Dear Friends,
For the past two weeks, our neighborhood Cooper’s Hawks were a source of unease in the early mornings. Although my wife and I are yet unscathed, my neighbor was bloodied by his hawk encounter.
This morning I looked out to see one of the fledged Cooper’s Hawks in the palo verde tree in front of our house. A hummingbird flew up and stared the hawk right in the face! Then it flew around it, testing just how far that hawk neck can rotate. “Very far” was the observable answer. “Almost 270 degrees” according to Google.
After the young hawk flew away, the other bird life resumed. It was relaxing to watch. A Broad-billed hummingbird sampled nectar from the blossoms of the purple salvia. Then, half a dozen goldfinches descended on the salvia flower stalks to harvest seeds.
I’ve worked hard this year to add manure from my wife’s horse and other organic matter into the soil of that small garden. Each morning I scatter seeds around for the doves. Some mornings there have been as many as two dozen doves out there recovering those seeds, churning the soil with their beaks. The Gambel’s Quails that wander through are vigorous scratchers. To me, they’re all my labor force, “tilling my soil.”
The result has been a significant enhancement of my small home ecosystem. Birds and butterflies on the blue and bright yellow flowers in the daytime. Crickets and spadefoot toads in the evening. Coyotes, javelinas, and bobcats stopping by whenever they need a drink of water.
Though I had a too-short and restless sleep last night, the joy of the morning wildlife has energized me throughout the day.
Wishing all of you a good day today,
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
Banner image: Broad-billed hummingbird, by Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
White Mountain Apache Perspectives on Protection and Healing at Ancestral Sites
Ndee (Western Apache) communities often avoid ancestral sites and places associated with the past out of respect. Ndee communities demonstrate such respect in the form of avoidance to protect both community members and archaeological sites from potential harm. Most importantly, avoidance helps maintain Gózhó, a state of balance and harmony in the world. However, desecration, looting, and graverobbing of ancestral sites by non-Ndee individuals is a serious problem on White Mountain Apache Tribal trust lands. SaveHistory | Read and watch more »
Interview with Former Acoma Governor Brian Vallo
Earlier this month, the federal government put a 20-year oil and gas leasing ban on the area around Chaco Canyon. And when Interior Secretary Deb Haaland came to celebrate, she was met with a protest by land allottees from the Navajo Nation. Former Acoma Pueblo Governor Brian Vallo has worked for decades to push for protections for Chaco Canyon and now chairs the Chaco Heritage Tribal Association. He was at the celebration and recently sat down with New Mexico In Focus correspondent Antonia Gonzales to talk about the cultural significance of the site to his pueblo. KUNM | Read more or listen now »
Essay: Hopi Ancestors Lived in These Canyons
From a Hopi perspective, the Glen Canyon region is recognized as a vast landscape that safeguards monuments of Hopi culture and history. This is land of the ancestors, known in Hopi as Moti’sinom, “The First People” and following them, the Hisat’sinom, “The People of Long Ago.” These two concepts describe not only the cultural evolution of Hopi ancestry, but also acknowledge the longevity of their presence, spanning millennia back into time periods designated as “Paleo” and “Archaic”. Hopi ancestors were among the very first to experience this landscape and call it Home. Lyle Balenquah at Paa’tuuwi and in Plateau Magazine | Read more »
Commentary: BLM Public Lands Rule Is Common Sense
The only thing wrong with a proposed rule that would have the U.S. Bureau of Land Management officially consider conservation as one of the “multiple uses” intended for the huge swaths of public land it oversees is that it wasn’t written 47 years ago. That’s why it is wrong for just about everyone who is everyone in Utah politics to oppose the new rule the BLM wishes to impose upon itself as it enforces the 1976 Federal Land Policy and Management Act, known to friend and foe alike as FLPMA. Salt Lake Tribune Editorial Board | Read more »
Five Reasons to Care about the BLM Public Lands Rule
If enacted, this proposed “Public Lands Rule” would make a meaningful shift in how we treat our public lands. It also would further the agency’s collaboration with Tribes and local communities to ensure more cultural knowledge and better resource preservation to enhance public lands management, while addressing the worsening effects of climate change. Angela Gonzales, Kristen Brengel, and Matthew Kirby for the National Parks Conservation Association | Read more »
Analysis: Bears Ears Land Exchange, Lawsuit
After months of deliberation and negotiations, Utah’s School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (SITLA) and the Bureau of Land Management have settled on a land swap that would transfer state lands within Bears Ears National Monument to the federal government. Jonathan P. Thompson at the Land Desk | Read more »
Blog: Reflections of the Great Bend
Respect Great Bend Coordinator Skylar Begay collaborated with Akimel O’odham and Chicano artist Angelo Cortez to create four original paintings meant to reflect the Great Bend of the Gila. See the paintings and read an interview where Skylar and Angelo discuss the process of bringing the paintings to life. Respect Great Bend | Read more »
Publication Announcement: Color and Chaco Performance
Kelsey E. Hanson (2023) Color and Chaco Performance: Spatial Histories of Blue–Green Paint Production at Pueblo Bonito, KIVA, 89:2, 117–138. View abstract »
Survey: Best Practices in Making Zooarchaeological Data Ethically Accessible
On behalf of colleagues from the Florida Museum of Natural History (FM) at the University of Florida (UF), we invite you to complete a research survey (UF IRB 202300946) to share your experiences and opinions about making zooarchaeological data ethically accessible for interdisciplinary research reuse. We aim to gather information from anyone who creates or uses zooarchaeological data to understand current best practice, particularly with reference to the implementation of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) and CARE (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) data principles. The survey results will inform best practices in making zooarchaeological data ethically accessible for its vital contributions to the future of knowledge about human-animal-environment relationships. Florida Museum of Natural History | Learn more »
Educational Opportunity: Gender in Archaeology
August 19, 26, September 2, and 9, 2023. 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at ENR2 Building, Room N595. In-person and limited to 20 participants. A four-part series taught by Dr. Suzanne L. Eckert, curator of archaeology, professor of anthropology, and head of collections. The archaeological record is extraordinarily rich and varied, and yet for most of its history, as a field of study, archaeology has failed to recognize gender as a viable research topic. This four-part Master Class presents an introduction to archaeological research on women and gender since the 1960s. We will explore the ways in which a consciousness of gender can offer a more in-depth understanding of the archaeological record and how the study of gender challenges traditional archaeological culture histories as well as how it impacts modern thought. Open to the public; tuition fees apply. Arizona State Museum | Learn more »
Casa Grande Closed July 4
The Monument will be close on July 4th to observe the Independence Day holiday. Casa Grande Ruins National Monument will resume seasonal hours of 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. on July 5, 2023.
