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.

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Banner image: Paul Vanderveen

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Breaking: Biden to Declare Avi Kwa Ame National Monument

Dear Friends, I’ll get to a story about a gentle Buddhist woman and her “fly pistol” in a bit, but first I need to tell you about intervening in public lands court cases. Last week, we highlighted that the Tribes of the Bears Ears Coalition filed to intervene in the two lawsuits brought ...

Report: Administration Should Create or Expand 16 National Monuments and Marine Sanctuaries

Dear Friends, I’m picking up on a theme in today’s news stories—continuing coverage. I’m still thinking about Earth’s 8 billion human residents. Last week, I shared my relief that current data showed that the rate of growth of global population had declined to less than 1 percent fro...

Where Do You Fit in among the 8 Billion?

Dear Friends, Here’s a big piece of news. As of this moment—or perhaps yesterday—there are 8 billion people living on our planet. I have a long-term interest in population growth, but my focus on it today actually derives from the location of the washing machine and dryer in my home. ...

Interior Announces Lifetime Passes for Veterans and Gold Star Families

Dear Friends, We have a climate crisis. The crisis is not theoretical. It is increasingly experiential. In the states of Washington and Alaska, five Indigenous communities received grant awards of $2.1 to $3 million to initiate relocation of their communities—to pioneer a climate adaptati...

Experts Reimagine Bedrock Conservation Laws

Dear Friends, Several times over the course of the pandemic, I’ve felt that the pace of in-person meetings has suddenly quickened—and slowed—and then accelerated again. And for sure, for me, the past few days have been a marathon! Last Friday, I attended an in-person meeting of the Four ...

Lake Powell’s Lowering Reveals More Cultural Sites

Dear Friends, Anyone know what a darning needle is? How about a darning egg? Given that I’m supposed to be writing about Preservation Archaeology, I’ll start by making the point that both are items of material culture. Which is the stuff archaeologists study. For me, they are the items ...

Interior Proposes to Revamp NAGPRA

Dear Friends, Pursuing Preservation Archaeology often leads me to interesting new topics and places, such as regenerative agriculture. That interest got a big boost over a month ago, courtesy of Dax Hansen, owner of Oatman Flats Ranch on the lower Gila River. He held a meeting in Phoenix to sh...

Feds Release Planning Documents for Bears Ears National Monument

Dear Friends, Yesterday evening, I introduced season 16 of our Archaeology Café program—SIXTEEN! Last year’s wildly successful program on Avian Archaeology shared diverse examples of the relationships between people and birds through time. This year’s theme focuses on human relationships. ...

The Politics of Public Lands

Dear Friends, Recently, I immersed myself in several books about the (rapidly dwindling) water supply of the Colorado River basin. It’s a complex story involving the political process, massive economic investments, and the ease with which boosters and politicians were able to convince decisi...

NAGPRA in the News

Dear Friends, What happened in 2021? Before Monday, that would have been a difficult question for me to answer. It was a long time ago, and time has felt pretty “fuzzy” ever since Covid intruded on our lives. But, on Monday, Archaeology Southwest’s 2021 Annual Report landed on m...

Interior Issues Guidance on Tribal Co-Stewardship

Dear Friends, Today, the Great Bend of the Gila Conservation Area Act (H.R. 8719) receives a hearing before the National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands Subcommittee of the House Committee on Natural Resources. It’s an important step in an ongoing campaign to permanently protect the Great Bend...

Capturing Day-to-Night in Bears Ears

Dear Friends, A week from today, the bill to establish a Great Bend of the Gila National Conservation Area (H.R. 8719) will have a hearing before the House Natural Resources Committee in Washington, DC. It will be heard along with two other bills (H.R. 8108, Advancing Tribal Parity on Public Land...

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