Southwest Archaeology Today for April 9, 2007

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

– Current Excavations for Tucson’s Rio Nuevo Project are Open for Public Tours: Tours of Desert Archaeology’s Mission and Mission Gardens excavations begin Monday, April 9 and are avaliable from 9 AM to 1 PM, Monday through Friday: Tour guide Irma Moreno will present photographs of the mission and the 2001-2002 excavations, artifacts from the present dig, and will take people on a tour of the current dig. Visitors should wear appropriate attire- hats and sunscreen are recommended. To reach the site, visitors should take Mission Rd or Grande Ave to Mission lane. Drive down Mission lane and park near the current excavation area.

– Arizona Preservation Foundation’s Historic Preservation Partnership Conference “Distinctive Destinations” Conference Brochure is now Available: The Arizona Preservation Foundation, Arizona State Historic Preservation Office, Arizona Main Street Program, and City of Prescott are delighted you want to make a greater impact on preserving Arizona heritage and history by attending the 2007 conference. Your registration entitles you to participate in interesting sessions; hear outstanding national, state and local guest speakers; honor outstanding preservation achievements at the Governor’s Heritage Preservation Awards and Public Archaeology Awards, and network with fellow preservationists from around the state.
http://www.azpreservation.org/files/HPPCbrochure-LowRes.pdf

– Touring Pueblo Grande: So much of this city is new, big, fast and flashy. Here’s a place to bail out of the bustle next time you visit: Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park offers a calming tour of something old, small, slow-paced and humble in the heart of the state capital. The centerpiece of the park is an ancient Hohokam Indian village – occupied from about the year 450 to 1450.
http://www.azstarnet.com/accent/177040.php

– Casino Funding Requested for Mesa Grande: Someday soon, you may be able to stroll through a relic of Mesa’s ancient Indian past, thanks to money from modern Indian casinos. Mesa plans to ask the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community for $600,000 to fund the first phase of developing the Mesa Grande ruins as an educational and tourist destination. The city made the same request last year, but was rejected.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/eh98 – The Arizona Republic

– Touring Montezuma Castle & Montezuma Well: It’s not a castle…Montezuma was never here. Nestled into a limestone recess high above the flood plain of Beaver Creek in the Verde Valley stands one of the best preserved cliff dwellings in North America. The five-story, 20-room cliff dwelling served as a “high-rise apartment building” for prehistoric Sinagua Indians over 600 years ago. Early settlers to the area assumed that the imposing structure was associated with the Aztec emperor Montezuma, but the castle was abandoned almost a century before Montezuma was born.
http://www.gatewaytosedona.com/article/id/533/page/1
http://www.gatewaytosedona.com/article/id/534/page/1

– Yaqui Easter Ceremonies and Family Traditions: It began with a promise his grandmother made in honor of the Holy Week ceremonies of the Pascua Yaqui tribe.
Today – 70 years later – Herman Tellez is a fixture at the tribal celebrations in Tucson, one of only three places in the world where the centuries-old Yaqui Easter ritual takes place.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/frontpage/47466.php

– Cultivating the Food Crops of the New World: These handsome, sienna-and-tan beans were discovered in an Anasazi ruin in southwestern Colorado and carefully cultivated until they could be grown commercially. True to the promise on the label, Anasazi beans are sweeter and cook faster than pinto beans.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/ekeg – Rocky Mountain News