Dear Friends,
Yesterday evening, I introduced season 16 of our Archaeology Café program—SIXTEEN! Last year’s wildly successful program on Avian Archaeology shared diverse examples of the relationships between people and birds through time. This year’s theme focuses on human relationships.
“Better Together: Research Conceived in Collaboration with Community” is our current theme. A central goal of Archaeology Southwest’s current strategic plan is co-creation and co-engagement with Indigenous nations and communities.
Collaboration and cooperation are processes of listening and learning. We try to advance those processes in our own work at Archaeology Southwest—always picking ourselves up, dusting ourselves off, and trying all over again after inevitable missteps. In truth, we view this Café series as an opportunity to learn from the experiences of others who are practicing collaborative, community-based archaeology. We hope the same is true for you.
Davina Two Bears and Ruth Van Dyke admirably opened this series. The warmth of their personal and professional relationship shone brightly in their conversation, and they highlighted important benefits of their experiences of working together. The red-paint handprints on sandstone canyon walls that marked the return of Navajo families to their home place after forcible removal were wrenching and compelling—even more so after Davina shared her clan connection to that place. I am very curious about the red paint and whether there is a relationship to Ute use of it in southwestern Colorado. I will have to pursue this some other time, but I suspect there is a relationship.
If you missed last evening’s Café, it will be posted on our YouTube channel by week’s end. And there is a great deal more to engage with in seven more presentations yet to come. Check it out!
Take care, everyone,
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
P.S. We’ll be in the field next week, so we will be back in your inbox on October 19.
Banner image: Mixing mud for the replica pithouse at Tucson’s presidio.
Feds Release Planning Documents for Bears Ears National Monument
On September 29, the Bureau of Land Management and the Manti-La Sal National Forest shared the analysis of the management situation (AMS) for the Bears Ears National Monument planning effort on ePlanning. Prior to preparing a resource management plan (RMP), the BLM must analyze available inventory data and other information to characterize the resource area profile, portray the existing management situation, and identify management opportunities to respond to identified issues. The analysis, which is called the AMS, provides the basis for formulating reasonable alternatives. Comments on the scope of this planning effort will be accepted until Mon. Oct. 31, 2022. Bureau of Land Management and Manti-La Sal National Forest | Read the AMS >>
Friends of Cedar Mesa Becomes Greater Bears Ears Partnership
Since 2012, you’ve known Friends of Cedar Mesa as a local, on-the-ground friend and leader for cultural site conservation, tribal partnership, education, advocacy, and the work of our incredible ambassadors–and all of that remains the same. Our name change came about through a year-long process with support from Board Members, staff, Tribal representatives, donors and community partners, we believe the Greater Bears Ears Partnership not only reflects the geographic scope of where we do our work, but also how we serve the full breadth and impact of our mission and programs–through the power of partnership. Greater Bears Ears Partnership | Read More >>
Grand Canyon Destination Could Be Officially Renamed Ha’a Gyoh
It is therefore significant that Grand Canyon National Park has expressed not just interest, but an actual administrative will to change the name of Indian Garden to its traditional Havasupai name, with an accompanying English translation. To get the name changed, the park must receive approval from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. Why bother with a change? This will rightfully correct the name to Ha’a Gyoh (Havasupai Gardens) on maps and official documents moving forward. Ophelia Watahomigie-Corliss in Advocate Magazine (Grand Canyon Trust) | Read More >>
Commentary: Hateful Term Expunged from Public Lands
America’s public lands belong to all of us, and we have a responsibility to ensure that these lands are accessible and welcoming to everyone. However, over the course of our history, many such lands were named using a hateful and derogatory term for Indigenous women. It’s a word that carries with it a history of brutality, misogyny and dehumanization. This month, we succeeded in removing it from the names of nearly 650 federal land units. Secretary Deb Haaland in the Washington Post | Read More >>
Audio: Little Springs Lava Flow
The rugged, windswept country north of the Grand Canyon is home to the Southern Paiute. About a thousand years ago, it was blasted by a volcanic eruption and covered in a dark, spiky lava flow. Non-Native scientists long assumed that Indigenous people fled from the eruption in fear. But the Southern Paiute have a different story to tell. For them, the Little Springs Lava Flow is a ceremonial landscape. Melissa Sevigny for KNAU (NPR) | Listen or Read Now >>
Podcast: Solace in the Desert
We talk with author, photographer, and conservationist Jonathan Bailey about his latest work, When I Was Red Clay. Jonathan writes about his struggles growing up and how the natural world, namely the deserts of southern Utah, provided solace. Amongst the many essays in the book, we talk about the colors of the desert, dragonflies, and preserving badlands from energy development. Science Moab | Listen Now >>
Editors’ note: Jonathan Bailey is a generous friend of and valued contributor to Archaeology Southwest. The essays in his newly published memoir are powerfully affecting.
