Time, Trees, and Prehistory: Tree-Ring Dating and the Development of North American Archaeology
Dendrochronology, or tree-ring dating, burst onto the archaeological scene in December 1929, when Andrew Ellicott Douglass, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, published more than a dozen new common-era calendar dates for several famous archaeological sites across the American Southwest. The results immediately shocked archaeologists and other scholars, who had grossly overestimated the age of sites such as the cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde and the pueblos of Chaco Canyon, among others. In this talk, Archaeology Southwest President & CEO Steve Nash shares the colorful characters, challenging situations, and mind-boggling patience of those who worked for more than 15 years to develop the science of archaeological tree-ring dating, the worldwide center of which remains at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Many Roads to the Truth: Paul Sidney Martin and the Development of North American Archaeology
During a career that spanned six decades, most of them as a curator at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, archaeologist Paul Sidney Martin made numerous contributions to archaeological knowledge, method, and theory. Over the last quarter-century, Archaeology Southwest President & CEO Steve Nash has been working to fully document Martin’s work at sites in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. In this talk, Nash shares his insights on Martin’s discoveries, schools of thought, and occasional controversies to better understand a scholarly pillar in North American archaeology.
Three Decades of Restorative Justice? Museums, Repatriations, and Voluntary Returns in the Age of NAGPRA
President George H. W. Bush signed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) into law on November 16, 1990. As a piece of human rights legislation, NAGPRA slowly but surely ushered archaeology in the United States into a new era that required greater collaboration with federally recognized Tribes. In this talk, Archaeology Southwest President & CEO Steve Nash surveys the repatriation landscape as it affects Tribes and museums, repositories, universities, and other institutions that accept federal funding. He also presents several case studies on voluntary returns—those that occur not as a result of legislation, but because of mutual agreement.
Visit with Respect: Archaeology Southwest, Preservation Archaeology, and the Decades-Long Effort to Preserve Cultural Heritage in the American Southwest
Archaeology Southwest has been at the forefront of cultural heritage preservation, minimally invasive archaeology, and Tribal collaboration for many years. In this presentation, President & CEO Steve Nash summarizes many of the remarkable contributions the Archaeology Southwest team has made, and continues to make, in research, advocacy, site and landscape conservation, outreach activities, and more. Nash shares how you, too, can learn to visit sites with respect and contribute to the important work of cultural heritage preservation for all.