Dear Friends,
More than three years into the pandemic, one of the current COVID variants finally cornered me. Last Friday, I tested positive.
This morning, a few hours before this note landed in your inbox, I finished the Day-5 doses of Paxlovid.
Yesterday, I spent over an hour reading a long and remarkable interview by David Wallace-Wells with Dr. Anthony Fauci in the New York Times Magazine. Dr. Fauci stated, “If you are vaccinated and boosted and have available therapy, you are not going to die, no matter how old you are.”
I intend to keep the truth alive in that statement, so I’m going to sign off early today. I’ll be back with you next Wednesday.
And during the interim, I will reflect even more deeply on my personal privilege to have had access to vaccines, boosters, and Paxlovid. Estimates developed by Our World in Data suggest that, globally, some 20 million people have perished of COVID.
Stay well,
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
Banner image: Artist’s visualization of early farming near Sentinel Peak © Robert B. Ciaccio
Continuing Coverage: Tucson’s Birthplace Returned to Tohono O’odham Nation
The city of Tucson is returning a portion of ancestral land to the Tohono O’odham Nation in a new resolution unanimously passed by the City Council this week. The nearly 11-acre stretch of land is located at the base of Sentinel Peak, a more than 2,000-foot peak southwest of what is today downtown Tucson. The Santa Cruz river runs right next to one side of the mountain’s base and the Tohono O’odham’s Hohokam ancestors have farmed and lived there for more than 4,500 years. Mayor Regina Romero calls it the birthplace of Tucson. “In this particular tract of land that we are returning to its rightful owners, we see how the Hohokam lived. And the archeology is there to prove it,” she said. Alisa Reznick for Fronteras (KJZZ) | Read more »
REMINDER: Fellowship Opportunity: Indigenous Uses of Plants and Animals
Archaeology Southwest welcomes applicants to our cyberSW Native American Fellowship. This paid position will work closely with cyberSW’s Tribal Working Group and Development Team. The Fellow will design and implement a project related to Indigenous uses of plants or animals (or both) that will greatly enhance the cyberSW information platform. This position may be filled by someone with relevant life experience and knowledge; university-based academic qualifications and training are not required. The fellowship project may help fulfill academic degree requirements. Archaeology Southwest and cyberSW | Learn more »
Read cyberSW Manager Joshua Watts’s blog post to learn even more »
Problematic Provenances
Stepping into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Shyanne Beatty was eager to view the Native American works that the art collectors Charles and Valerie Diker had been accumulating for nearly half a century. But as she entered the museum’s American wing that day in 2018, her excitement turned to shock as two wooden masks came into view. Beatty, an Alaska Native, had worked on a radio documentary about the two Alutiiq objects and how they and others like them had been plundered from tribal land about 150 years ago. Now, the masks were on display in the biggest and most esteemed art museum in the western hemisphere. “It was super shocking to me,” she said. Kathleen Sharp for ProPublica (via the Guardian) | Read more »
Thanks to PAT friend Brian Gratton for bringing this story to our attention.
U.S. Senators: Five Institutions Should “Expeditiously” Comply with NAGPRA
In letters sent to the University of California-Berkeley, Harvard University, Illinois State Museum, Indiana University, and the Ohio History Connection, the senate group—led by Sens. Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Lisa Murkwoski (R-AK) of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs—urged the institutions to comply with the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and “expeditiously return” cultural items and ancestral remains. … “Delayed repatriation is delayed justice for Native peoples,” the senators said in letters to the five institutions. “For too long, Native ancestral remains and cultural items have been unconscionably denied their journey home by institutions, desecrated by scientific study, publicly displayed as specimens, left to collect dust on a shelf, or simply thrown in a box and forgotten in a museum storeroom.” In the letters, the senators requested that the universities and museums provide an update over the next 60 days on their current process and pace of repatriation, as well as information about their policies and practices pursuant to NAGPRA. Brian Edwards at Native News Online | Read more »
Visit the Ute Mountain Tribal Park on Your Summer Road Trip
The Ute Mountain Tribal Park in Colorado is one of the great places to learn about the deep history and living heritage of the Four Corners region. Mesa Verde National Park is a continuation of the same archeological and geological attractions found in the tribal park. The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park offers a chance to escape the crowds of the more famous Mesa Verde. … At the Ute Mountain Tribal Park, it is the tribal members who interpret tribal culture and the archeological sites of the area, including pictographs, cliff dwellings, artifacts, and ancient ruins. The tours offered start at the Tribal Park Visitor Center and Museum. Aaron Spray in The Travel | Read more »
Archaeology Summer Camp (Tucson AZ)
June 5–9. Campers ages 8–14 will learn how archaeologists really work through a series of hands-on activities that include: Using prehistoric tools; Excavating a simulated site; Making string from agave; Analyzing the artifacts found during excavation. Some activities will take place in our new Early People’s Park, which includes exploring a replica pit house. Fees apply. Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum | Learn more »
Publication Announcement: Path of Light
Path of Light: A Walk through Colliding Legacies of Glen Canyon, by Morgan Sjogren. Torrey House Press, 2023. Learn more »
Check out this interview with our friend Morgan in the Moab Sun News »
Podcast: People of the Peppers
Meet Katherine Chiou, an archaeologist who conducts research in Mexico and Peru to search for clues about humanity’s spicy romance with hot chili peppers. SAPIENS | Listen now »
A transcript is also available at that link.
