Six Tribes Announce Formation of GSENM Inter-Tribal Coalition

Hi everyone!

Steve is on a prospective colleges tour with his twin sons this week. He hoped he’d be able to check in with you all, but: Teenage boys. A lot of driving.

So, I’m here to share something I read yesterday that really moved me, and that I shared with Steve (we’re both from the south side of Chicago).

Growing up, I was so fortunate to be welcomed and absorbed into a family a few houses down because their youngest daughter was my age and her siblings were much older. They all changed my world, and part of that transformation was regular camping trips to Bridgman’s Weko Beach, just north of the Warren Dunes State Park (Michigan), and visiting the Indiana Dunes National Park on the way there or back.

So many of us Chicagoans have spent time at The Dunes, Miller Beach, New Buffalo, Union Pier. The wilder opposite coast of our urban lakefront is, understandably, magical.

It has been too long since I stood on those shores, and I mean to remedy that this summer. Especially because the Dunes are now sharing and elevating that landscape’s Indigenous histories in collaboration with descendants. This is overdue and righteous.

Steve will be back next week. Take care!

Kate

VP Communications & Outreach, Archaeology Southwest

Banner image: Pictograph in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, courtesy R. E. Burrillo

Six Tribes Announce Formation of GSENM Inter-Tribal Coalition

Today [March 25] representatives of six tribes, including the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo Nation, the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and the Zuni Tribe announced the formation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Inter-Tribal Coalition. … The coalition will focus on advocating for the conservation of their aboriginal lands and for the continued protection and preservation of the cultural and environmental resources found within the monument. The coalition is also committed to defending Grand Staircase-Escalante from any attempts to modify the monument boundaries or reduce protections for the monument. Coalition press release via the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah | Read more »

NPS Positions Reinstated

Then, late this week, news came in that the National Park Service would be authorized to fully reinstate 1,000 previously terminated probationary employees at national parks, according to the nonpartisan National Parks Conservation Association. Reinstated employees and environmental advocates are cautiously optimistic about the win. But many are concerned that threats loom on the horizon for the backbone of the U.S. parks system—and the public lands they help protect. Kiley Price for Inside Climate News | Read more »

NPS Archaeologist’s Firsthand Account

That same Friday I went with some colleagues to another location in NACE [National Capital Parks-East] where the park plans to install much-needed benches and guard rails. I had known that there was a sensitive archeology site in this vicinity, located along the shoreline of the Potomac River. While my colleagues discussed bench placement, I conducted an archeological site condition assessment and found that erosion and tidal action were having severe and rapid detrimental effects to this site, essentially eating away at the shoreline and washing all remnants out into the river. I knew at this point in the afternoon that other NPS employees were being terminated that day, and I had a feeling that my time was coming. I quickly gathered the most sensitive artifacts and recorded the location of these finds with a GPS unit. … Documenting the destruction of this site was the last action I ever got to take as an NPS Archeologist. Erin Cagney for DCReport | Read more »

Uncertain Future for Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands National Monuments?

The confusion started March 14 when President Donald Trump issued an executive order rescinding several Biden-era actions. That order did not mention the monuments, but on the same day, the White House issued a fact sheet that called for terminating nearly a million acres that “constitute new national monuments that lock up vast amounts of land from economic development and energy production.” That language was later removed. … The confusion and speculation over public lands have left the tribes and conservationists worried about the fate of Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands National Monuments and other public lands. Nate Perez for NPR (via LAist) | Read more »

April Live Lectures

March 31, Spencer Lucas, Rethinking Mass Extinctions; April 7, Laurie Webster, White Dog Hair Textiles in the Ancient Southwest; April 14, Paul F. Reed and Kevin Whitefeather, Healing the Divide between Indigenous People and Archaeologists; April 21, Jakob Sedig, Key Findings from the Last Decade of Ancient DNA Research in the Americas; April 28, Luis Alberto Borrero, Archaeology of the Pampas and Patagonia. 6:00 p.m., Hotel Santa Fe, except 4/7, which will be at the Santa Fe Woman’s Club, 1616 Old Pecos Trail. $20 at the door or $74 for the series of 4 in April. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »

TODAY: March 27 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): The Art of Cooking in the Aegean Bronze Age

With Jerolyn Morrison. Professional potter, experienced field archaeologist, and savvy US entrepreneur abroad, Dr. Morrison is faculty of Art History at Baylor University. Her publications focus on the potter’s technology and the cooking traditions in the Bronze Age Aegean. Haury building room 215 (University of Arizona campus), 5:00 p.m. Free and open to the public. Archaeological Institute of America, Tucson and Southern AZ Chapter | Learn more »

March 28 In-Person Event (Sacaton AZ): Earth Day Celebration

The fight for a clean environment continues in an atmosphere of increasing urgency as the ravages of climate change become more evident every day. For a number of years, the Community’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has celebrated Earth Day to raise public awareness about environmental issues locally, nationally, and globally. We invite you to be a part of Earth Day and learn what the various Community departments and programs are doing to protect the Community’s resources. Please help us achieve more victories so we can build a clean, healthy, and safe environment for generations to come. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., 168 Skill Center Road. Gila River Indian Community | Learn more »