Blog: A New Pithouse for the Presidio
In 2021, we began conversations with Amy Hartmann Gordon, Executive Director of the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum, and Ginger Thompson, Education and Outreach Manager, about what to do with the open space outside the gate on the north side of the museum. Because the Presidio is dedicated to showing the history of daily life in Tucson, we decided it would be helpful to have a replica pithouse. Allen Denoyer at the Preservation Archaeology blog (Archaeology Southwest) | Read More >>
Blog: Because Places Matter to People
I always enjoy compiling [our annual] reports and the sense of satisfaction I—we—you can take in all that we managed to accomplish in 52 weeks. This report was especially touching for me because the staff all shared their favorite places with one another and with you. I’d like to thank them for their generosity. Several staff members shared more about why their places mattered to them, and they even gave me permission to share their insights with you. Kate Sarther and Archaeology Southwest staff at the Preservation Archaeology blog | Read More >>
Spring–Summer 2022 Edition of Pottery Southwest Is Out Now
Pottery Southwest, a scholarly journal devoted to the prehistoric and historic pottery of the Greater Southwest, provides a venue for student, professional, and avocational archaeologists to publish scholarly articles, as well as providing an opportunity to share questions and answers. Pottery Southwest is available free of charge on its website, which is hosted by the Maxwell Museum of the University of New Mexico. Albuquerque Archaeological Society | Download Now >>
Call for Volunteers: Mogollon Conference (Tucson AZ)
We need your help! Seeking volunteers for the 21st Biennial Mogollon Conference in Tucson, November 4 and 5, at the University of Arizona Student Union. Volunteer for a couple of hours each day and receive free conference registration, including the pre-conference reception on November 3. Email Jaye (jaye_smith@flash.net) for available positions, times, and more details! Learn More about the Conference >>
October Subscription Lectures (In Person, Santa Fe)
Oct. 10: Rob Martinez, Brujería: A History of Witchcraft in New Mexico; Oct. 17, Russell Sanchez and Bruce Bernstein, A Best of Show for Indian Market Centennial: The Legacy of San Ildefonso Pottery; Oct. 24, Nicolasa Chavez, Growing Up Coyota: Castas in New Mexico; Oct. 31, Rick Hendricks, Printer’s Ink & Bloodstains: A Murderous Newspaperman in 19th Century New Mexico. Southwest Seminars | Learn More >>
Oct. 6 Webinar: Footprints from White Sands
With Matthew Bennett, David Bustos, and Vance Holliday. When David Bustos, archaeologist and resource program manager at White Sands National Park, discovered prehistoric human footprints at White Sands in 2009, he did not expect that they would later be dated to the Last Glacial Maximum (26,000–19,000 years ago). At the time, most archaeological data suggested that humans arrived in the Americas 15,000 to 13,000 years ago. This tremendous discovery pushes back the clock almost 10,000 years, challenging long-held views about the earliest human occupation of North America. Join Bustos and two members of the team that documented and researched the footprints, Matthew Bennett and Vance Holliday, in an online presentation followed by a Q&A to learn about their discovery and research methods. Linda S. Cordell Lecture, School for Advanced Research | More Information and Free Registration >>
Oct. 6 Webinar and In-Person Event: To and Fro without a Road Map: Which Way the Coronado Expedition Chose to Go, and Why
Award-winning authors Richard and Shirley Flint will share their findings from research in archives and archaeological sites in Spain, Mexico and the Southwestern United States for the Garry L. Nall Lecture in Western Studies for West Texas A&M University’s Center for the Study of the American West and the WT Distinguished Lecture Series. The Flints will present “To and Fro without a Road Map: Which Way the Coronado Expedition Chose to Go, and Why” at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 in the Hazlewood Lecture Room at Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, 2503 Fourth Ave. in Canyon. The presentation also will be accessible via Zoom. West Texas A&M University | More Information >>
REMINDER: Oct. 6 Webinar: Native American Fire Management at an Ancient Wildland-Urban Interface in the Southwest US
With Christopher Roos. As residential development continues into flammable landscapes, wildfires increasingly threaten homes, lives, and livelihoods in the so-called ‘wildland-urban interface’ or WUI. Although this problem seems distinctly modern, Native American communities have lived in WUI contexts for centuries. When carefully considered, the past offers valuable lessons for coexisting with wildfire, climate change, and related challenges. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
Oct. 8 In-Person Event (Bluff UT): Solstice Markers in Southeast Utah
On Saturday evening at 6:00 p.m., Don Simonis will give a lecture at the Bears Ears Education Center, 567 W. Main St., Bluff, Utah. Visiting known and previously recorded archaeological sites on the dates of summer and winter solstice can give evidence that people were aware of these events and marked them by observation points and designed features. These types of markers are unusual in that they do not use rock imagery (rock art) to interact with the sun. The presentation will be recorded. Greater Bears Ears Partnership and Four Corners Lecture Series | Learn More >>
REMINDER: Oct. 8 In-Person Workshop (Tucson AZ): Arrowhead-Making and Flintknapping
