2019
10
Dec
National Monument Reductions, Two Years Later
Commentary: “Relentless assault” in the Two Years Since National Monument Reductions
This week marks the two-year anniversary of the Trump administration’s decision to decimate two national monuments located in Utah. With the stroke of a pen, the president removed protections on 85% of the Be...
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2019
01
Oct
Federal Judge Rules that Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante Suits May Move Forward
Federal Judge Rules that Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante Suit May Move Forward
A federal judge has turned down an attempt by the Trump administration to dismiss legal challenges to its 2017 decision to cut the size of Bear Ears National Monument in southern Utah. In a three-page ruling issued...
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2019
17
Sep
Border Construction Imperils Archaeological Sites in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Border Construction Imperils Archaeological Sites in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
Environmental groups have fought unsuccessfully to halt construction in protected areas, arguing that more-imposing barriers could disrupt wildlife migration and threaten the survival of imperiled species. But ...
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2019
04
Sep
Understanding When and How the Americas Were Populated
Understanding When and How the Americas Were Populated
Most archaeologists would now agree that there were widely scattered, small but culturally diverse groups of people living in the Americas at least one or two millennia before the emergence of Clovis spear points. That estimate, then, placing p...
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2019
28
Aug
Before Highway Realignment, Investigations Reveal an Important Archaeological Site
Before Highway Realignment, Investigations Reveal an Important Archaeological Site
A large, extensive network of Native American ruins was recently discovered just outside Durango on top of Florida Mesa, and it’s kind of blowing archaeologists’ minds. “As an archaeologist with 30-plus years...
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2019
11
Jun
BLM Changes Position on Leasing within Chaco Buffer Zone
BLM Changes Position on Leasing within Chaco Buffer Zone
The Bureau of Land Management no longer opposes an effort by members of the New Mexico congressional delegation that would ban oil, gas and other mineral leasing within a 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. BLM ...
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2019
04
Jun
Fingerprints Show Chaco Potters Were Male and Female
New Research: Fingerprints Show Chaco Potters Were Male and Female
In the Pueblo communities of New Mexico and Arizona, pottery is a skill that is traditionally passed down from grandmothers and mothers to younger women of the community. This custom was thought to have ancient origins, and archaeol...
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2019
16
Apr
Protecting Greater Chaco - Important Updates
Protecting Greater Chaco
Acoma Pueblo tribal Gov. Brian Vallo told members of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources at a hearing in New Mexico that not enough is being done to safeguard sacred sites scattered beyond the national park at Chaco Canyon. Many of the sites involve more ...
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2018
04
Dec
Thank You for Commenting
Unprecedented Number of Comments Submitted on Behalf of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante
Organizations in Utah announced Tuesday that Americans across the country submitted more than 500,000 comments on the future of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. This outsized...
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2018
27
Nov
Thought-Provoking Essay on Archaeological Headlines
Commentary: Words Matter
These myths of discovery and exploration are particularly damaging because they paint a picture where Indigenous groups are not able caretakers of their own histories and landscapes. Headlines that promote this contribute to the erasure of modern Indigenous connections to l...
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2018
09
Oct
All Pueblo Council of Governors Takes Case for Chaco Protection to DC
Commentary: All Pueblo Council of Governors Takes Case for Chaco Protection to DC
Whether it is through the BLM and BIA management plan, the proposed federal legislation, or both, we want decision makers in D.C. to know that just as the United States takes great care to preserve churches, we would ...
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2018
02
Oct
Defending Cultural Landscapes, Latest Edition
NPR’s Science Friday Features Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments
The reduction opened up nearly 2 million acres of previously protected federal land to fossil fuel and mineral exploitation, angering Native Americans, for whom the land is historically and spiritually signi...
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