Southwest Archaeology Today Newsletter for May 20th, 2012
Ancient Southwestern Tree-Ring Records Indicate Recent “Megafires” are Unusual Anomalies
Today’s mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests a new study that examined hundreds of years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods. Researchers constructed and analyzed a statistical model that encompassed 1,500 years of climate and fire patterns to test, in part, whether today’s dry, hot climate alone is causing the megafires that routinely destroy millions of acres of forest, according to study co-author and fire anthropologist Christopher I. Roos, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. http://blog.smu.edu/research/2012/05/15/ancient-tree-ring-records-from-the-southwest-u-s-suggest-todays-megafires-are-atypical/
NY Times Looks at the Evidence for Pre-Clovis Populations in the Americas
For many decades, archaeologists have agreed on an explanation known as the Clovis model. The theory holds that about 13,500 years ago, bands of big-game hunters in Asia followed their prey across an exposed ribbon of land linking Siberia and Alaska and found themselves on a vast, unexplored continent. The route back was later blocked by rising sea levels that swamped the land bridge. Those pioneers were the first Americans. The theory is based largely on the discovery in 1929 of distinctive stone tools, including sophisticated spear points, near Clovis, N.M. The same kinds of spear points were later identified at sites across North America. After radiocarbon dating was developed in 1949, scholars found that the age of these “Clovis sites” coincided with the appearance at the end of the last ice age of an ice-free corridor of tundra leading down from what is now Alberta and British Columbia to the American Midwest. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/opinion/sunday/who-arrived-in-the-americas-first.html?_r=1
National Monument Designation for Chimney Rock Appears Close to Passage
Chimney Rock, a southwest Colorado landmark that once marked the ultimate outlier of the ancient Chaco culture, is one big step closer to gaining national monument status. The U.S. House this week passed the Chimney Rock National Monument Establishment Act with support from both sides of the aisle. The bill was introduced by Republican Congressman Scott Tipton, with a companion measure pending in the Senate, cosponsored by Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall. Chimney Rock National Monument Establishment Act & http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/05/17/colorado-chimney-rock-close-to-national-monument-status/
Leupp Kiln Conference Scheduled for June 22-24
The Leupp Kiln Conference began in 2003 when Tim Wilcox, a Navajo/Tewa archaeologist, artist and potter, volunteered to host the event at Old Leupp (near Winslow, Arizona). This very informal gathering of archaeologists, potters, replicators and other interested folks has been held almost every year since at various locations in the American Southwest, depending on who volunteers to host the affair. In addition to firing various pieces of pottery using a whole range of firing methods and fuels (incuding trench, pit and surface kilns), one day of the two or three day event is dedicated to visiting clay sources in the local area to collect clays to make pots for future firings. A major purpose of the event is to explore the techniques and technology involved in non-modern ceramic firing, but getting together with like-minded folks to burn a lot of wood, coal, animal dung and even corn cobs and to learn from each other is just as important. The 2012 Leupp Kiln Conference will be held at the Tarnoff Art Center in Rowe, New Mexico. The entry fee for participants is $25 and includes bar-b-que on Saturday evening and entry into all events June 22-24, 2012. http://leuppkilnconferenceorg.admin.melbourneitwebsites.com/
Human Remains Repatriated from Great Britan
Nobody thought much about the locked metal cabinet in the medical school at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. It was another forgotten fixture in the anatomy department — until a researcher last year found seven skulls with yellowing labels indicating the remains were those of Native Americans from California’s Central Coast. Earlier this month, the skulls and several bone fragments were boxed and gingerly placed aboard a jet to LAX at London’s Heathrow Airport. In a quiet ceremony, they were reburied in San Luis Obispo County, more than a century after their odyssey began. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-skulls-20120520,0,421863.story
Robert Redford’s Plea to Preserve Desolation Canyon
