The President Lacks the Authority to Rescind National Monuments

Former Interior Department Lawyer: The President Lacks the Authority to Rescind National Monuments
“I think it is very legally difficult to unwind those decisions. The real test will be in the details if there is a rescission of any monument. Congress delegated authority to the president to designate national monuments under the Antiquities Act but did not vest authority in the president to undo a prior presidential designation. The Antiquities Act has no provisions to allow for the undoing of a national monument designation. Had Congress intended to give that authority, it would needed to have said so in the Antiquities Act, and did not.” http://bit.ly/2ofwv0o – High Country News

Why Were Clovis Points Fluted?
Approximately 13,500 years after nomadic Clovis hunters crossed the frozen land bridge from Asia to North America, researchers are still asking questions and putting together clues as to how they not only survived in a new landscape with unique new challenges but adapted with stone tools and weapons to thrive for thousands of years. http://bit.ly/2phPC83 – phys.org

A Closer Look at Mesa Verde and Chacoan Geometry
Seen from the air, the structure is a D-shape, perched on the lip of a mesa that overlooks the famous “Cliff Palace” dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park. Scientists call it the Sun Temple. But what is it? An 800-year-old observatory? A ceremonial structure? A mix of both? “There are a lot of theories out there, but really, people don’t know,” said Tim Hovezak, an archaeologist at Mesa Verde National Park. The only people who would know are the Ancestral Puebloans – also known as the Anasazi – who built structures across the Southwest and then started abandoning them in the 13th century. http://bit.ly/2ofFA9H – McClatchy DC.com

The Troubling Provenance of the Shumway Collection
Nearly 40 years ago, Utah’s Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum received its inaugural collection of artifacts as a loan from the Utah Navajo Development Council, a now-dormant nonprofit set up to use tribal money on community-building projects. It was a cache of Anasazi pottery that would be considered one of the most important assemblages of Ancestral Puebloan artifacts — except that they were probably illegally excavated and their provenance remains a mystery. The loan may turn into a donation under a proposal now under consideration by the Utah Navajo Trust Fund, which “inherited” the pottery collection from the council years ago in the wake of an audit that excoriated the council’s accounting practices and investments that did little to benefit local Native Americans. http://bit.ly/2ofD9DO – Salt Lake Tribune

Preservation Archaeologist Karen Gust Schollmeyer on Archaeology Southwest at the Society for American Archaeology Meetings
Last week, several of us from Archaeology Southwest attended the Society for American Archaeology annual meetings in Vancouver, BC. Thousands of archaeologists migrated north and flocked to the Vancouver Convention Centre to spend five days seeing posters, forums, and 15-minute talks on virtually every archaeological topic imaginable. We spent our evenings staying up far too late, catching up with colleagues and old friends who work in institutions across the country (including some of our past Preservation Archaeology Field School students), most of whom we only get to see once a year at these meetings. http://bit.ly/2pie3C9 – Archaeology Southwest

Raúl Grijalva, Champion for Public Lands
No public figure has been more vocal about saving public lands than Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. Recently he’s been taking the fight to the airwaves, speaking about the unexpected costs of the border wall, how Trump’s proposed budget could impact the Grand Canyon, and speaking out against special interest groups that are teaching climate denial. While visiting with constituents in Arizona, the Congressman took a break to talk to Men’s Journal about today’s biggest threats to the environment, mining operations in his native state, and what public lands mean to him. http://mjm.ag/2pic1lj – Mens Journal

High Country News Points out How Environmental Action Could Help Bears Ears and Other Public Lands
I’m not a native-born Utahn, but I came here 40 years ago and made it my home. One of my first views of this remarkable land was of the Bears Ears area of southern Utah. It is sacred territory to me. Had I not lived here all these decades but simply viewed the recent debate over the Bears Ears from afar, I’d probably be an enthusiastic supporter of its recent designation as a national monument. But I’ve been involved in these kinds of issues for decades, and the preservation of the Bears Ears is far more complicated than the monument’s architects will admit. I think there is a better way to protect the Bears Ears than its new monument designation, and a more honest way to still empower the Native Americans who deserve an integral role in protecting this landscape’s future. http://bit.ly/2ofBgac – High Country News

Archaeology Café (Tempe): Edge of Salado
On Tuesday, April 18, 2017, we round out our Phoenix Metro café season with a presentation by our own Lewis Borck, who will discuss The Edge of Salado: Connections and Disconnections. We will meet after 5:30 p.m. at Macayo’s Depot Cantina, 300 S. Ash Ave, Tempe, AZ. The presentation will begin at 6:00 p.m. http://bit.ly/2phUEB6 – Archaeology Southwest

