After a Distinguished Career, Casa Grande National Monument’s Chief Ranger Retires

After a Distinguished Career, Casa Grande National Monument’s Chief Ranger Retires
At Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, the phrase “ask Carol” has been commonplace. With questions about the park, the response is typically, “You should probably ask Carol.” When there was some sort of problem at an event at the Ruins, one park ranger could usually be heard telling another, “I think we should ask Carol” in order to find a solution. http://bit.ly/KRN2kp – Tri-Valley Central

New Arizona State Parks Director Starts Tour of State Park System
Arizona State Parks Director Bryan Martyn is coordinating public meetings and will travel across the state in a new program called “The Director’s Historic and Archaeological Preservation Series,” which will focus on Arizona’s historic and cultural treasures.  The Arizona State Parks department not only manages all 27 State Parks, but also the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), which has various roles in 90 communities across the State. http://bit.ly/1iCvAfH – Verde Independent

Tribal Nations Awarded Historic Preservation Grants
American Indian communities in New Mexico and Arizona are among the dozens of tribes that will share $2.2 million in historic preservation grants. The funding was announced Thursday by the National Park Service. The pueblos of Pojoaque, Santa Ana and Zuni and the Mescalero and Jicarilla Apache will share nearly $92,000. http://bit.ly/1eyODoc – Associated Press via Navajo Times

1894 Adobe Home in Tucson at the Heart of a Familiar Conflict in Historic Preservation
In the Rincon Heights neighborhood, at the southeast corner of East 10th Street and North Mountain Avenue, sits an old, lovely home. While it is empty and in need of lots of TLC, the house still radiates yesterday’s charm and character. The house was built in 1897, six years after the University of Arizona held its first class, and once was the residence of Clara Lee Tanner, a pioneering UA archaeologist and Native American art curator. http://bit.ly/1lR9PeG – Arizona Daily Star

Texas Archaeological Society Offers Lithics Academy
Lithics: Reading Stone Artifacts will be held March 8-9 in Georgetown at the Public Library.  Dr. Harry Shafer will teach the class with Chris Ringstaff. Participants will engage in hands-on activities that include sorting, classifying, measuring, and recording sample artifacts. Advanced analysis will include understanding the process of making a stone tool from cobble to finished product and tracing the use-life of stone tools. One previous attendee stated: “I will never look at a stone in the same way again.”  Deadline for registration is February 21, 2014. The registration fee ($100) plus TAS membership is for two days instruction and includes a digital manual (100 pp.) with lunch both days. http://bit.ly/1ca5ZF8 – Texas Archaeological Society

Video Presentations on Southern Arizona’s Empire Ranch
Videos pertaining to the Empire Ranch have been uploaded to the Empire Ranch Foundation website and can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/1kwzGKL, The listing of videos features new video created by Storyteller Glenda Bonin, telling the story of Dusty Vail. You can watch it here: http://bit.ly/1kwzMlu – YouTube

Lecture Opportunity – Casa Grande National Monument
Join Casa Grande Ruins National Monument and the Friends of Casa Grande Ruins at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at the Casa Grande Ruins auditorium when preservation archaeologist Dr. Doug Gann will present Archaeology through a Virtual Lens – Southern Arizona and Beyond. Dr. Gann will present on a number of virtual modeling efforts based upon more than 30 years of experience in archaeological fieldwork, research, and public interpretation. The lecture is open to the public and will take place at the Casa Grande Ruins visitor center auditorium located at 1100 W. Ruins Drive, Coolidge, AZ. For more information and a schedule of upcoming speakers, please visit http://1.usa.gov/1dfEizf, or call (520) 723-3172.

Lecture Opportunity – El Paso
On January 18 from 2:00 to 3:30 pm Dr. Jerry B. Howard, known as “the canal guy,” presents a PowerPoint illustrated talk on the Ancient Engineers of the Salt River Valley of Arizona at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology. This free talk will take the audience through a long-term research journey, one that includes the discovery of how the irrigation systems worked and how the Hohokam were able to develop a sophisticated social and political system to organize people for the construction, maintenance, and operation of the largest prehistoric irrigation networks in the New World.  Information: 915-755-4332, http://bit.ly/18kqFbh – EPMA

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society is pleased to present Daniela Triadan on Monday, January 20 at 7:30 PM at DuVal Auditorium (1501 N. Campbell Ave., inside University Medical Center) to discuss New Perspectives on the Origins of Maya Civilization: Archaeological Investigations at Ceibal, Guatemala. Tridan with discuss research at Ceibal, which is providing new insights into the formation of one of the earliest sedentary communities in the Maya lowlands, adding to our knowledge of when and how the Maya civilization developed. Contact Jon Boyd @ 520 444-6385 with questions about this, or any other AAHS program.

Reminder – January Archaeology Cafés Feature Debates in Southwestern Archaeology
Tucson’s Archaeology Café, 6:00 p.m. at Casa Vicente, 375 S. Stone Avenue, on Tuesday, Jan. 14, will feature Patrick Lyons and Suzanne Eckert debating gender and southwestern pottery production, and the Phoenix Archaeology Café at 6:00 p.m. at Macayos, 4001 N Central Avenue on Tuesday, Jan. 21, will present Barbara Mills covering a range of current debates in Southwestern Archaeology. As both of these events follow this past weekend’s Southwest Symposium, expect to hear the very latest in current issues in Southwestern Archaeology.