May Subscription Lectures (Santa Fe NM)
5/1, Andrew Morrison, Viscount Dunrossil, Indigenous & European: The Case of the Scottish Gaels; 5/8, Dr. Dennis H. O’Rourke, Human Population History, Genetic Ancestry, and the Power of Proxies; 5/15 Dr. Ruben G. Mendoza, War on Heaven: The Aztec Sun Stone; 5/22, Dr. Grant S. McCall, New Perspectives on Southern African Rock Art & Hunter Gatherer Social Systems; 5/29, Dr. Stephen H. Lekson, Chimney Rock: Chaco’s Shining City on the Hill. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »
REMINDER: April 27 Online Event: More than Warp and Weft
With Venancio Aragon. Through many centuries, the Diné textile traditions have endured, and are a quintessential element, of Venancio’s and his people’s cultural identity and history. Diné weavings fulfilled various needs in different times. Change and adaptation have long been a trait of the Diné as is reflected in their textiles. Many Diné weavers today are concerned with the survival of their ancient cultural arts and are creating innovative strategies for the perpetuation and continuation of their ancestor’s teachings in the global age. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
REMINDER: May 2 Online Event: Collaborating with Diné Communities
With Wade Campbell. Dr. Campbell is a Diné (Navajo) historical archaeologist whose research examines the relationships between Diné communities and other local groups in the U.S. Southwest from the 17th century to the present day, including the Pueblos, Spanish, and Americans. Wade is engaged with a range of questions related to longer-term patterns of Navajo settlement and economic activity across the greater Four Corners region, with a particular focus on incipient Indigenous pastorals and related shifts in land-use, social organization, and diet/subsistence practices. Archaeology Café (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more and register (free) »
May 2 In-Person Event (Cortez CO): The Earliest Mitchell Springs Great House
With David M. Dove. In his talk, Dave will attempt to pinpoint the timing of Chacoan Type I masonry in the northern San Juan region. 7:00 p.m. at the Methodist Church, 515 Park Street. Hisatsinom Chapter, Colorado Archaeological Society | Learn more »
This presentation will also be virtual. Zoom link here »
REMINDER: May 3 Online Event: Cultivating a Culture of Reuse
With Stephanie Phillips. What happens when a building has exhausted all options for preservation? After this historic winter, property owners are wondering about their options after uninhabited structures have collapsed! Phillips is spearheading a program that is creating a more just and sustainable world. Her presentation will highlight how aligning stakeholders in climate action, affordable housing, historic preservation, real estate and development, innovation, workforce training, and public health can affect transformative, place-based policy change. Utah State Historic Preservation Office | Learn more and register (free) »
May 4 Online Event: Where are they now? Crow Canyon’s Internship Program
With Samuel Villarreal Catanach, Lance Holly, Liz Klarich, Liz Schultz, and Carrie Swan; panel moderated by CEO Liz Perry. What do the Pueblo of Pojoaque, the National Renewable Energy Lab, Smith College, the Oberlin Heritage Center and the Chrysler Museum of Art have in common? They all employ former Crow Canyon interns! Approximately 375 interns have gone through Crow Canyon’s program since the late 1980’s, working in the field, the lab, education, and American Indian Initiatives. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
May 20 & 21 Field Trip (Prescott AZ): Coyote Ruin, Fitzmaurice Ruin, and Museum of Indigenous People
Led by Andrew Christenson. In addition to the two 10th–14th-century hilltop pueblo archaeological sites, the group also will visit ancient petroglyphs and agricultural features near the ruins and Prescott’s Museum of Indigenous People. Participants provide their own transportation, lodging, and meals. Reservations and $99 donation prepayment due by 5:00 p.m. May 15. Old Pueblo Archaeological Center | 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. Thanks!