Dear Friends,
One of the joys of working at Archaeology Southwest is the daily surprise.
One day, Allen Denoyer will come in showing off a beautiful Acheulean hand axe he just made. The next, we’ll be learning new facts at the fourth installment of our fantastic Archaeology Café series on dogs and archaeology. Earlier this week, we hosted a stellar team of friends and colleagues from the San Pedro Valley here in southern Arizona to discuss our ongoing conservation efforts there.
Last Monday, I was especially delighted when I walked into Karen Schollmeyer’s office. She was beaming and bubbling with energy. When I asked her what was up, she pointed to a pile of boxes and simply said, “Dirt!”
Yes, we archaeologists get excited about dirt, and we can even become ecstatic about specific collections of dirt. What’s so special about Karen’s dirt? A lot, actually.
Back in the 1970s, Central Arizona College ran a series of field schools at archaeological sites in the San Pedro Valley in southeastern Arizona. Students collected a large number of “flotation samples” consisting of the fill (dirt!) from post holes, hearths, and room floors in order to learn about how people used plants in these ancient villages.
They are called “flotation samples” because archaeologists take the dirt, dump it into a tank of water, and then shake the tank until tiny carbonized seeds and other plant remains float to the water’s surface. We then skim the floating plant remains off the top, dry them, and send them off to a paleoethnobotanist (like Sarah Oas) for analysis.
The Central Arizona College samples, however, have not yet been “floated,” much less analyzed. They stayed in a museum, in their original bags, for five decades. In 2023, Karen, Jeff Clark, and Mike Diehl of Desert Archaeology got a National Science Foundation grant to analyze these and similar collections. They will soon know that scientific treasures these samples contain!
Mike will identify the plants in these samples and add the results to the cyberSW database. Karen, Jeff, and the rest of the team will then use these and similar datasets to better understand how people used plants between 1000 and 1450 CE. In so doing, they will learn more about life before, during, and after migrants moved south from what is now northeastern Arizona to join existing communities in southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
Just another day at Archaeology Southwest? You bet. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Until next week,
Steve Nash
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
Banner image: Morgan Sjogren
Continuing Coverage: What Will Happen to Our Public Lands?
What’s at stake, for Bears Ears and other mineral- and fuel-rich public lands, is spelled out clearly in Project 2025, an ultraconservative policy guide created by the Heritage Foundation. Its authors include William Perry Pendley, who served as acting director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) during the first Trump administration and called for an immediate boost in coal, oil, and natural gas production on public lands. In a National Review op-ed from 2016, Pendley even argued that the federal government should sell all of its lands. Tim Vanderpool for the NRDC | Read more »
Commentary: “We Must Protect Our Sacred Lands”
Through my work with environmental nonprofits and elected officials, I have witnessed small strides toward LandBack, tribal sovereignty and less extractive management of public lands. While I am certainly grateful for actions to protect places sacred to the Hopi and other tribes, I am deeply concerned about this second Trump administration, and the disturbing pattern of Democrats crafting campaigns that are disconnected from the poorest in this country—in rural America and on tribal lands. To address the polycrises of the current moment, we need bold action from decision makers. Standing in the middle of the road will only continue to perpetuate the harms of colonization. Clark Tenakhongva in High Country News | Read more »
AZ Judge Dismisses Challenge to National Monument
A federal judge has rejected a lawsuit by Arizona lawmakers challenging former President Joe Biden’s designation of a national monument near the Grand Canyon. The dismissal of a case brought by legislative Republicans and backed by Mohave County shifts attention to Washington, where many on both sides of the issue expect that President Donald Trump may shrink or rescind the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. At issue is the prospect of renewed uranium prospecting in the region northwest of Flagstaff and south of Kanab, Utah. Brandon Loomis for the Arizona Republic | Read more »
Monumental Debate: The Antiquities Act of 1906
How long will national monuments be subject to this yo-yo effect? They will continue to undergo alterations until challenges reach the Supreme Court. If the Justices were to determine the Act does or does not permit the president to modify, diminish, or revoke a prior designation, many broader questions about conservation policy on federal lands will remain—questions that will take decades to address due to our ever-shifting values, priorities, and needs as a nation. Susan C. Ryan for Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Read more »
REMINDER: Call for Indigenous Artists, Deadline Jan. 31
Save History and the Yakama Nation are seeking up to five Indigenous artists with a preference for artists from the Yakama Nation and Pacific Northwest Tribes (must be U.S. citizens) to illustrate a Children’s Activity Book. The book will be shared on SaveHistory.org, in print, and on Save History social media channels. Our team will be recreating our Save Indigenous History Children’s Activity Book to include art, imagery, and values of the Yakama Nation and Pacific Northwest Tribes. The Children’s Activity Book will teach children about respectful visitation of archaeological sites and will include reading and writing activities, word searches, drawing and coloring pages, and other activities. The selected group of artists will be responsible for illustrating a total of ten activities (black and white line drawings) and the book’s cover (full color). Save History (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more »
Call for Applicants: Henrietta Stockell Scholarship 2025
