Southwest Archaeology Today for May 23, 2007

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

– Craig Childs Continues His Essay on the Hohokam and Phoenix: First, you have to look at the rise. For more than four centuries, the Hohokams were at their prime, living in a grand oasis. The Salt River flowed out of the highlands of eastern Arizona, supplying reliable water to the Phoenix Basin. Only once or twice in most people’s lifetimes would there have been a noteworthy flood or drought. Canals and settlements stretched toward the horizons.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0520hohokam0520.html

– Architectural Historian Speaks out Against the Use of Historical Reconstruction in Tucson: I am against the reconstruction of the Convento (and the Presidio wall) because it is inauthentic. The exact location of the Convento is not known, the building materials and construction systems will not be authentic to the original 18th-century building, and the spatial experience of the building will be compromised due to contemporary accessibility standards, not to mention other code requirements, such as fire sprinklers and air conditioning.
http://www.azstarnet.com/opinion/184067

– Could a Comet Impact have Affected Clovis-Era Populations? Two University of Oregon researchers are on a multi-institutional 26-member team proposing a startling new theory: that an extraterrestrial impact, possibly a comet, set off a 1,000-year-long cold spell and wiped out or fragmented the prehistoric Clovis culture and a variety of animal genera across North America almost 13,000 years ago. Driving the theory is a carbon-rich layer of soil that has been found, but not definitively explained, at some 50 Clovis-age sites in North America that date to the onset of a cooling period known as the Younger Dryas Event. The sites include several on the Channel Islands off California where UO archaeologists Douglas J. Kennett and Jon M. Erlandson have conducted research.
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/530208/?sc=rssn

– Employment Opportunity (Utah): We are trying to hire a seasonal Archaeological Technician GS-102-7 position to perform survey on the Wasatch Plateau and Moab-Monticello Districts in Utah. We have been unable to fill the position so far and need to do some outreach. The job is being advertised through usajobs.gov under the USFS national announcement ADS07-W)FSJOBS-044. Interested applicants may apply through the link to avue digital services (avuedigitalservices.com). This position is seasonal and has a 6 month time limitation. We hope to find a candidate to supervise a crew of two GS-5 archaeological technicians on survey projects on the forest. Thank you. I would greatly appreciate it if you could post this position in your newsletter. Thanks, Donald Irwin
http://www.usajobs.gov