Southwest Archaeology Today for Sept 15, 2006

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

– Nevada Needs Site Stewards: Prehistoric and historic archaeological sites are being vandalized and looted in the State of Nevada. Rock art sites are spray painted with graffiti and illegally taken from Federal Public Lands on a regular basis. The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is seeking to increase its number of volunteers, especially in rural areas, to help combat the destruction and aid in the preservation of historic sites.
http://tinyurl.com/qq8sf – Fallon Star Press

– Historic Recognition Sought for Utah Sites: Desiring to protect its cultural legacy on State Street, Murray is seeking national recognition for its historic commercial district – a relic of the city’s time as a boomtown smelter center. Murray, along with three separate property owners from Logan to Salt Lake City, hopes to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The distinction would enable owners to seek state and federal tax credits to help with renovations.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4334742?source=rss

– Farmington Begins Historic Properties Survey: The Farmington Downtown Development Authority wants to determine which downtown properties have historic potential and significance. Properly identifying these properties will help in preservation and will allow city officials to plan for redevelopment downtown.
http://tinyurl.com/erb4f – Hometown Life

– Annual Booksale Next Weekend In Santa Fe: The Laboratory of Anthropology Library Book Sale, Santa Fe, New Mexico, September 23-24, 2006. 10:00 – 4:00 pm Each year, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology Benefit Book Sale in Santa Fe raises funds for the operation of one of the Southwest’s most extensive anthropological libraries. Treasure hunters will find thousands of affordable books in all subject areas as well as jewelry, art, music and other donated items. The Silent Auction will showcase rare books, art and antiques. An auction catalog is available online at http://www.miaclab.org/booksale or by contacting Mara Yarbrough at (505) 476-1264 or mara.yarbrough@state.nm.us. The Book Sale is held in the Meem Auditorium in the Laboratory of Anthropology, on Museum Hill, at 708 Camino Lejo. Admission to the Benefit Book Sale costs $4 on Saturday (reimbursed with a $40 purchase) and is free on Sunday; both days are free to children 16 & under, DCA employees, and MIAC/LOA docents & volunteers.
Call 505-476-1264 or 505-476-1263 for more information.
http://www.miaclab.org/booksale

– Oldest Writing in the New World? A writing system lost for 3,000 years has been rediscovered on an ancient stone tablet in Mexico, archaeologists say.The tablet is the earliest example of writing in the New World, pushing back the origins of writing in the region by several hundred years, according to a paper that will appear in tomorrow’s edition of the journal Science.
http://tinyurl.com/mweel – National Geographic
http://tinyurl.com/p4tol – Scientific American

– Scenic Byways Grant to Improve Heritage Tourism in SW Colorado: The Grand Circle Association is set to receive $100,000 in federal grant money to develop a marketing plan touting scenic byways and attractions in Southwest Colorado and other states.
http://tinyurl.com/nmzw8 – Cortez Journal

Ute Mountain Tribal Park to Offer Tours: TOWAOC, Colo. – The Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Park, located on the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, offers visitors a unique opportunity to view the tribe’s ancestral homelands and the ancient cliff dwellings constructed by the Ancestral Pueblo people, the Anasazi, about 900 years ago. The park originated in 1981 and is relatively unknown even now, which gives it a special appeal because only about 2,000 visitors come to it annually. All visitors must be accompanied by a guide from the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096413618

Symposium Addresses Long Term Management of Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument: Bremner said the children in the area need to see how pure scientific research mandated in the monument’s proclamation can help better manage the land for multiple uses than the not-so-pure politics of the past. “Science seeks truth and should be used in making resource-based decisions,” he said. “It’s amazing to me how the political process makes poor decisions.”
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4330303?source=rss