Does Evidence from El Fin del Mundo Point to the Origins of the Clovis Culture?

Does Evidence from El Fin del Mundo Point to the Origins of the Clovis Culture?
At a Mexican site known as the End of the World, archaeologists have unearthed a Native American first: the bones of two extinct elephant-like animals that sported four tusks apiece, surrounded by 13,400-year-old spear points. The discovery at the El Fin del Mundo site in northwestern Mexico’s Sonora Desert provides the first archaeological evidence that the so-called Clovis people, who belonged to the earliest well-defined culture of the New World, preyed upon gomphotheres, ancient animals similar in size to modern-day elephants. http://bit.ly/1nX8Co2 – National Geographic

More on Research at El Fin del Mundo
The gomphothere remains are from two juveniles, probably each younger than 12 years old when they died, the researchers said. The scientists also found two bone ornaments, and a piece of burned bone. The team, led by Guadalupe Sanchez, of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in Hermosillo, Mexico, excavated the cream-colored rock at the behest of the rancher who owns the land. He had noticed the bones and artifacts eroding from a small cliff, and invited the researchers to dig, Holliday said. http://yhoo.it/1nXaQUo – Yahoo News

Learn More about the Excavation at El Fin del Mundo – An Archaeology Café Presentation from Archaeology Southwest
At our Archaeology Café on Tuesday, May 1, 2012, Natalia Martínez Tagüeña and Dr. Vance Holliday described recent excavations at El Fin del Mundo, a Clovis-era site in northern Sonora, Mexico. http://bit.ly/1qu8WO6 – Archaeology Southwest

Preservationists Attempt to Save Historic WPA Civic Building in Phoenix
A judge granted a request for a temporary restraining order Wednesday to stop the demolition of a historic building at the Arizona State Fairgrounds that played a key role in the implementation of the New Deal in the state during the Great Depression. The structure known as the Civic Building was built in 1938 by the federal government as the Arizona headquarters of the Works Progress Administration. It was used to coordinate the WPA’s efforts as part of a New Deal-era program to reduce unemployment by funding public-works projects during the Great Depression. http://bit.ly/WmJtJ8 – AzFamily.Com

Visiting Ancient Art at Hueco Tanks State Park
Even to a claustrophobe, the narrow cave between two giant boulders felt strangely inviting. Then I squirmed into the dim coolness on my belly and flipped over onto my back, I could see why: This was a sacred place. Two humanoid figures with red-checkered bodies and wide bug eyes stared down at me from the low ceiling. “I found the rain gods!” I shouted gleefully to my boyfriend and his parents, Allan and Diana, who were waiting outside the cave. Soon we were lying on our backs admiring the ancient paintings of Tlaloc, a deity worshiped by the Jornada Mogollon, an agricultural people who lived in what’s now Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site between 200 and 1450 A.D. http://wapo.st/1n1eCMo – Washington Post

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars presents New Mexico State Historian Dr. Rick Hendricks, who will present The Two Families of Don Diego de Vargas today, July 21 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the annual Voices of the Past Lecture Series held to honor the New Mexico History Museum. No reservations are necessary. Seating is limited. Refreshments are served. Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at 505 466-2775; email southwest seminar@aol.com; website: http://bit.ly/YhJddr – Southwest Seminars

Lecture Opportunity – Springerville, AZ
Little Colorado River Chapter of AAS invites their members and the public to attend a presentation by Sandra Arazi-Coambs,  Monday, July 21st after the conclusion of the 6:30 chapter meeting. Coambs,  Sandia District Archaeologist, Cibola National Forest and Grasslands, will  present a talk on the archaeology of the Spanish Colonial period entitled Jaral Pueblo and Surrounding Archaeological Sites.

Workshop Opportunity – Sierra Vista
Recreating Prehistoric Pottery of Southeast Arizona, Monday and Friday nights between August 11 – 25 at the Oscar Yrun Community Center Pottery Studio. Workshop will focus on replicating the pottery types produced in Southeast Arizona before AD 1450. Participants will learn the history of these pottery types and experience the entire process of producing them, collecting and processing raw materials, forming and decorating vessels, culminating in an authentic, outdoor pottery firing. Fee $115 per person, class size is limited, for more info go to http://bit.ly/1yMl4dF – Sierra Vista.Gov – PDF format