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2024
05
Jul
Archaeological Survey at NAN Ranch
Cassie Merrill, UNC Chapel Hill
(July 3, 2024)—For the past week, I have had the opportunity to explore the Chihuahuan Desert at NAN Ranch in Faywood, New Mexico, as part of the field survey rotation during the 2024 Preservation Archaeology Field School. Our group has learned how to conduct archa...
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2024
03
Jul
Hands On, Phone Off
Mikayla Vasquez-Salgado, University of New Mexico
(June 28, 2024)—My time with Archaeology Southwest has already been an eye-opening and informative experience. During our first week of field school, my rotation was experimental archaeology. I found out firsthand (literally) just how much work it...
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2024
03
Jul
Preservation Archaeology Field School 3.0!
Karen Gust Schollmeyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Director, Preservation Archaeology Field School
(June 27, 2024)—Preservation Archaeology Field School is back, and I couldn’t be happier about it! After a one-year hiatus for planning, we’ve just begun a new field school program focused...
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2024
10
Jun
Celebrating the First Anniversary of the Greater Chaco Land Withdrawal
Paul F. Reed, New Mexico State Director
Preservation Archaeologist
(June 10, 2024)—On the one-year anniversary of the administrative withdrawal of Federal lands in the 10-mile zone around Chaco Canyon to protect its cultural resources from oil & gas drilling, I reflect on this hard-won victo...
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2024
04
Jun
Hands-On Archaeology: Let’s Straighten Something Out
Meet the mighty shaft straightener!
Allen Denoyer, Ancient Technologies Expert
(June 4, 2024)—People used these ground stone tools to straighten wood or reeds used to make arrow shafts. The shaft straightener was placed in the coals of a hot fire and heated up. The arrow shaft was then pressed i...
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2024
03
Jun
My First Several Months at Archaeology Southwest
Ben Pelletier, Preservation Archaeologist
(June 3, 2024)—Hello, all! I am a relatively new employee here at Archaeology Southwest. This is my first blog post to introduce myself and talk about what I have been up to during my first several months with the organization. My background is primarily ...
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2024
24
Apr
Celebrating Field School Alumni in 2024
Karen Gust Schollmeyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Director, Preservation Archaeology Field School
(April 24, 2024)—Spring is traditionally a time for celebrating new beginnings, and many of our former field school students and staff members are doing just that! I’ve been happy to catch u...
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2024
02
Apr
Easing into the Big Easy: Where to Find Archaeology Southwest at the 2024 SAA Conference
Sara Anderson, Director of Outreach
(April 2, 2024)—When planning a trip to New Orleans, most people envision the vibrant music scene, mouthwatering Creole and Cajun cuisines, and lively festivals. This month, archaeologists from across the country are not only hungry for those experiences, but...
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2024
25
Mar
Report on Orphaned and Abandoned Oil-Gas Wells
Paul F. Reed, New Mexico Director and Preservation Archaeologist
(March 26, 2024)—Our recent report on orphaned and abandoned wells in the US highlights the grave threat they pose to irreplaceable sacred and historic sites and to cultural landscapes across the West. The Tribal engagement work I...
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2024
06
Feb
What If TCM? A Multivocal Introduction
(February 6, 2024)—This is the third in a new series of posts that will consider the future of Preservation Archaeology. Each post will introduce a Preservation Archaeology Position Paper. Today we’re debuting “Tribal Co-Management: What Works Where and How.” We welcome and encourage fee...
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2024
04
Feb
I’itoi’s Swords: Imagining and Creating a Weapon from a Tohono O’odham Story
Allen Denoyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Ancient Technologies Expert
(February 5, 2024)—In May 2023, Tohono O’odham museum curator April Ignacio contacted me to see if I would be interested in creating some obsidian swords for an exhibition they were planning. “They Don’t Love You: I...
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2024
07
Jan
Hands-On Archaeology: How to Make a Tabular Saw
Allen Denoyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Ancient Technologies Expert
(January 8, 2024)—In today’s post, I’ll show you how to make a simple agave-processing tool. Although archaeologists generally call these “tabular knives,” experiments indicate that people probably used them more ...
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