Conservationists Push to Preserve Chaco Landscape

Conservationists Push to Preserve Chaco Landscape
Paul Reed, a preservation archaeologist with Tucson-based Archaeology Southwest and a Chaco scholar, led tribal members of the Acoma Historic Preservation Office and others to Chaco Culture National Historical Park and the park’s outlying areas last week to raise awareness of the impacts of oil and gas development on the World Heritage site. Since spring, Reed has taken groups of concerned people on tours of the park and surrounding areas to spotlight the changing landscape and promote the area’s cultural and archaeological value. http://bit.ly/1GFGGtH – Farmington Times

Early Macaws at Chaco Force Reevaluation of Development of Ancient Social Hierarchies
New work on the skeletal remains of scarlet macaws found in an ancient Pueblo settlement indicates that social and political hierarchies may have emerged in the American Southwest earlier than previously thought. Researchers determined that the macaws, whose brilliant red and blue feathers are highly prized in Pueblo culture, were persistently traded hundreds of miles north from Mesoamerica starting in the early 10th century, at least 150 years before the origin of hierarchy is usually attributed. The findings, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the acquisition and control of macaws, along with other valued items like chocolate and turquoise, may have facilitated the development of hierarchy in the society. http://bit.ly/1TY6Dii – Science Daily

Now That Kennewick Man Is Known to Be Native, Will NAGPRA Finally be Enforced?
The genome of a famous 8,500-year-old North American skeleton, known as Kennewick Man, shows that he is closely related to Native American tribes that have for decades been seeking to bury his bones. The finding, reported today in Nature¹, seems likely to rekindle a legal dispute between the tribes and the researchers who want to keep studying the skeleton. Yet it comes at a time when many scientists — including those studying Kennewick Man — are trying to move past such controversies by inviting Native Americans to take part in their research. “The controversy has been painful for lots of people; tribal members and scientists as well,” says Dennis O’Rourke, a biological anthropologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. “I think the results will add weight to repatriation claims because now claims of ancestry can at least to some degree be clarified,” he says. http://bit.ly/1TY2afn – Nature

Washington Governor Requests Kennewick Repatriation
Gov. Jay Inslee has asked that the human remains known as Kennewick Man, or the “Ancient One,”  be transferred to Washington’s tribes as soon as possible for suitable reburial. Inslee made his request in a letter to Brigadier Gen. John S. Kem, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, less than two weeks after disclosure of DNA evidence linking the 8,500-year-old remains to tribes in Washington. http://bit.ly/1Ko2GjX – Seattle Post-Intellegencer

National Trust Names America’s 11 Most Endangered Places, Includes Grand Canyon and Oak Flat
The Grand Canyon, a “war room” of the civil rights movement, the Factory gay disco and Miami’s Little Havana have all been named “endangered” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The trust’s 28th annual list of America’s 11 most endangered historic places highlights some of the nation’s most important natural, cultural and architectural places and structures at risk of destruction due to neglect, development or other causes. http://cnn.it/1BOG5Kj – CNN.Com

Reclaiming Native Identity at Phoenix Indian School
From 1891 until 1990, just shy of a century, Phoenix Indian School boarded students from Navajo, Apache and other tribes across the Southwest. Patty Talahongva is a Hopi who went to Phoenix Indian until 1979. By then, attendance was voluntary. That wasn’t the case for generations of students before her. “There’s a well-known quote that said ‘Kill the Indian, save the man.’ That was the mindset,” she says. “When the students arrived at school, their hair was cut, so they couldn’t wear it in their traditional way. Their clothing was changed. They wanted to bring us to the boarding schools … to be basically white people who were Christian.” http://n.pr/1eSOjr4 – National Public Radio

Federal Appeals Court Finds that Jemez Pueblo May Continue to Hold Title to Valles Caldera
A federal appeals court on Friday revived Jemez Pueblo’s lawsuit claiming rights to the Valles Caldera National Preserve, an 89,000-acre former ranch that includes sprawling meadows, mountain peaks and one of New Mexico’s largest elk herds. http://bit.ly/1GKjlba – Santa Fe New Mexican

Analysis of Faunal Remains Finds Rabbit Populations Tied to El Nino Cycles
At times during the past 10,000 years, cottontails and hares reproduced like rabbits and their numbers surged when the El Niño weather pattern drenched the Pacific Coast with rain, according to a University of Utah analysis of 3,463 bunny bones. The study of ancient rabbit populations at a Baja California site may help scientists better understand how mammals that range from the coast to the interior will respond to climate change, says anthropology doctoral student Isaac Hart. He is first author of the study to be published in the July issue of the journal Quaternary Research. http://bit.ly/1GKjueX – Science Daily

Cultural Resource Management on Nellis Air Force Base
Kish LaPierre ambled over a rocky hillside on the northeast side of Nellis Air Force Base to a special place beyond the roar of fighter jets taking off from runways in the distance. This place is so special that as base archaeologist she plans to nominate it for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. If it qualifies, it will be the first prehistoric site at the base to make the list. It is where Native Americans perhaps as long a 5,000 years ago chipped away at fine-grain “chert” rocks from this quarry to make stone tools and spear points for the tips of darts that they would launch from throwing sticks, or “atlatls,” to kill bighorn sheep and other game, she said. http://bit.ly/1GKjco8 – Las Vegas Review Journal

Cordell Prize Deadline Extended
The Cordell Prize Competition deadline has been extended till July 15!  Don’t forget to apply.  The competition requires you to present a 10 min paper at the Pecos Conference (August 6 – 9, Mancos, CO).  It is open to all archaeologists 35 years or younger.  A panel of judges will evaluate the papers.   First ($500), second ($250) and third ($100) prizes and two Honorable Mention prizes ($50) will be awarded.  Five other contestants will be awarded Entry Prizes ($25 if you are selected as a contestant but don’t win one of the other prizes).  To enter the competition, applicants must register to attend the Pecos Conference, submit a talk title, a 100-word abstract, and identification verifying their age, by the NEW deadline of July 15, 2015.  These documents can be emailed or mailed to the Competition Chair, Cathy Cameron at cameronc@colorado.edu or 92 Benthaven Pl., Boulder, CO 80305 by the registration deadline.  For more details, see http://bit.ly/1MzOwdB – Pecos Conference

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Barbara J. Mills, Professor, School of Anthropology, Director, Southwest Social Networks Project, and Former Director, Archaeological Field School, University of Arizona; Editor, Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Southwest who will give a lecture Migration Across Centuries: The Archaeology of Southwest Peoples’ Movement and Resettlement on July 6 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Voices of the Past Lecture Series held to honor and acknowledge the work of Archaeology Southwest. Admission is $12 at the door or by subscription. No reservations are necessary and refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at 505 466-2775 email: southwestseminar@aol.com

Lecture Opportunity – Winslow
The Homolovi Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society is pleased to present Gloria Kurzhals with a talk entitled, Corrugated Pottery: Not Your Mother’s Fine China but Still Interesting on Wed, July 8th. The Homolovi Chapter meets the second Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Winslow Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center (Historic Lorenzo Hubbell Trading Post), 523 W. Second St, Winslow, AZ. For question or further information, call Sky Roshay at 928-536-3307.  You can also join us for dinner at 5 p.m. at the Historic La Posada Turquoise Room (on your own tab).

Thanks to Brian Kreimendahl and Adrianne Rankin.