National Park Service Collections Now Online

National Park Service Collections Now Online
This searchable online database provides access to thousands of images and records from the National Park Service (NPS) museum collections. NPS museum collections include diverse disciplines and have unique associations with park cultural and natural resources, eminent figures, and park histories. Online visitors can perform simple or advanced searches by keyword, park name, object name, people, places, and date. Visitors can also browse or search collection highlights and park summaries. http://npscollections.blogspot.com/2011/12/were-live.html

Unsanctioned Archaeological Excavations Result in Large Fine
State coastal regulators Wednesday criticized and fined a property owner for unearthing artifacts at a 9,000-year-old Native American village site near the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach. In a settlement with the California Coastal Commission, the Goodell Family Trust agreed to pay a $430,000 penalty, rebury artifacts and restore areas disturbed when archaeologists dug a series of pits on the family-owned land on the Bolsa Chica Mesa in 2010. The work was conducted without the state’s authorization and without a Native American monitor present, a requirement under state law. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/12/local/la-me-bolsa-chica-20120112

Hohokam Village in Peoria, AZ, Added to National Register of Historic Places
A historic Peoria site now has national recognition. A 20-acre, city-owned portion of the Palo Verde Ruin, once home to the largest Hohokam settlement along the New River, is the second Peoria landmark to earn a nod on the National Register of Historic Places. http://www.azcentral.com/community/peoria/articles/2012/01/09/20120109peoria-palo-verde-ruin-historic-register.html#ixzz1jYFhfrky

University of Michigan Announces New Repatriation Policy
The University of Michigan has completed a formal set of regulations for repatriating Native American remains and funerary objects to qualifying tribes.  The formal rules come after a 2010 update of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, first established in 1990, that more clearly stated a museum’s responsibility in returning human remains excavated from Native American graves to federally recognized tribes. http://www.annarbor.com/news/university-of-michigan-sets-formal-policy-for-returning-remains-to-native-americans/

The National Park Service and Edge of the Cedars State Park Presents “Seeing the Sky through Navajo Eyes”
A program called “Seeing the Skies through Navajo Eyes” will allow patrons to view the stars inside a portable planetarium, all the while learning about Navajo constellations and star stories. The shows begin every 30 minutes from 2 to 5 p.m. in the museum auditorium. At sunset, around 5:30 p.m., ranger Gordon Gower of Natural Bridges National Monument will present an evening of astronomy.  http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/53288138-80/astronomy-national-park-program.html.csp

Gila Cliff Dwellings Reopen 
Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument invites the public to return to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.  Superintendent Steve Riley announced today that the Gila Cliff Dwellings will reopen at 9 am on Tuesday, January 10, 2012.  This reopening follows the completion of repairs to the West Fork Bridge on New Mexico Highway 15, one mile south of the cliff dwellings.  The repairs were necessary due to damage caused by flooding in 2008 and 2010.  The cliff dwellings will remain open every day from 9 am to 4 pm.  There is a $3.00 fee per adult to visit the dwellings.  Guided tours are offered at 1 pm every day except during busy holiday weekends.

Professional Development Opportunity
Crow Canyon will once again offer a summer institute for educators, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities: “Bridging Cultures: Diversity and Unity in the Pueblo World.” It’s a great professional development opportunity for teachers! See the Crow Canyon website for more information: http://www.crowcanyon.org/programs/campus/NEHsummer2012.asp

First Arizona Archaeology Expo Planning Meeting
Help plan for the 2012 Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month – “Connecting Past and Present: Celebrating Arizona’s Centennial.” The meeting will be held Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 10:30 AM, at
Arizona State Parks, Second Floor Meeting Room, 1300 W. Washington, Phoenix. Please come and share your ideas as the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) plans for the 2012 Arizona Archaeology & Heritage Expo that will be held on March 3, 2012 at the State Capitol Grounds in Phoenix. SHPO’s co-sponsor for the event is Arizona Public Service. We will be touring the grounds, exchanging ideas with the various partners, discussing programming, publicity, lay out and organization, sponsors, funding, off-site activities, etc. For More Information, Please Contact: Ann Howard, Public Archaeology Programs Manager State Historic Preservation Office 602/542-7138, avh2@azstateparks.gov

Help Celebrate the New Mexico Centennial
Centennial celebrations are underway in New Mexico, and commemorations will last through most of the year.  HPD is seeking Centennial and other preservation events held during or very close to May for its annual Heritage Preservation Month Calendar of Events. We also are putting out the call for poster images and award nominations.  Our 2012 poster will celebrate 100 years of statehood and your submitted image could be featured.  Heritage Preservation Month is a national event created by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.  New Mexico celebrates statewide each May.  The New Mexico Historic Preservation Division will publish its 24^th annual poster in April and distribute it free of charge, when it also circulates the online Calendar of Events based on events submitted by event sponsors.  The Cultural Properties Review Committee will present the 40^th annual Heritage Preservation Awards on May 18 in Santa Fe. http://www.archaeologysouthwest/sat/new_meixco_centennial_schedule.pdf

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
Jim Turner will give a free lecture “Old Fort Lowell, from Camp Street to the River” at the San Pedro Chapel, 5230 E. Fort Lowell, on Sunday, January 28, 2012 at 3 p.m. Drawing from memoirs, military reports, and journal articles, Arizona historian Jim Turner, author of the new pictorial history, Arizona: A Celebration of the Grand Canyon State, will present a brief anecdotal history of Camp Lowell and its move from downtown Tucson to its present location. Find out why the fort was moved, and what “Old Man” Pennington’s dog had to do with it! Jim Turner is a retired historian from the Arizona Historical Society and is now a freelance editor, teacher, researcher, and author.

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
AAHS January Lecture, 16 January, Du Val Auditorium (inside UMC), 1501 N. Campbell Ave., 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM.  David Yetman will present “The Opatas.  Who they Were and What Became of Them.”  In 1600 they were the largest, most technologically advanced indigenous group in northwest Mexico, but today, though their descendants presumably live on in Sonora, almost no one claims descent from the Ópatas. The Ópatas seem to have “disappeared” as an ethnic group, their languages forgotten except for the names of the towns, plants, and geography of the Opatería, where they lived. Why did the Ópatas disappear from the historical record while their less numerous neighbors survived? http://www.az-arc-and-hist.org/

Lecture Opportunity – Tubac
Archaeology’s Perspective on Environment and Social Sustainability is topic of Santa Cruz Valley AAS program February 9th.  Archaeologist Allen Dart will give a presentation to the Santa Cruz Valley Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society on February 9, 2012, 7 PM, at the North County Facility at 50 Bridge Road in Tubac.  His talk, made possible by the Arizona Humanities Council, is titled “Archaeology’s Deep Time Perspective on Environment and Social Sustainability.”  The presentation is free and open to the public.

Thanks to Rene Brace for contributing to this week’s issue of Southwest Archaeology Today.