Don’t Blame the Salt at Chaco?

Research Finds Salt Infiltration Was Not a Problem at Chaco Canyon
Various salt compounds found deep in the soil of New Mexico’s desert may be the key to understanding how crops were cultivated in ancient Chaco Canyon – despite the backdrop of what seems an otherwise arid and desolate landscape, according to a University of Cincinnati professor. Prior studies on the canyon’s environment suggest that water management techniques used by the Ancestral Puebloans during periods of drought eventually resulted in toxic levels of salinity (salt) in the water. This left scientists doubting any viability of the soil for growing corn, which they believe eventually led to the abandonment of the Chaco culture. But recent research at the University of Cincinnati finds the contrary is true. http://bit.ly/2cKvWmT – ScienceBlog

Blogs Worth Reading: Sapiens Assesses the Standing Rock Pipeline Protest and the Need for Reform in Our Cultural Heritage Consultation Practice
Native Americans from many different tribes have unified behind the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s protest in North Dakota against the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. The controversial pipeline raises numerous cultural and environmental issues, ranging from tribal rights to climate change. http://bit.ly/2cKF8aD – Sapiens

Blogs Worth Reading (2): Kellam Throgmorton Provides a Detailed Accounting of the Legal and Cultural Issues at Stake in Standing Rock Protest
The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL for short) is without a doubt the biggest issue in Public Archaeology right now. “But, why is this a *public* archaeology issue?” you may ask. “Doesn’t most of the pipeline route run through private land?” Well, the answer lies not only in the complicated legal framework of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) of 1966, but also in Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Appropriation Act of 1899. These documents are laden with jargon and legalese, but I’ll try to break them down. http://bit.ly/2cKQJXm – MAPA Binghampton

Society for American Archaeology’s Message to the Federal Government on Standing Rock
On behalf of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), I write to you urgently regarding the process by which the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has handled its National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) Section 106 responsibilities in relation to Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL)….http://bit.ly/2cKJ6jJ – SAA.org

Archaeology Café’s Next Season Kicks Off with Cities and Settlements, Past and Present
Dr. Michael Smith (ASU) joins us for our October 4, 2016, Archaeology Café in Tucson. This season’s theme is “Connections.” Mike will share what he and others are learning from their transdisciplinary urbanism project. The program is free, but participants are encouraged to order their own refreshments. We meet on the patio of Casa Vicente, 375 S. Stone Ave., Tucson. Enter through the restaurant. Presentations begin after 6:00 p.m. It is best to arrive before 5:30 p.m., as seating is open and unreserved, but limited. Share tables and make new friends!

The Forest Service Damaged Part of the Trail of Tears
The U.S. Forest Service has ripped up a portion of the Trail of Tears in the Appalachian Mountains, reopening wounds for American Indians who consider sacred the land where thousands of their ancestors died during their forced migration westward. The man-made trenches and berms were discovered last summer, but the details about how it happened and those responsible hadn’t been publicly identified. In documents obtained recently by The Associated Press, the Forest Service acknowledged that an employee approved construction along a 0.75-mile section of the trail in eastern Tennessee without authorization. http://bit.ly/2cKJ1fK – Arkansas Online

Federal Law Enforcement Facing Increasing Hostility and Threats of Violence on Western Public Lands
Tensions over federal land management – and specifically the BLM – are as high as they’ve been in decades. The more high profile standoffs such as the seizure of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and the standoff over cattle grazing near Cliven Bundy’s ranch get the headlines. But government watchdog groups have tracked a steady increase in less high profile reports of threats and intimidation against federal land managers working in the field for the past several years. http://n.pr/2cKJ0bP – National Public Radio

Utah Senators Introduce Antiquities Act Amendment to Stop Bears Ears
Utah Senator Mike Lee along with Senator Orrin Hatch, have introduced a senate bill they refer to as the “Utah National Monument Parity Act.” The bill is the latest effort by Utah to derail what some consider the imminent declaration of another National Monument within the Beehive State. This latest move would provide a legislative roadblock to future efforts similar to another designation currently under consideration by the Obama administration. The most recent request for antiquities protection was made by a Native American tribal coalition which has petitioned the White House for the designation of the Bears Ears area in Utah’s San Juan County. http://bit.ly/2cKFCO1 – Utah Political Capital

Last Year’s Toxic Spill on the Animas River Had a Devastating Impact on Navajo Agriculture
A year ago, the people of Shiprock watched their crops shrivel as a week without water stretched into a month, and then a whole lost season. Bertha Etsitty’s watermelon vines curled and stiffened, even as her grandchildren emptied their water bottles on the leaves in a failed bid to keep the patch alive. The field of alfalfa died too, as did the onions, the squash and the cantaloupe. This year, Etsitty planted corn. It’s a hardier crop, and she can turn a faster dime on it by steaming the young green ears, which she sells by the truckload in Arizona. She smiles and offers a visitor a yellow-and-brown ear. Inside the husk, the cob is damp and a little smoky. “Try it.” It is as much a dare as an invitation. http://lat.ms/2cKKJhu – Los Angeles Times

Congress Must Act to Preserve the Great Bend of the Gila
Representatives from 13 tribes with ancestral and trust lands in Arizona, California and New Mexico joined Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva, Archaeology Southwest officials and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona August 29 to share the findings of a new report about one of the Southwest’s richest ethnographical areas. They also called for a renewal of the effort to establish a national monument along the Great Bend of the Gila River to preserve 84,000 acres along the river containing a wealth of history and cultural patrimony. The proposal notes that the bend includes many world-class rock art sites, including Sears Point and Painted Rocks, as well as the arrangements of stones and gouged lines known as geoglyphs. http://bit.ly/2cKEjyL – Indian Country Today

Biologist Discovers Newly Identified Bee Species Living in the Ancient Villages of Mesa Verde
More than 1,000 years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan people carved entire homes and towns out of sandstone cliffs in what is now known Mesa Verde National Park in Southwest Colorado. Those people recently became the inspiration for the name of a newly-discovered species of bee found in the region by Utah State University entomologists. http://bit.ly/2cKBrC3 – Cache Valley Daily

National Trust Names Socorro’s Rio Vista Farm a National Treasure
The City of Socorro sure does know how to throw a party. On Saturday, with Socorro residents and officials in attendance, Rio Vista Farm was named a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The announcement of the designation coincided with the Chile War Festival. “We live in a society that struggles to reckon bigotry and poverty with a culture that celebrates wealth,” said Evan Thompson, Executive Director of Preservation Texas, a statewide preservation program. “The future of the Rio Vista Farm belongs to the people of Socorro.” http://bit.ly/2cKBOMZ – El Paso Daily

Thanks to Cherie Freeman for her continued support of the Southwest Archaeology Today Newsletter.