Southwest Archaeology Today for Sept 16, 2005

Archaeology Making the News – A Service of the Center for Desert Archaeology

– Chumash and Potential Polynesian Connections: In a newly published paper, two scholars have revived the controversial and long-dead theory that Polynesian sailors visited the California coast centuries before the first European explorers planted their flags here.
http://tinyurl.com/cd4mj – Los Angeles Times

-Digital Tools (from Brian Kenny)
Google Areometer lets you measure areas using Google Maps
http://www.acme.com/areometer/

– Employment Opportunities
Field Archaeologists (Utah)
http://www.swanet.org/zarchives/jobs/jobs2005/lsd091405.pdf
Senior Project Manager (Flagstaff)
http://www.swanet.org/zarchives/jobs/jobs2005/swca091405.pdf
FEMA Historic Preservation Reserve Staff (U.S. National)
http://www.swanet.org/zarchives/jobs/jobs2005/swca091405.pdf

– Public Lecture on Anasazi Settlement in Southern Utah (Boulder, Moab, Richfield): Learn why early American Indians settled in southern Utah.
Long before white settlers arrived, American Indians lived in and used the mountain plateaus and canyon lands of southern Utah. Rosemary Sucec, a cultural anthropologist for the National Park Service, will lead a series of lectures describing the special significance that Capitol Reef National Park held for these early peoples. Sucec will explain why the American Indians chose the area and why contemporary Indians still consider it special. The lectures will be held Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Anasazi State Park in Boulder; Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. at the Moab Information Center in Moab; Sept. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 147C of the Administration Building at Snow College in Richfield; and Sept. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Robber’s Roost Bookstore in Torrey.

– Public Lecture on Prehistoric Structural Fires (Albuquerque): “Reconstructing the Cause and Origin of Structural Fires in the Archaeological Record of the Greater Southwest” or “There was a hot time in the old town last night” by Dr. Joe Lally
Tuesday September 20, 2005, 7:30 P.M. Albuquerque Museum, 2000 Mountain Rd. NW. Southwestern archaeologists frequently assume that ancient structural fires were incendiary, intentionally set fires. This assumption is then used to support arguments that suggest motives for setting these fires, such as warfare or ritual abandonment. The possibility that these fires were accidental or due to natural causes such as lightning is either ignored or summarily dismissed. Modern fire science can provide tools, such as computer fire modeling, that can assist in determining if an ancient structural fire was accidental or intentional. The incendiary or accidental nature of these ancient fires should be established before arguments are made that suggest a motive. Research into the natural, accidental or incendiary nature of ancient structural fires is currently in progress at several universities in the Southwestern United States.

-Old Pueblo Archaeology History Day Tour (Saturday Oct 1): On this unique Old Pueblo Archaeology Center history tour, we will visit the site in Oracle where on April 14, 1912 Colonel William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody staked the High Jinks gold mine after investing in Oracle mining for 10 years. He sometimes stayed and entertained at a cabin here until his death in 1917. In the 1920s, Mexican stonemasons helped Cody’s foster son Lewis H. “Johnny” Baker, wife Olive Burgess Baker, her sister Marie Burgess Way, and husband forest ranger Lewis Claude Way built this unique stone house. Buffalo Bill memorabilia graced La Casa del High Jinks until its sale in 1945. Current owner and Tucson writer, horseman, and environmentalist E. Dean Prichard purchased High Jinks in 1975 and has spent 30 years restoring it. He routed the Arizona Trail off Oracle Ridge to link High Jinks, the American Flag Historic Site, and Oracle State Park Center for Environmental Education so all could enjoy this special place, which was his life. The United States Department of the Interior listed High Jinks in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Dean will give us a tour of the house and his very interesting collection of area artifacts that he has have accumulated over the last 30 years. We will also visit American Flag Ranch site and the remnants of the famous 1895 Mountain View Hotel, and a docent will lead us in a special tour and history lesson at the Kannally Ranch that is now part of Oracle State Park. And a bonus stop at the Acadia Ranch Museum where there will be a book signing by local authors and a San Pedro River archaeology exhibit by Desert Archaeology Center of Tucson. Bring a picnic lunch. Tour departs at 9:00 AM from Old Pueblo Archaeology Center, 5100 W. Ina Road. We will return to the same location by 6:00 PM. Limited to 10 participants. Guide: Stephen H. Buck, Ph.D. $65 per person nonmembers $52 per person old pueblo archaeology center members & pueblo grande museum auxiliary members. Call old pueblo archaeology center at 520-798-1201 to sign up.