening Saturday. Five years ago, then-IU president Michael McRobbie announced plans to merge the Mathers Museum of World Cultures and Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology into a single entity. Now called the Indiana University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (IUMAA), the museum combines insights from the study of human history with the indigenous culture of the American Midwest. Brian Rosenzweig for the Herald-Times | Read more »
Publication Announcement: Reframing and Expanding Sonoran Archaeology
Special Issue: Reframing and Expanding Sonoran Archaeology, Hunter M. Claypatch and Elisa Villapando Canchola, guest editors. KIVA 90(3), Sept. 2024. Learn more »
TODAY: Oct. 24 Online Event: Modeling Early Maize in the North American Southwest
With Lori Barkwill Love. Although originally domesticated in Mexico, the initial adoption and spread of maize (Zea mays) are key to understanding the forager-to-farmer transition in the North American Southwest. Fundamental to our understanding of this transition is chronology, especially related to the introduction, spread, and use of maize. Yet, the chronology of early maize typically focuses on single radiocarbon dates, and at times, has been controversial. This presentation shows how chronological modeling can be used to better understand early maize in the North American Southwest. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
TONIGHT, Oct. 24 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Archaeology of Chocolate at Chaco Canyon
With Barbara Mills. Enjoy a chocolate-inspired Whiskey del Bac cocktail or other libation while listening to an exciting talk about ancient chocolate-drinking traditions in the Southwest. Dr. Barbara Mills will discuss how archaeological research has helped us understand life at Chaco Canyon (ca. 1000–1125 CE), including connections with Mesoamerica, how chocolate was entwined with social status, and the role of serendipity in archaeology. Her talk is based on the work of Dr. Patricia Crown and Dr. Jeffrey Hurst. Whisky del Bac, 2106 N. Forbes, 6:00 p.m. Arizona State Museum | Learn more »
Oct. 26 In-Person Event (Camp Verde AZ): A Hidden History: An Overview of African American History and Northern Arizona
With Margaret Hangan. Hangan, Project Archaeologist at Tonto National Forest, will give an informative presentation about the African American History of Northern Arizona, and the contributions the skilled African American laborers and workers contributed to shaping Arizona’s history and present. After Margaret’s insightful talk, please join us for a complimentary reception with delicious nibbles! Verde Valley Archaeology Center | Learn more »
November Live Lectures (Santa Fe NM)
Nov. 4, Shanna Diederichs, Architecture & History of Chaco Canyon Great Houses: Captured with New Methods; Nov. 11, Pat Gilman, Scarlet Macaw Husbandry in the Southwestern U.S. & Northwestern Mexico; Nov. 18, Paul Minnis, Reframing Paquime: My Final Thoughts After Forty Years; Nov. 25, Kerry Frances Thompson (Diné), To Be Diné: Southwestern Archaeology, Oral Tradition & the Story of the Navajo. $20 at the door or $75 for the series of 4 lectures. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »
REMINDER: Nov. 2 In-Person Event (Scottsdale AZ): Huhugam Ki: Museum 37th Anniversary Celebration
Join the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for a mesquite pancake breakfast, hammer-milling of mesquite pods, refurbishing the olas ki: (traditional round house), museum exhibit opening, and more. 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on the Huhugam Ki: grounds, 10005 E. Osborn Rd. Huhugam Ki: Museum (Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community) | Learn more »
Nov. 9 In-Person Event (Aztec NM): The Zuni Migration Story
With Lakin Epaloose (Pueblo of Zuni). The artist and photographer will give a presentation about the Zuni Migration Story in honor of Native American Heritage Month. Aztec Ruins National Monument | Learn more »
Nov. 12 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Weaving the Hair of the Dog
With Laurie Webster. Join us in-person at Catalyst Creative Collective in the Tucson Mall, where Webster (anthropologist and independent scholar) will discuss “Weaving the Hair of the Dog: White Dog Hair Textiles in the Ancient Southwest.” White dog hair played a unique role in Southwestern weaving during the period from 100 to 900 CE. Laurie will explore the cultural importance of this fiber, types of woven items produced, and evidence that early Southwestern peoples bred white dogs. Archaeology Café (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more »
Remember to send us notice of upcoming in-person events, webinars and Zoom lectures, tours and workshops, and anything else you’d like to share with the Friends. Thanks!