With Sam Greenleaf. Participants will learn how to make arrowheads, spear points, and other flaked stone artifacts from obsidian and other stone like ancient peoples did. The class is designed to foster understanding of how people made essential tools, not to make artwork for sale. Reservations and $35 payment (includes all materials and equipment) required by 5:00 p.m. October 6. Old Pueblo Archaeology Center | Learn More >>
REMINDER: Oct. 12 In-Person Lecture (Queen Creek AZ): Building Bridges in Clay: Salado Polychrome Pottery in Phoenix
With Mary F. Ownby. For decades, archaeologists working in the Phoenix area have identified Salado Polychrome (aka Roosevelt Red Ware) in late Classic Period ceramic assemblages. However, most believed these were non-local imports. The application of scientific provenance methods more recently has revealed this is not the case. Petrographic and chemical (NAA) data from 10 sites in the Lower Salt Valley and one site along Queen Creek have revealed patterns of local manufacture. Arizona Archaeological Society, San Tan Chapter | Learn More >>
Oct. 12 In-Person Event (Cave Creek AZ): What Is Hohokam? Thoughts from the Tonto Basin and below the Mogollon Rim
With Christopher Caseldine. Arizona’s Tonto Basin was the center of both intense debate and research on Salado. Lesser known is the basin’s role in the formation of current concepts of Hohokam. Since Gila Pueblo’s work in the early 1930s, the Tonto Basin and surrounding areas have been generally viewed as Hohokam outposts at a cultural boundary with Mogollon and other northern groups. Close examination of site structure, settlement patterns, and exchange relationships signal individuals living east of the Phoenix Basin were not simply Hohokam living in the frontier. Contrary to archaeological narratives portraying a Hohokam retraction into the core after 1070 CE, eastern areas demonstrate that although Hohokam traits decline, population does not. Good Shepherd of the Hills Episcopal Church, 6502 E. Cave Creek Road, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Arizona Archaeological Society, Desert Foothills Chapter | Email for More Information >>
Oct. 12 In-Person and Online Event: The Pre-Hispanic Parrot Trade: Scarlet Macaws in the US Southwest & Mexican Northwest
With Christopher Schwartz. Dr. Schwartz is an anthropological archaeologist who works on field and collections-based projects in the U.S. Southwest and Mexico. His research focuses on long-distance exchange and interaction between the U.S. Southwest/Mexican Northwest and Mesoamerica, how past humans interacted with animals, and archaeological applications of isotopic analyses. San Juan Basin Archaeological Society | More Information and Zoom Link >>
Oct. 17 Webinar: Chacoan Perishable Technologies in Regional Perspective
With Ed Jolie. “Guided by previous research suggesting the existence of sociocultural or biological diversity, I examined large numbers of baskets, mats and sandals seeking to distinguish patterned stylistic variability in woven artifact manufacture with implications for understanding sociocultural diversity within and across the Chaco system. This presentation focuses on the distribution of traditions of ritual basketry at Chaco Canyon and beyond to suggests linkages between the social entities that maintained them, first at Pueblo Bonito and, later, at outlying communities. Diversity in ritual practice emerges as factor that likely both facilitated a shared Chacoan identity and integrated newcomers.” Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
Oct. 20 Webinar: A Conversation about Indigenous Archaeology
With Kerry F. Thompson. Stumbling on archaeology as a career at the age of 19, Dr. Kerry F. Thompson’s negotiation of her Diné identity with a career in archaeology has taken her from Archaeological Technician at the Navajo Nation to Department Chair at Northern Arizona University. Join her in this conversation from her home on the Navajo Nation in Leupp, Arizona. She invites your questions about archaeology, academia, Diné culture and identities, Indigenous archaeology, rez dogs, and any other related topic. We may not get all the answers we seek, but the conversation is bound to be interesting! Third Thursday Food for Thought series (Old Pueblo Archaeology Center) | More Information and Zoom Registration >>
Oct. 21–22 In-Person Used Book Sale (Tucson AZ)
Our annual fall used book sale will be held in the lobby of the Arizona State Museum on Friday, October 21, from 10 to 4 and on Saturday, October 22, from 10 to 2. Ninety percent of the proceeds go to support the Arizona State Museum. All books are half price on Saturday from 12 to 2. We have received a huge number of archaeology books from the estate of David Wilcox, so be sure to come browse and stock up. It is a great time to find “grey” literature not commonly available. We also have plenty of books in other genres, history, biography, Native American culture, Mexican and Mesoamerican anthropology and culture. Many books are priced at $2.00. Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | Learn More >>
Nov. 3–6 Tour: Missions of the River
Join us for a tour of the two Spanish colonial missions of Socorro and Ysleta (in Texas), established by the Spanish settlers and Natives who fled Northern New Mexico in 1680 during the Pueblo Revolt. Guests will also visit a rare presidio chapel and the village of San Elizario, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Cultural Center, and visits to archaeology and history museums. Enjoy sopaipillas, New Mexico red and green chile, and some Texas BBQ! Southwest Mission Research Center | Learn More >>
2022–2023 Youth Education Programs in Archaeology (Tucson AZ)
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center is now taking reservations for this school year’s youth education programs. Learn More >>
Remember to send us notice of upcoming webinars and Zoom lectures, tours and workshops, and anything else you’d like to share with the Friends.