March 29 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Native Nations Day

Native Nations Day will include vendors, demonstrations and performances. The event celebrates the history and culture of the indigenous people of southern Arizona. Demonstrations of basket-making, jewelry-making, beadwork, pottery, flintknapping, and wood carving will be held throughout the event. 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Admission fee applies. Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum | Learn more »

REMINDER: March 30 Online Event: A Globalized Past? Long-Distance Exchange & Interaction in the U.S. Southwest & Mexican Northwest

With Christopher Schwartz. Exchange is a fundamental human behavior. While today people rapidly exchange goods and information over great distances, in the past long-distance exchange required the mobilization of vast networks of interaction. This talk examines the long-distance relationships between people living in the U.S. Southwest and Mexican Northwest (SW/NW) with people living to the south in Mesoamerica and West Mexico. Specifically, it explores the material evidence, or lack thereof, for long-distance interaction at SW/NW archaeological sites, the significance of those objects and materials, and the larger intellectual debates surrounding this topic. Chicago Archaeological Society | Learn more and register (free) »

REMINDER: April 1 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Old Dogs, New Tricks: An Overview of Canine Zooarchaeology

With Brandi Bethke. Bethke’s research focuses on understanding interactions between humans, animals, and the landscape in the North American Plains from the late precontact period to the present day through the integration of zooarchaeology, oral history, geospatial analysis, and theory and methods from Indigenous and Collaborative archaeology. This is the last in Archaeology Café’s 2024-2025 “paw-some” season of lectures featuring “Dogs! Exploring Canine Cultural Histories in North America,” which dives into the fascinating relationship between humans and canines and how dogs in past societies have influenced art, stories, and daily life. Archaeology Café (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more »

April 2 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Meet America Meredith

Artist, curator, art critic, and editor America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) is a celebrated contemporary artist of international stature. She is currently holding a mid-career retrospective at Amerind, Woman of Her Word: Art and Text of America Meredith. Come learn about her art and work as editor of the highly influential First American Art Magazine. 7:00 p.m., Tucson Museum of Art, 140 North Main Street, Stonewall Foundation Community Room. Amerind in Tucson | Learn more »

April 3 Online Event: Cooper’s Ferry/Nipé: A Pre-Clovis Site in North America

With Loren Davis. The Cooper’s Ferry/Nipéhe site in western Idaho provides a rich and detailed perspective on the lifeways of American Upper Paleolithic peoples spanning ~16,000-13,000 cal BP, offering one of the most comprehensive records of pre-Clovis presence in North America. With its well-stratified deposits, multiple cultural features, and oldest radiocarbon-dated projectile points in the Americas, the archaeological record of the Cooper’s Ferry/Nipéhe site provides foundational evidence for understanding the technological and behavioral adaptations of early North American peoples during the Late Pleistocene. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »

April 5 In-Person Event (Dragoon AZ): Artist Talk & Exhibit Celebration

With America Meredith. The show is Woman of Her Word: Art and Text of America Meredith. 11:00 a.m., Amerind Museum, 2100 N Amerind Road. Amerind Museum | Learn more »

April 9 Online and In-Person (Queen Creek AZ) Event: When Did Humans Start Wearing Shoes?

With Thomas Connolly (University of Oregon Museum of Natural History and State Museum of Anthropology). Scientists have discovered many ancient shoes around the world, including 5,500-year-old leather shoes in Armenia, 6,200-year-old grass sandals in Spain, and footwear as old as 8,300 years old in Missouri. But when did humans actually invent shoes? That’s tricky to answer because the animal skins, plant fibers and other materials used to make shoes tend to break down over time. The oldest known shoes are more than 10,000 years old, but our ancestors may have worn them much earlier than that, fossilized footprints suggest. 6:00 p.m., San Tan Historical Society Museum, 20425 S. Old Ellsworth Rd. Zoom link here. Arizona Archaeological Society, San Tan Chapter

April 10 Online Event: Grand Meadow Chert Quarry / Wahni Yukan: A Unique Archaeological and Cultural Preserve

With Tom Trow (project director) and Franky Jackson (THPO, Prairie Island Indian Community). For at least 400 years beginning shortly after 1000 CE, the largest procurement site in Minnesota for chert was an area of 200 acres, covered in deep pits dug through prairie soils. Many holes were dug because this stone, now known as Grand Meadow chert (GMC), was in high demand for making hide scrapers and small points during the Middle Mississippian Period in the region. The source of the prominent gray chert was unknown to archaeologists until 1980, as was an extraordinary 8-acre remnant of those pits which lay hidden under dense tree cover. The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places and purchased for permanent protection by The Archaeological Conservancy. A trail with bilingual interpretive signage has recently been developed for the public, in collaboration with the descendant tribal communities whose ancestors may have dug those pits and gathered there annually. The Archaeological Conservancy | Learn more and register (free) »

April 12 In-Person Event (Scottsdale AZ): Salt River Earth Day Celebration & Environmental Fair

Join us for a fun-filled Earth Day Celebration & Environment Fair! Enjoy food, games, and hands-on eco-friendly activities for the whole family. 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Salt River High School, 4827 N. Country Club Dr. Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community | Learn more »

Remember to send us notice of upcoming events and webinars, tours and workshops, and anything else you’d like to share with the Friends. Thanks!