New Mexico Governor Vetoes Bill to Allow Local Governance of Historic Preservation 
Gov. Susana Martinez has vetoed a bill that would have given Santa Fe city government’s historic preservation rules jurisdiction over the State Land Office’s plans to develop the site of Garrett’s Desert Inn across the street from the Land Office headquarters downtown. The governor’s veto message for SB 409, sponsored by House Speaker Brian Egolf and Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, both Santa Fe Democrats, would have subjected all projects on state or state trust land to historic preservation oversight by local governments, regardless of funding source. http://bit.ly/2pi8sfe – Albuquerque Journal

Nominations for the Arizona Awards in Public Archaeology Due April 14
The Governor’s Archaeology Advisory Commission is sponsoring its annual “Awards in Public Archaeology.” The Awards are presented to individuals, organizations, and/or programs that have significantly contributed to the protection and preservation of, and education about, Arizona’s non-renewable archaeological resources. These awards can include the following categories of individuals or organizations that are worthy of recognition for their public service/education endeavors: 1) professional archaeologists, 2) avocational archaeologists, 3) Site Stewards, 4) Tribes, 5) private, non-profit entities, 6) government agencies, 7) private or industrial development entities, and 8) an individual for special or lifetime achievement. Please find the nomination forms and instruction on the Historic Preservation Conference website – http://azpreservation.com/2017-awards/. The nominations are due on APRIL 14, 2017. If you have any questions about nominating someone for these awards, please feel free to contact Kris Powell at 602-542-7141 or kpowell@azstateparks.gov.

Travelogue: Puye Cliff Dwellings
It is a place of vast silence today, but the pueblos and cliff dwellings at Puye were once home to 2,500 Tewa-speaking people. The ancestors of the Santa Clara Pueblo lived here beginning around 900 A.D., which is about when they came from Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. The people grew beans, corn and squash with water from a now-dry creek and with moisture captured in a cliff-top reservoir. By the early 1600s, the people of Puye had migrated to the current Santa Clara Pueblo and to other locations in the Río Grande Valley. http://bit.ly/2pi8VOn – Taos News

Lecture Opportunity – Taos
The Taos Archaeological Society is pleased to present Paul F. Reed, Preservation Archaeologist and Chaco Scholar at Salmon Ruins, NM, who will lecture on The Complexity and Diversity of Chaco Canyon at 7 pm on Tuesday April 11 at the Kit Carson Electric Board Room, 118 Cruz Alta Road, Taos. Contact Rebecca Quintana @ 575-770-7460 for questions or further information.

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS) is pleased to present John Carpenter on Monday, April 17th at 7:30 pm in the University Medical Center’s Duval Auditorium (1501 N Campbell Ave, Tucson 85724), who will discuss, “La Playa Archaeological Project—Long Term Human Habitation in the Sonoran Desert.” Meetings are free and open to the public. For more information please visit the AAHS website: http://www.az-arch-and-hist.org/, or contact John D. Hall at jhall@sricrm.com with questions about this or any other AAHS program.

Tour Opportunity – Tucson
Presidio Museum and Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block Presidio District History Tour, April 22, 2017. Discover the stories of Tucson’s past that have made the city what it is today.  The tour begins at the Presidio Museum where visitors will experience how history comes alive, featuring: The excavation of a Native American pit house, European technology and how it changed daily Presidio life, Blacksmith and musket demonstrations, plus old and new world food tastings. Attendees will then enjoy a delicious lunch at La Cocina Restaurant.  After lunch, the journey through five historic houses on the grounds of the Tucson Museum of Art built between the mid-1850s and the early 1900s will be explored: J. Knox Corbett House, La Casa Cordova, Edward Nye Fish House, Romero House, Stevens/Duffield House. The cost for the tour and lunch is $40, and attendees must register and pay in advance at http://www.TucsonPresidio.com.

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Timothy Maxwell, Archaeologist and Emeritus Director, Office of Archaeological Studies, Museum of New Mexico, Department of Cultural Affairs; Co-Author, City of Santa Fe Archaeologica Ordinance; Fulbright Research Scholar (Chihuahua, Mexico) and Member, New Mexico Cultural Properites Review Committee who will give a lecture New Mexico Turquoise in Mexico on April 17 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Ancient Sites Ancient Stories II Lecture Series held to acknowledge The Archaeologicial Conservancy and its important work. Admission is $15 at the door or by subscription. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: http://www.southwestseminars.org