We have few places left that represent the raw beauty and the history of our American West like Desolation Canyon in my home state of Utah. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1968 for good reason. John Wesley Powell explored Desolation Canyon a century earlier, one of the last uncharted places in the lower 48 states. For thousands of years before that, the region was home to American Indian tribes, including the Hopi, Fremont and Ute people. Their pictographs and petroglyphs still line the canyon walls, silent reminders linking us to the most fundamental roots of civilization. Yet now, much of that is at risk. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/54109242-82/canyon-desolation-drilling-places.html.csp
Highway Archaeology in Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon
The crew members were down on all fours, working with hand tools in the dirt, as the double-tanker truck rolled by on the single-lane road just a few feet away. Their trowels loosened up the hard soil, which was carried to a sifting screen where small artifacts from what was once a Fremont Indian pit house were separated out and placed in neatly labeled paper bags. ”We rarely, rarely get to excavate in the canyon,” said Jody Patterson, principal investigator for Montgomery Archaeology Consultants Inc. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865556086/Road-work-in-Nine-Mile-Canyon-yields-new-archaeological-finds.html
Seventh-Grade Students Find Ancient Jar During Field Trip
A group of New Mexico seventh-graders have found could be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in a while. Seventh-graders from Sandia Prep discovered a Native American pot, about 18 inches high and 14 to 16 inches wide and possibly 900 years old, while on a field trip last month in Cibola County. http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/index.php/auctions/upcoming-auctions/7272-nm-teens-on-field-trip-find-900-year-old-artifact#ixzz1v9kfdNYv
BLM Seeks Help in Combating Rock Art Vandalism
The Bureau of Land Management is responding to vandalism at rock art sites located on public lands, including the archaeological and historic site of Land Hill. Land Hill is part of the Santa Clara River Reserve – a 6,500-acre area of public land collaboratively managed by BLM and the cities of Ivins and Santa Clara, in part to protect the many prehistoric sites found there, including a high concentration of rock art sites that are preserved on those lands. The BLM’s St. George Field Office has increased its monitoring efforts, is educating the public about these fragile cultural resource sites, and is pointing out the legal consequences of vandalism activities. http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20120517/OUTDOORS01/120517010/BLM-seeks-help-stop-rock-art-vandalism-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage
Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
On May 21 Dr. Don D. and Dr. Catherine S. Fowler will present Exploring the Glen Canyon Country and Beyond, 1776-1962 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe, $12 at the door. Part of Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture Series to honor the work of the Archaeological Conservancy.
Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
Drawing on a study of the Cibola region, Preservation Archaeologist Matt Peeples will present Identity and Social Transformation in the Prehispanic Cibola World. Matt will explore the nature of widespread social transformations in the ancient Southwest and in today’s world. This lecture is one in a monthly series hosted by the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS). The talk will start at 7:30 Pm, May 21st in the University Medical Center’s Duvall Auditorium, 1501 N Campbell. http://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/event/identity-and-social-transformation-in-the-prehispanic-cibola-world/
Tour Opportunity - Southeastern New Mexico Archaeological Site Tour
Friday-Wednesday June 15-20, 2012. Old Pueblo Archaeology Center offers its Mimbres Ruins, Rock Art, and Museums of Southern New Mexico archaeology education tour with archaeologist Allen Dart. Drive your own vehicle and meet tour in Silver City to visit Classic Mimbres and Early Mogollon village archaeological sites, spectacular petroglyph and pictograph sites, and the Western New Mexico University Museum, which probably has the finest Mimbres Puebloan pottery collection in the world. Fee $235 for the full five-day tour ($210 for Old Pueblo Archaeology Center and Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary members), or $50 per day to attend tour on individual days ($45/day for Old Pueblo and PGMA members). Participants are responsible for their own transportation, meals, and lodging. The tour will be based in Silver City Friday through Monday nights, Deming on Tuesday night, and will depart from hotels in those two cities each morning. http://oldpueblo.org/assets/20120615-0620%281%29MimbresRuins,RockArt,&MuseumsTour.pdf
Thanks to Brian Kreimendahl for contributions to this week’s newsletter.