The Jornada Research Institute is pleased to offer its 2025 scholarship awards for graduate students in cultural anthropology. Henrietta was a renowned author, speaker and historian regarding the Apache people, their culture and traditions. She published 13 books, taught classes about the Apache Nation at Cochise County Community College, and was the recipient of numerous awards. Among Henrietta’s passions were providing awareness of the true knowledge and history of the Apache people. JRI will award two individual scholarships: a first-place award of $1,500.00 and a second-place award of $1,000.00. The deadline for submissions is April 1. Jornada Research Institute | Learn more »
February Live Lectures (Santa Fe NM)
Feb. 3, Kirt Kempter, A Geologic Tour of the Pacific Ring of Fire; Feb. 10, Mark S. Aldenderfer, Empires of Gold: Incas, Aztecs and Tibet; Feb. 17, Lynne Sebastian, Chacoan Great Houses; Feb. 24, Timothy R. Pauketat, Thunder Gods of Ancient Cahokia: How History Happened a Millennium Ago. $20 at the door or $75 for the series of 4. Feb. 10 program held at Santa Fe Woman’s Club, 1616 Old Pecos Trail. All others, Hotel Santa Fe. 6:00 p.m. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »
REMINDER: Jan. 31 In-Person Event (Phoenix AZ): Making Connections: Material Culture and Social Networks in the Southwest
With Robert Bischoff. Archaeologists study material culture—objects made and used by people—to explore past social relationships. This presentation combines artifact analysis and computer simulations to examine social networks in the Western Pueblo region (central Arizona to western New Mexico). Bischoff, a PhD candidate at ASU, specializes in computational archaeology, focusing on network science, GIS, and agent-based modeling to reveal social dynamics in ancient societies. Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve | Learn more »
REMINDER: Feb. 4 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Connecting and Dividing
With Matthew E. Hill. Hill will discuss “Connecting and Dividing: Dogs and European Colonists, Enslaved Africans, and Native Americans in the Chesapeake Bay Region, 1600-1800s.” At the time of European colonization, people in the Chesapeake Bay region were divided by race, class, and gender. Dr. Hill will show the complicated role of dogs in this socially dynamic region and highlight how they both connected diverse cultures and created divisions among people. 5:30 p.m., SAACA’s Catalyst Creative Collective, lower-level west wing of Tucson Mall, intersection of Oracle and Wetmore Rds. Refreshments available. Archaeology Café (Archaeology Southwest) | Learn more »
Feb. 12 Online Event: The Keepers of Tradition: Clown Societies in the Casas Grandes and Puebloan Worlds
With Michael D. Mathiowetz. Often simply characterized as irreverent buffoons who are models for proper and improper social, moral, and ethical behavior, clowns are quite complex beings with integral roles in governance, katsina ritualism, medicine societies, and the agricultural cycle. This presentation examines archaeological and ethnological data from the U.S. Southwest and northwest Mexico to identify Medio-period clowning traditions among the Casas Grandes culture, thereby providing insights on Casas Grandes governance, hierarchy, cosmology, and cultural disjunction. San Juan Basin Archaeological Society | Learn more »
Feb. 12 Online and In-Person Event (Queen Creek AZ): A Biography of the Safford Valley Grids Project
With William E. Doolittle. A project born of happenstance, prevarication, perfect timing, and little cost, the story of the Safford Grids Project is one of humor, friendship, collaboration, and productivity. The results are known, but the back story isn’t. This talk is a personal account of how several factors came together resulting in a book that answered a question that mystified archaeologists for a century. Arizona Archaeological Society, San Tan Chapter | Learn more »
REMINDER: Feb. 13 Online Event: Pueblo Identity & the People of Kuaua Pueblo
With Matthew Barbour. The term “Pueblo” is problematic. It was used by the Spanish to refer to many different ethnic groups living in the American Southwest at the time of European contact. All of these groups shared the trait of living in villages but had different languages and customs. This presentation explores the multi-ethnic composition of the people referred to as “Pueblo” through the lens of the occupation history of Kuaua Pueblo, known today as Coronado Historic Site. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
Feb. 17 Online Event: Los Barros de Juan Quezada: Land Use and Composition
With Maren Hopkins and Kelsey Hanson. Juan Quezada is a well-known ceramicist from the village of Mata Ortiz, Chihuahua, Mexico, who spent his lifetime studying the rocks and minerals near his home. While Mr.Quezada’s contribution to the internationally renowned Mata Ortiz pottery tradition is well established, his knowledge of the physical environment remains an understudied aspect of his life’s work. In an effort to highlight this important component of Juan Quezada’s legacy, we documented various clay sources near Mata Ortiz and studied them compositionally using techniques common in archaeology, including neutron activation analysis (NAA), x-ray fluorescence (XRF), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and petrography. As the project progressed, the story of Juan Quezada’s clays evolved into a rich narrative of personal and shared experiences, history, land tenure, geology, toponomy, and more. Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | Learn more and register (free) »
Feb. 22 In-Person Event (Mayer AZ): Archaeology of Agua Fria National Monument
With Connie Stone and Mike Hoogendyk. Connie was the first BLM archaeologist at the monument and wrote much of the original proclamation 25 years ago. Mike is an author, photographer, and avocational archaeologist who has spent more than 20 years exploring the monument. 10:00 a.m., Arcosanti’s Red Room, 13555 S. Cross L Rd. Friends of the Agua Fria | Learn more »
Video Channel Roundup
NEW! Kevin Gilmore on Subarctic style Moccasins and the Apachean Journey from the Northern Dene Homeland (1:23:54). Third Thursday Food for Thought (Old Pueblo Archaeology Center) | Watch now »
Catch up on some presentations not highlighted above that we might’ve missed, too! A simple click on any of the links to the YouTube channels of our Partners and Friends should catch you up. (And please do let us know if your channel isn’t in this list but should be.)
Albuquerque Archaeological Society
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!