Outrage Expressed over Second Paris Auction of Objects Sacred to Hopi Peoples

Outrage Expressed over Second Paris Auction of Objects Sacred to Hopi Peoples
Activists vowed Thursday to block the proposed sale of sacred objects originating from Arizona’s Hopi tribe at a Paris auction, just months after a similar controversy stoked outrage. Tribal people’s advocacy group Survival International said it would go to court in the French capital on Tuesday in an attempt to halt the sale of around 25 objects…http://bit.ly/184OFWw – Raw Story [Editor’s note: This link leads to an article with a photograph of a sacred object. We find the use of this image regrettable, but feel that it is important to convey the report.]

Collaborative Research with Native Peoples is the Subject of This Week’s Archaeology Café
On December 3, 2013, T. J. Ferguson will draw upon his personal experiences to illustrate how direct collaboration between archaeologists and Native Americans has developed since the mid-1970s, specifically through his work with the Western Pueblos of Zuni, Hopi, Acoma, and Laguna. We gather after 5:00 p.m. at Casa Vicente – 375 S. Stone Avenue, and presentations begin by 6:15 p.m. Seating is open and unreserved, but limited. Share tables and make new friends!

Archaeologists Tracing San Antonio’s Origins
A small treasure of broken pottery, rosary beads and other simple items could mark the site of the city’s earliest Spanish mission, dating back 300 years. Archaeologists have found possible remnants of the original 1718 Mission San Antonio de Valero on land owned by the Christopher Columbus Italian Society downtown, just north of Piazza di Colombo Park. http://bit.ly/1eNclOV – MySanAntonio.com

Preserving Languages and Preserving Cultures at New Mexico State University
Donald Pepion’s parents attended boarding schools at a time when Native Americans were not permitted to speak their language. “It was hard to be Indian,” said Pepion, a member of the Blackfeet tribe of Montana. “So as a result of that, they didn’t use the language at home a lot. We know that in both boarding schools and mission schools kids were abused if they tried to use their language or tried to express any of their culture.” http://bit.ly/1hripA0 – Las Cruces Sun

Aztec Ruins National Monument Provided Funds to Restore Portion of the Old Spanish Trail
The Aztec Ruins National Monument is a big tourist attraction in the Four Corners, and near the national monument lies a historic trade route. The problem is finding it, but now thanks to a $95,000 grant— that piece of New Mexico’s history will now be uncovered. The Aztec Ruins national monument just received a grant to rebuild part of the Old Spanish Trail. “The old Spanish trail was a trade route it was used mostly in the 1830 to move goods from New Mexico starting in Abiquiu out to Los Angeles,” said Lauren Blacik, Aztec Ruins park ranger. http://bit.ly/18w4h5T – KOB.com

National Park Conservation Association Illustrates the Damage Caused by Congressional Neglect of our National Parks
As members of Congress work to find agreement through a budget conference before December 13, the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) today released a new infographic that offers insights into how national parks and communities nationwide have suffered from ongoing funding cuts and the recent closure of parks during the government shutdown.  http://bit.ly/1eMP7Z8 – PR Wire

Los Angeles Times Advocates for Saving the Southwest Museum
The Southwest Museum, which sits on a hilltop in Mount Washington, is the oldest museum in Los Angeles, a historic landmark, a testament to longevity in a town without much of that. For decades, it housed and displayed objects from a world-class collection of Native American and Latin American artifacts. But age — the museum will be 100 years old next year — along with the Northridge earthquake and financial troubles took their toll. http://lat.ms/1j8mPuT – Los Angeles Times

Care to Tour a Few Dinétah Defensive Sites?
Travel the back roads east of Bloomfield and you’ll encounter masonry ruins sitting on hilltops and boulders. Early Spanish explorers called them “pueblitos,” or little pueblos, and saw them as defensive sites. It wasn’t the puebloans, however, who sought protection from raiders but the Navajo defending themselves from Ute and Comanche attacks. http://bit.ly/1cKkwtp – Las Cruces Sun

