Southwest Archaeology Today for Feb. 19 2007

– The Prehistory of Chilies: Who says food fads can’t last? Thousands of years before the advent of Tex-Mex, ancient Americans were spicing up stew with red hot chili peppers. New fossil evidence shows prehistoric people from southern Peru up to the Bahamas were cultivating varieties of chilies millennia before Columbus’ arrival brought the spice to world cuisine.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/94cy – The Washington Post
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/169454.php

– Crow Canyon Receives Grant from Colorado Historical Society: A $125,100 grant from the Colorado Historical Society State Historical Fund will support research, education and American Indian involvement at Crow Canyon Archaeological Center.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/b4ui – The Cortez Journal

– Feast Day at San Ildefonso Pueblo: It was Jan. 23 at San Ildefonso Pueblo, a village lying under the sacred Black Mesa near Pojoaque, on the way to Los Alamos. A dozen of us volunteers from the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center made an educational and pleasure trip to San Ildefonso’s feast day. The pueblo famous for its black-on-black pottery has a spacious plaza with a museum, gift shop and galleries.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/835z – Albuquerque Tribune

– Unlicensed Tour Operator Pleads Guilty: A California-based tour operator pleaded guilty Feb. 6 to entering a designated fee area without paying the required fees and without possessing applicable permits at Mesa Verde National Park, according to a press release from the National Park Service. Nancy Redpath, owner/operator of Imagine Tours from Davis, Calif., pleaded guilty to two counts in U.S. District Court in Durango, according to the NPS.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/9wbw – The Cortez Journal

– Excavations Continue on the Site of the First Texan President’s Home: During a preliminary excavation in 1998, archeologists discovered a wooden structure buried several feet under Burnet Park. Years later, when plans to build a replica of David G. Burnet’s 19th-century home began to take shape, archeologists were called upon to formally excavate the area. Burnet was the first provisional president of Texas from 1836 to 1858. Burnet once lived on the site that became Burnet Park, located on the southeast side of Lynchburg.
http://stories.baytownsun.com/story.lasso?ewcd=4fea2b55b91b2783

– Gila Cliff Dwellings Announces Start Of Centennial Events: Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument Superintendent Steve Riley announced today an April kick-off of centennial celebrations. On November 16, 1907, Teddy Roosevelt signed the proclamation that forever recognized the “group of cliff-dwellings known as the Gila Hot Springs Cliff-Houses” as a national monument being “of exceptional scientific and educational interestas the best representative of the Cliff-Dwellers’ remains of that region.” Throughout 2007, Gila Cliff Dwellings’ theme Celebrating a Century of Storytelling will guide the special events and programs at the monument, leading up to the actual 100th anniversary on November 16, 2007. The year 2007 not only marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, it also marks the 45th anniversary of an important addition to the original monument’s boundaries. On April 17, 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed a proclamation that added approximately 375 acres containing additional archaeological sites “to round out the interpretive story of the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument.” As a special centennial event, one of these added sites — an unexcavated surface pueblo referred to as the TJ Ruin — will be open for a limited number of guided tours in April. Tours meet at the Gila Visitor Center at 2pm every Tuesday and Saturday, and every day during National Park Week, April 22nd – 29th. There will be no TJ tour on Saturday, April 28th. Group size is limited to 20 people per tour and reservations are recommended. For more information and to make a tour reservation call 505-536-9461. Guided tours of the dwellings will continue to be held daily at noon. – Posted by Sonya Berger, NPS.

– Lecture at Pueblo Grande on the Amelia Earhart Search Project: (Thursday, February 22, 2007 7pm-9pm, Phoenix) Please join Pueblo Grande Museum and Dr. Thomas King, Senior Archaeologist with The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), and co-author of Amelia Earhart’s Shoes. Dr. King will present an illustrated lecture on the 1937 disappearance of aviation pioneers Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan. Several drastically different hypothetical answers have been provided to the question: “What happened to Amelia Earhart?” The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) has been conducting interdisciplinary scientific research testing the Nikumaroro Hypothesis since 1989, and may be coming close to an answer. Amelia Earhart’s Shoes, first published in 2001 and republished in an updated paperback edition in 2004, recounts TIGHAR’s adventures and presents the evidence. Tom King is a Senior Archaeologist with The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR), in charge of archaeology in TIGHAR’s ongoing Amelia Earhart Search Project.