Fighting the Downsizing of Bears Ears National Monument

Commentary: Fighting the Downsizing of Bears Ears National Monument
The value of a landscape scale is that it is the best tool to capture the diverse human stories represented in the archaeological record of an area. These maps and images make it clear that the Trump-downsized monument fails to encompass very important aspects of the cultural and temporal diversity of the larger, landscape-scale monument established by Obama’s proclamation. It is very important that concerned citizens be aware of the fact that the Trump administration is moving full-bore to lock the downsized Bears Ears into place. The administration has pushed the BLM and Forest Service to create a Draft Monument Management Plan (MMP) in less than a year. It is deficient. http://bit.ly/2LrfJaT – Bill Doelle at the Preservation Archaeology blog

Commentary: The Importance of Land Acknowledgement
As land acknowledgment has gained traction in the U.S., I have recently started doing it. I’m an anthropologist who has researched the dispossession of Native Americans and their enduring connections to ancestral places. I’ve come to see the possibilities of land acknowledgment to confront the past while laying the groundwork for building a shared future. Land acknowledgment offers a needed reckoning. http://bit.ly/2J8usWA – Chip Colwell in the Conversation

U.S. Senate Confirms New Chair of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
On June 27, 2019, the US Senate confirmed Aimee Jorjani as chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Ms. Jorjani is the first full-time chairman of the agency, which, among other duties, advises the President and Congress on national historic preservation policy. Ms. Jorjani will succeed Chairman Milford Wayne Donaldson when the appointment formalities are completed in the near future. Ms. Jorjani will complete the four-year term that began in January 2017. The full-time chairman position was created through the December 2016 enactment of the National Park Service Centennial Act, which contained amendments to the National Historic Preservation Act converting the current part-time chairman to a full-time position. http://bit.ly/2JaqvRf – Advisory Council on Historic Preservation

Reminder: Pecos Conference Is Around the Corner
The Pecos Conference is the oldest annual conference dedicated to Southwestern archaeology. This year’s Pecos Conference will be held August 8–11 in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. The deadline for submitting paper/poster abstracts is July 12, so please submit yours today! Early registration is currently available through the conference website, but registration fees will increase to the regular rate after July 12. Dispersed camping is available at the conference site, and other lodgings are available in town. Cloudcroft is a popular vacation destination, though, so please reserve a spot today! https://www.pecosconference.org/

Preservation Archaeology Field School Student Blog Posts
In this edition of Southwest Archaeology Today we are pleased to share more posts written by students attending the Archaeology Southwest/University of Arizona field school in southwest New Mexico. We hope you are enjoying following along with their experiences.

“I never had the chance to explore how ancient peoples actually lived and crafted in their everyday lives. There has always been a disconnect between what I have dug from the earth and the stories behind the actual individuals who made and used them.” – Kristin Bridges (College of New Jersey), Learning Livelihoods, http://bit.ly/2KN5Svt

“Even though I had read and learned about survey previously, it was not until I actually participated in it that I fully understood just how important this aspect of fieldwork is. Survey represents a connection between stewardship and research, a chance to engage with both.” – James Margotta (Wheaton College), Preservation in Practice, http://bit.ly/2RuOZHb

“Sometimes, I’m struck by remembering that people lived in the rooms we are excavating. As I work in the place they lived, I like to imagine them at their own daily tasks and life.” – Andrea Dalton (Mesa Community College), Time and Change, http://bit.ly/2IEbTJv

“It truly hit me then just how incredible this was: we were hunting for usable obsidian in this place, just as others had done here for millennia, with the remains of their work were right in front of us here in the field.” – Alex Burden (University of Colorado Boulder), Obsidian Hunt, http://bit.ly/2RzYC7u

“As you might expect, over the course of the field school, I have been met many times with an incredulous, ‘What are you doing here?!’ Surprisingly enough, however, I have quickly found myself at home here in Cliff, New Mexico.” – Emilee Simpson (Cochise College), Field School through the Lens of a Fine Arts Major, http://bit.ly/2X6MYlG

“If we step in a unit and only see features and artifacts, we are failing the people who used them before us. This room is not just a unit in an archaeological dig, but also a home where a family lived.” – Sarah Hinton (Texas State University), Home Is Where the Hearth Is, http://bit.ly/2LuiYhG

Exhibition: Patriot Nations, Flagstaff AZ
“Patriot Nations: Native Americans in Our Nation’s Armed Forces” reveals the remarkable history of Native American veterans through art, photography, and essay. Housed in two of historic Fort Tuthill’s original buildings, the Fort Tuthill Military Museum traces the 154-year history of the 158th Infantry Regiment “Bushmasters” and the Arizona National Guard with an extensive display of weapons, pictures, and documents. The 16-panel exhibition documents 250 years of Native peoples’ contributions in U.S. military history and remains on view from June 28 through July 21 (weekends only) from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Fort Tuthill Military Museum, 2446 Fort Tuthill Loop Rd. Flagstaff, Arizona. http://bit.ly/2LyyLMj – Navajo-Hopi Observer

Exhibition: An Ageless Craft: Historic and Modern Pueblo Pottery, El Paso TX
“An Ageless Craft” displays the work of potters from nineteen of the twenty-one pueblos including Maria Martinez of San Ildefonso, the Nampeyo family of First Mesa (Hopi), and Albert Alvidrez of Ysleta del Sur. This is a not to miss opportunity to experience the continuation of age-old pueblo traditions through over 280 beautiful works of art from the El Paso Museum of Archaeology’s permanent collection, El Paso Archaeological Society’s collection, and items on loan from the private collection of Albert Alvidrez (former Governor of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo). Through January 11, 2020. E4301 Transmountain Road. http://archaeology.elpasotexas.gov/

Lecture Opportunity, Durango CO
The next meeting of the San Juan Basin Archaeological Society will be at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 10, at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, Center of Southwest Studies, Durango, Colorado. Rock art researcher and photographer Layne Miller will present a talk on “Fremont Rock Art.” Miller is a founding member of the Utah Rock Art Research Association, and a photographer with recent photos in the new book by Kevin Jones, Standing on the Walls of Time: Ancient Art of Utah’s Cliffs and Canyons. There will be a social at 6:30 p.m. prior to the meeting. http://www.sjbas.org

Lecture Opportunity, Santa Fe NM
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Kelley Hays-Gilpin, Professor and Edward Bridge Danson Chair of Anthropology, Museum of Northern Arizona and Professor of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University who will give a lecture “Picturing Pueblo Communities: Images of People in Rock Art, Pottery, and Murals” on July 15 at 6:00 p.m. at Santa Fe Women’s Club, 1616 Old Pecos Trail as part of the Voices From the Past Lecture Series held annually. Admission is by subscription or $15 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at tel: 505 366-2775; email: southwestseminar@aol.com; web: southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity, Tucson AZ
On July 15, at 7:30 p.m., the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society will welcome Aaron Wright (Archaeology Southwest) for “A Renewed Study of a Patayan Walk-In Well on the Ranegras Plain in Far-Western Arizona.” DuVal Auditorium, Banner-University Medical Center, 1501 N Campbell Ave. http://bit.ly/2XnEOFI

Lecture Opportunity, Aztec Ruins National Monument NM
On July 26, at 7:00 p.m., Paul F. Reed (Archaeology Southwest) will present “Aztec, Salmon, and the Middle San Juan as a Pueblo Heartland.” Book signing to follow. 725 Ruins Road, Aztec NM.

We’re happy to help get the word out, but we’re not mind readers! Please submit news, book announcements, and events at this link for consideration: https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/submit-to-sat/

Questions? sat-editor@archaeologysouthwest.org