Southwest Archaeology Today for November 19, 2007

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

– Assessing the Impact of the San Diego Fires on Historic Structures: We have been receiving many calls and emails from the public and members in regard to the historic sites that the fires may have affected. At this time verifiable information is scarce due to limited access. A comprehensive review of the historic structures damaged or destroyed in the recent San Diego County fires can be found the Save Our Heritage Organization (SOHO) San Diego website:
http://sohosandiego.org/main/fires.htm

– Seeking Spirituality, in Past and Present New Mexico: It is a blindingly bright Southwest autumn morning in Frijoles Canyon, site of a good-sized Ancient Puebloan settlement whose spare but suggestive ruins make up the core of New Mexico’s Bandelier National Monument. I am alone, my labored breathing the only sound disturbing the cottony silence in this part of the canyon. Having just climbed 140 feet up three sets of ladders and worn rock steps into a large cleft in the canyon wall called Alcove House, I now descend a ladder to the dirt floor of a covered circular chamber called a kiva.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/c95q – US News and World Report

– Ancient Puebloan Approaches to Water Harvesting Needed in the Modern Southwest: When I thought about how Coloradans of the past handled water needs, I was struck by the good sense of our oldest Colorado predecessors – the Anasazi Indians living in the arid conditions of what is now Mesa Verde National Park in the Four Corners area of southwestern Colorado. Simply put, the Anasazi collected and stored rainwater, an effective solution. Rainwater harvesting is practiced in various forms in states surrounding Colorado, including Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/2wkh – Rocky Mountain News

Thanks to Jackson Underwood for contributions to Today’s Newsletter