Preservation Archaeology Blog

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Kate Sarther
Communications Director
Email | (520) 882-6946, ext. 16

 

2022
15
Jul

Meals, Bonds, and Paleoethnobotany

“[Humans] don't just survive; they discover; they create. ... I mean, just look at what they do with food!” – Remy, from the 2007 hit motion picture “Ratatouille” Jonah Bullen, University of Tennessee, Knoxville (June 21, 2022)—An important takeaway I’ve learned during my five year...
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2022
30
Jun

Getting Down and Dirty: The Robinson Collection Project Team Visits the Gila River Farm Site

Jaye Smith, Robinson Collection Project Team Lead (July 1, 2022)—When working on a legacy collection, it is hard to envision the context of the excavations conducted from just the notes and artifact assemblages. As the Robinson Collection Project Team conducts their preliminary research and reh...
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2022
29
Jun

Finders But Not Always Keepers

Rena Schrager, Temple University (June 29, 2022)—“Can we keep this one? It’s not bigger than a quarter, but it’s decorated and pretty.” asks Ashley Tillery, a fellow excavator in Unit 462, inquiring about a small painted ceramic sherd she is holding in her hand as she searches through t...
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2022
29
Jun

Knapping by the River

Jorge Barceló, University of Arizona (June 29, 2022)—Today [6/10/22] was my first day of experimental archaeology with Allen Denoyer, along with Aleesha and Tots. After a short, steep hike down to the San Francisco River, we sat on the bank and Allen began to show us the basics of flintknappin...
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2022
14
Jun

Doing It Awl

Emily Barrick, Pima Community College (June 14, 2022)—One must-have in the field is a good hat with a wide brim and a strap to keep it from flying off your head. Knowing this, I brought one beat-up straw hat for the field and one brown felt one for trips to town. I had always wanted to punch so...
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2022
09
Jun

A (Long, Hot, Summer) Day in the Life

Charles Hemphill, Eastern Arizona College and University of Arizona (June 9, 2022)—We wake before the sun to the sounds of birds in nearby trees. After a week and a half, the mockingbirds have adopted the beeping of our alarm clocks as their morning song, and an always-heard but never-seen turk...
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2022
06
Jun

Melodies, Harmonies, and Community

Elie Stenson, Case Western Reserve University (June 7, 2022)—Each morning as we drive from our camp to the site, the early sun’s trace against the mountains of the Gila National Forest brings Paul Simon’s “Hearts and Bones” to my mind. Prior to this year, I had never been to New Mexi...
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2022
06
Jun

50 Acres in Two Days

Ian Youth, Washington University in St. Louis (June 6, 2022)—Each day at the Preservation Archaeology Field School, Ben Pelletier has been teaching three of us the basics of surveying an unfamiliar landscape. Because surveying allows us to identify previously unknown sites, it is an essential c...
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2022
01
Jun

Unit 463

Stephan Wallace, University of Texas at El Paso (June 3, 2022)—I am currently working on Unit 463 on the Gila River Farm. It started out last year as a trench to find the extent of a wall. The trench ended when another wall was found connected to the first wall at a 90-degree angle. Our crew le...
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2022
31
May

The First Three Days

Avy Henrikson, University of Evansville (June 1, 2022)—Welcome to another exciting season of Archaeology Southwest’s Preservation Archaeology Field School. So far, we have been flooded with new information about the area around Tucson and about the archaeological context for the site we are w...
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2022
31
May

They're Baaaack, 2022 Edition

Karen Schollmeyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Director, Preservation Archaeology Field School (May 31, 2022)—It’s the end of May, and our Preservation Archaeology Field School has just begun our 2022 field season. I’ve been having a great week spending time with our group, and I’m l...
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2022
12
May

Lower Gila Topophilia

Aaron M. Wright, Preservation Archaeologist (May 12, 2022)—This month marks five years since I had the honor to announce the addition of the Fleming Parcel to Archaeology Southwest’s portfolio of conservation properties. This important place is located along the lower Gila River about an ho...
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