Preservation Archaeology Today

Preservation Archaeology Today (PAT) is a free, weekly e-mail news digest. In addition to sharing regional archaeology news, events, opportunities, and publications, PAT connects readers with news and commentary on U.S. public lands policy, global heritage protection and preservation, and the peopling of the North and South American continents. Review our submission guidelines here.

If you have news, announcements, or events, let us know.

Banner image: Paul Vanderveen

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Evidence that People Bred Macaws at Mimbres Site

Dear Friends, Over the past 10 days I spent several days in Traverse City, Michigan, four days in San Diego, California, and a half-day on Mount Lemmon, a peak just outside of Tucson that rises over 9,100 feet. These places have an important thing in common—they are MUCH cooler than Tucson. ...

An Audio Postcard from Mesa Verde National Park

Dear Friends, Good morning! And I say that because it’s 6:30 a.m. here in San Diego as I begin to write this. I’ll confess. I forgot about you. I take that as a good sign. It suggests that I really can occasionally step away from work and relax. Last evening—at the time I am normally ...

Monuments Lawsuit Dismissed; Antiquities Act Holds

Dear Friends, Last Friday, a federal judge made a big decision. Judge Nuffer, a Utah District Court Judge, dismissed Utah lawsuits that challenged President Biden’s use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 to restore Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. ...

Meet the Newest US National Monument, Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni

Dear Friends, Today’s greeting began in my laundry room over the weekend. The latest issue of Journal of the Southwest arrived last week, and it features an article by my friend Bill Doolittle. Bill is a geographer who is retiring after a long career at the University of Texas at Austin. It’s...

Woman the Hunter

Dear Friends, I started my most recent audio book, The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet, by Jeff Goodell, about three weeks ago. That was early in Tucson’s long string of days over 100 degrees. (Yes, Phoenix, I know you only count days over 110 degrees.) Often th...

New National Monument Honors Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley

Dear Friends, Yesterday, President Biden signed a proclamation to establish the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley National Monument in Mississippi and Illinois. Till’s brutal 1955 murder helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. This marks the fourth time President Bide...

Chaco Hearing News

Dear Friends, I have just three short paragraphs to share this week. Monday afternoon brought rain—lots of it—to Tucson. There’s good reason to believe that the Akimel O’Odham and Tohono O’odham deserve our thanks for this wonderful gift of rain. To understand why, I recommend you wa...

Chaco Protection Zone Controversy Heads to U.S. House

Dear Friends, Our apologies for not warning you that we had to take off the July 4th holiday week. Kate and I have been working intently for a long time on the upcoming issue of Archaeology Southwest Magazine. I had worked through the Fourth on the magazine, and Kate had gotten expected but sad n...

White Mountain Apache Perspectives on Protection and Healing at Ancestral Sites

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 verd...

Interactive Map: Proposed Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument

Dear Friends, This week began with Juneteenth—its third celebration as a federal holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery. Would that the proclamation in Texas on June 19, 1865, had also marked the end of racism. Our friends at Emergence Magazine present a powerful essay titled �...

Interior Puts Chaco Protection Zone in Effect for the Next 20 Years

Dear Friends, We took a week off. It was a nice break, but the pace of events seems to have accelerated. I’m keeping this note brief, because there is a LOT you will want to read in today’s issue. But first, two personal notes. My local Cooper’s Hawks, whose two youngsters will soon be f...

Position Announcement: Preservation Archaeologist (Northern New Mexico)

Dear Friends, The month of May has been unusually kind to us Sonoran Desert dwellers. Here in Tucson, we actually broke the 100-degree mark in late April. But we haven’t returned there throughout May. Even on the “warmer” days, the evenings cool off, meaning we wake up to wonderful early mo...

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