Los Alamos Seeks National Monument Designation
Tucked away in one of northern New Mexico’s pristine mountain canyons is an old log cabin that was the birthplace not of a famous person but, rather, a top-secret mission that forever changed the world. Pond Cabin, along with a nearby small, stark building where a person died while developing the nuclear bomb, is among a number of structures scattered in and around the modern-day Los Alamos National Laboratory that are being proposed as sites for a new national park commemorating the Manhattan Project. http://bit.ly/1eEckMo – The Denver Post

Reminder – The Southwest Symposium is Fast Approaching
This is a reminder that the deadline for early registration for the 14th Annual Southwest Symposium is fast approaching!  To receive early registration prices, you must register by December 6th.  After that, the prices jump by $10.  To register, go to http://anthro.unlv.edu/ and click on the Southwest Symposium tab at the top of the page. The symposium will be on January 10-11, 2014 on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas.  The topic is “Social Networks in the American Southwest.

Publication Announcement: 
“Cultural Resources Priority Area Planning in Sub-Mogollon Arizona and New Mexico” has been published in the new journal Advances in Archaeological Practice:  A Journal of the Society for American Archaeology which is available as a free download at http://saa.metapress.com/content/122855/

Lecture Opportunity – Boulder
On December 4, at 7:00 PM Steve Lekson will present New Frontiers in Southwestern Archaeology at the Paleontology Hall, University of Colorado, Boulder. When we think of the Southwest, we usually think of Mesa Verde and other spectacular ruins of the Four Corners. Some of the most interesting archaeology, however, is out on the edges: Fremont in the north and Mimbres in the south. Join Dr. Steve Lekson as he traces the parallel (and divergent) paths of Fremont and Mimbres and illustrates their journey using selected objects and artifacts from the museum’s collections. http://bit.ly/1cKhHZg – Colorado University Museum

Lecture Opportunity – Phoenix
On December 4, at 7:30 PM Margaret C. Nelson will present Continuity and Change: The Mimbres Tradition and Beyond as part of the Pueblo Grande Museum lecture series.In the middle of the 12th century, the Mimbres tradition came to an end. People left their villages throughout southwestern New Mexico and stopped making the spectacular black-on-white pottery for which the Mimbres tradition is known around the globe. What happened? Why did the tradition end? Popular literature has painted this change as a mysterious disappearance. Professor Nelson shows both the continuity and the change that occurred in the 12th century and examines the dynamics of the prehispanic farming society known as Mimbres. This lecture at the Pueblo Grande Museum, 4619 E Washington St, Phoenix, is free and open to the public. http://1.usa.gov/18fD3uu – City of Phoenix Parks

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars presents Dr. John Ware, Executive Director, Amerind Foundation and Research Associate, Museum of Northern Arizona, Arizona State Museum, and School of Advanced Research (SAR); Member, Board of Directors, Arizona Humanities Council, who will give a lecture A Pueblo Social History on December 9 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Mother Earth Father Sky Lecture Series held annually to honor and acknowledge the work of The New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Admission is $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary and refreshments are served. Contact Connie Eichstaedt, Director at tel:505 466-2775 email: southwest seminar@aol.com website: http://bit.ly/YhJddr

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The Arizona State Museum and The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society, in conjunction withe the AAHS holiday party and auction to support scholarship and research grants are pleased to present Stephen H. Lekson on Monday, December 16 at 6:30 PM at the Arizona State Museum (1013 E. University Blvd.) to discuss Mimbres: Its Causes and Consequences. Lekson will discuss the contrast between the impression that Mimbres was an isolated society with regrettable architecture and astonishing artists vs. the reality of being deeply engaged first with Hohokam, then Chaco, and finally Casas Grandes. Contact Jon Boyd @ 520 444-6385 with questions about this, or any other AAHS program.

Walking Tour Opportunity – Tucson
At 8 a.m. Saturday December 21, archaeologist Allen Dart leads Old Pueblo Archaeology Center’s half-day “Winter Solstice Tour of Los Morteros and Picture Rocks Petroglyphs Archaeological Sites” starting near the Silverbell Road-Linda Vista Blvd. intersection in Marana, Arizona. Los Morteros is an ancient Hohokam culture village archaeological site that includes a ballcourt and bedrock mortars. The Hohokam petroglyphs at Picture Rocks include a solstice and equinox marker, human-like figures, whimsical animals, and many other rock symbols. Fee $20 (discounts available). Reservations required by Friday December 20. 520-798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org.