July Subscription Lectures (Santa Fe NM)
7/3, Phoebe Suina (Cochiti/San Felipe Pueblo), Water is Life; 7/10, Karen Kramer, Too Much or Too Little Rain? Climate Stress among Ancestral & Contemporary Maya; 7/17, Joseph Suina (Cochiti Pueblo), Fast Changes at Cochiti Pueblo 1950s–1960s; 7/24, Roxanne Swentzell (Santa Clara Pueblo), My Art, My Life; 7/31, John Haworth (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), Reflections on Native Cultures and the Art. $20 at the door. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »
REMINDER: June 29 Online Event: Farming the Hopi Way
With Stewart Koyiyumptewa and Reuven Sinensky. The presenters explore how hard-working Ancestral Hopi farmers leveraged ecological knowledge accrued over centuries, carefully curated drought-tolerant seeds, and simple tools, to flourish even when climate conditions made farming exceedingly difficult. Moving beyond discussions of subsistence and agricultural productivity, they explore the role of farming, cooking, cuisine, and community to the success of early farmers. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
July 6 Online Event: How the Dolores Archaeological Program Shaped Research at Crow Canyon
With Ricky Lightfoot, Mark Varien, Bill Lipe, and Tim Kohler. Located in southwestern Colorado, the Dolores Archaeological Program, or DAP, represents one of the largest archaeology projects ever conducted in the United States. Project fieldwork occurred between 1978–1984 in order to mitigate the impact to cultural resources by the construction of McPhee Reservoir on the Dolores River. The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center was founded as the DAP was winding down. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
July 20 Online Event: O’odham Place Names: Meanings, Origins, and Histories
With Harry Winters. He will share some of his deep knowledge of ’O’odham landscape lore gained from his half-century of travels among ’O’odham on both sides of the modern US-Mexico border. Third Thursday Food for Thought series (Old Pueblo Archaeology Center) | Learn more and register (free) »
July 22 Tour (Tucson AZ): Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill and Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research
8 a.m–12:30 p.m. Old Pueblo Archaeology Center hosts a tour to the University of Arizona’s Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill (founded in 1903 as the Carnegie Desert Botanical Laboratory) with archaeologists Paul and Suzanne Fish and the Tumamoc Lab’s Robert Villa and Lynne Schepartz, then to the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research (since 1937) to tour its facilities with docent Donna MacEachern. Tour meets in the Mercado San Agustín courtyard, 100 S. Avenida del Convento, Tucson. Reservations and $35 donation prepayment due by 5:00 p.m. July 19. Old Pueblo Archaeology Center | Learn more »
July 29 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Garlic Festival
Staff and volunteers planted many varieties of garlic over the winter and have been tending it carefully for months. They are excited to show off what they’ve grown at the Garlic Festival in July. This is a great opportunity to learn about garlic and how to grow it here, and to taste it in a variety of ways! Garlic will be on sale, both for culinary use and for planting in your own garden. The garlic meant for planting will come with growing instructions. Mission Garden: Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace | Learn more »
Fun Quiz: Which Hominin Are You?
We humans have a large and ancient family tree. Take this quiz to find out which relative you are most like. Sarah Edmondson and SAPIENS | Take the quiz »
Video Channel Roundup
Find out which webinars and videos you missed and get caught up at the YouTube channels of our Partners and Friends. (And please do let us know if your channel isn’t in this list but should be!)
Amerind Foundation
Archaeology Southwest
Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society
Arizona State Museum
Aztlander
Bears Ears Partnership
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center
Grand Canyon Trust
Grand Staircase Escalante Partners
Mesa Prieta Petroglyphs Project
Mission Garden (Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace)
Museum of Indian Arts and Cultures
Museum of Northern Arizona
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center
San Diego Archaeological Center
School for Advanced Research
Southwest Seminars
The Archaeological Conservancy
Verde Valley Archaeology Center
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!