Southwest Archaeology Today Newsletter for May 6th, 2012
Debate Over Cultural Affiliation at the Heart of a NAGPRA Dispute at UC San Diego
The fate of the nearly 10,000-year-old remains unearthed in 1976 during renovation work at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) chancellor’s house in La Jolla, California, are still undecided. A federal court judge in San Francisco granted a temporary restraining order March 30 that prevents UCSD from giving the remains to the Kumeyaay. Last week three University of California professors filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the transfer. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/05/02/repatriation-and-reburial-of-ancient-remains-delayed-111124
Utah Kicks Off Archaeology Week
This year’s event “Archaeology Week: Utah’s Heritage” is scheduled for May 5 – 12, 2012. Statewide events will give you insight into the lives of people who lived in Utah in the past. http://www.history.utah.gov/archaeology/i_love_archaeology/prehistory_week/index.html
Aztec Ruins to Host National Geographic Geotourism Program
Aztec Ruins National Monument is slated to play host to a National Geographic “geotourism” trail of the Four Corners. The launching of a geotourism trail is scheduled June 2 at the ruin site in Aztec, N.M. The launch will include American Indian ceremonial dancers and excursions to nearby geotourism sites. Geotourism is tourism that helps the geographic character of a place, its environment, culture, and heritage. http://www.nativetimes.com/life/travel/7168-aztec-ruins-to-join-national-geographic-trail
Fox News Team – Preserving the Ruins in Plain Sight
The Indians decorated the dwelling with dozens of well preserved petroglyphs. Scientists think, at its peak in the mid-13th century, a tribe of about a thousand lived on this mesa. But 100 years later they all just disappeared. Nobody knows why. Was it war? Drought? Conservatively, this could have been here 300 years before Columbus set sail. Yet here we have modern day I-17, Black Canyon City. So close to modern civilization, yet seen by so few. We aren’t going to point out exactly where this is, so that 100 years from now, some other explorers might find it just as we did. http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/dpp/news/only_on_fox/ruins-hidden-in-plain-sight-5-4-2012
Carolyn O’Bagy Davis’s Hopi Summer Exhibit Opens at Prescott’s Smoki Musuem
The fruits of “Hopi Summer” “sort of fell into my lap,” Davis said, recalling a visit to Boston where she saw the front page of a little village newspaper featuring old Hopi photos from 1927. As a frequent visitor to Hopi Land and a writer of the Hopi people and their quilting, this discovery intrigued her. She contacted the family to whom the photos belonged and found a grandson, Robert Arnold. He had a veritable trove of photos and letters that he shared with Davis. http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=106140
Ancient Burial Jar Donated to Goodwill to Be Repatriated
The piece of pottery that turned up last month in the warehouse of Goodwill Industries of Western New York might be described as “primitive.” Roughly 7 1/2 inches tall, the vessel features a fluted opening and wartlike protrusions. But it arrived with a note inside suggesting that its provenance may be prehistoric. http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article839151.ece and http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120503/APA/1205030686
Vandenberg Air Force Base Honored for Commitment to the Preservation of Cultural Sites
Vandenberg AFB’s 30th Space Wing, located on California’s Central Coast, was recognized for its cultural resources management, and Hill AFB’s 75th Civil Engineer Group for its environmental restoration. Headed by the team of Kelli Brasket, Dr. James Carucci, Bob Peterson and Christopher Ryan, Vandenberg AFB was lauded for its efforts in protecting and preserving more than 1,500 prehistoric resources including 14 rock art sites, five named historic Native American villages, 12 unnamed village sites, numerous cemeteries and hundreds of shell midden sites, which includes the oldest dated archaeological deposit on the Central Coast mainland. http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123300654
Archaeology as a Social Science
The popular perception of archaeology is a team of dusty individuals in wide-brimmed hats unearthing treasures from a pharaoh’s tomb or an ancient collection of Native American artifacts. Archaeology is that, but it is also a social science that utilizes information from other disciplines to inform and enhance archaeological data and to provide input to other sciences. Michael Smith, ASU anthropology professor, explores the broadened scope of archaeology in the paper “Archaeology as a Social Science” published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Gary M. Feinman of The Field Museum in Chicago, Robert D. Drennan of University of Pittsburgh, Timothy Earle of Northwestern University and Ian Morris of Stanford University are co-authors of the paper. http://s.tt/1axML - Red Orbit
Lecture Opportunity – Dolores
Preservation Archaeologist Jeffery Clark will share his research on ancient migrations in the Southwest in an upcoming talk at the Anasazi Heritage Center. Jeff’s presentation complements Pieces of the Puzzle: New Perspectives on the Hohokam, an exhibition developed by Archaeology Southwest and Pueblo Grande Museum, and currently on display at the Anasazi Heritage Center. http://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/pdf/2012_may_4cls_clark.pdf
Lecture Opportunity – Glendale
Southwestern Rock Calendars and Ancient Time Pieces with archaeologist Allen Dart at Glendale Public Library Foothills Branch, 19055 N 57th Avenue, Glendale, Arizona. 6:30-8 p.m. Archaeologist Allen Dart discusses petroglyphs, architecture, and settlement layouts that suggest ancient practices of astronomy and calendrical reckoning, and interprets how these discoveries may have related to ancient Native American rituals. Funding for this program is provided by the Arizona Humanities Council. No reservations needed. Contact Librarian Sarah Herlache, 623-930-3844 or sherlache@glendaleaz.com for more information.
Thanks to Jim Bonk and Adrianne Rankin for contributions to this week’s newsletter.
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