Southwest Archaeology Today for Feb. 24, 2006

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

– Utah Legislation Concerning Archaeological Site Management Passes Senate Approval: A bill that changes who oversees archaeological work on public lands passed the House on Tuesday after several amendments. HB139, sponsored by Rep. Brad Johnson, R-Aurora, requires the state’s public land policy board to take over the main responsibility for overseeing archaeological sites – which most often are ruins from ancient Indians. Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, got the bill amended to say that state archaeologists can still review sites and make reports on them without the board taking action. And Allen’s amendments require that a properly certified archaeologist do the work. Rep. Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, said several professional archaeological groups oppose the measure. But Johnson said “a balance must be reached. Some of these sites are (arrowhead) chippings. We don’t need every arrrowhead and we can’t afford to protect every arrowhead.” The bill passed to the Senate on a 61-13 vote. – Deseret News
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3533783?source=rss

– Insurance Regulations Thwarting Efforts of Site Stewards Near Peoria: State-trained volunteers are holding off from monitoring Peoria’s archaeological and historic sites. Peoria wants all site stewards to sign a waiver of liability, which Site Steward Program officials say is extreme and provides no coverage for any medical expenses for injuries. “Nobody has asked for a separate and total waiver of liability like they have,” said Mary Estes, a resource protection specialist in charge of the program. “I am not encouraging them (volunteers) to sign. If they want to sign, they can. It’s not a happy place between the program and the city of Peoria over this requirement.”
http://tinyurl.com/qk5dw – Arizona Republic

– Southwest Indian Art Fair Begins Saturday at the Arizona State Museum: Edgar Perry falls strictly in the traditionalist camp of American Indian artists. Perry will demonstrate his leathercraft and participate in other Apache traditions during the 12th annual Southwest Indian Arts Fair this weekend at the Arizona State Museum. Other artists will demonstrate weaving, sandpainting, basket-making, flute-making and jewelry-making. More than 200 Southwest American Indian artists will exhibit and sell their works, including such traditional crafts as Hopi kachinas, Navajo baskets and Zuni fetishes.
http://www.azstarnet.com/dailystar/allheadlines/116738.php.

– Aerial Photography Exhibit at Pueblo Grande Museum Highlights Early Phoenix: You must peer closely to see the dark smudge that is the hangar. That light brown scratch is the airstrip. And that shadow there, that’s the shed where pilots sought refuge from the sun – Terminal 0, you might say. It was the start of what would be Sky Harbor Airport, photographed in 1930 from 10,000 feet. It’s just one of the many revealing looks at Phoenix in its infancy, when the city was more desert outpost crisscrossed by dusty streets clustered in the middle of nowhere. The shot high above Sky Harbor is just one of hundreds of aerial photos that had been buried in a Maryland storage facility until recently. Many are now on display in “Flight Over Phoenix,” an exhibit at the Pueblo Grande Museum that chronicles the ambitious, and nearly forgotten, photo expedition.
http://tinyurl.com/l96yr – Arizona Republic

– Impacts of NAGPRA: The head of the program administering the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the landmark 1990 law that sets a process for the return of sacred items to Native groups, says the legislation has been a boon to scientists. A California-based anthropologist counters that the law, commonly known by the acronym NAGPRA, has had the unintentional result of preventing the gathering of information. Elizabeth Weiss, an anthropology professor at San Jose State University, says she examined data from the past three decades to determine how NAGPRA affected research.
http://tinyurl.com/q8a8c – Native Times