Ancient Southwestern Tree-Ring Records Indicate Recent “Megafires” are Unusual Events

Ancient Southwestern Tree-Ring Records Indicate Recent “Megafires” are Unusual Anomalies
Today’s mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests a new study that examined hundreds of years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods. Researchers constructed and analyzed a statistical model that encompassed 1,500 years of climate and fire patterns to test, in part, whether today’s dry, hot climate alone is causing the megafires that routinely destroy millions of acres of forest, according to study co-author and fire anthropologist Christopher I. Roos, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. http://blog.smu.edu/research/2012/05/15/ancient-tree-ring-records-from-the-southwest-u-s-suggest-todays-megafires-are-atypical/

NY Times Looks at the Evidence for Pre-Clovis Populations in the Americas
For many decades, archaeologists have agreed on an explanation known as the Clovis model. The theory holds that about 13,500 years ago, bands of big-game hunters in Asia followed their prey across an exposed ribbon of land linking Siberia and Alaska and found themselves on a vast, unexplored continent. The route back was later blocked by rising sea levels that swamped the land bridge. Those pioneers were the first Americans. The theory is based largely on the discovery in 1929 of distinctive stone tools, including sophisticated spear points, near Clovis, N.M. The same kinds of spear points were later identified at sites across North America. After radiocarbon dating was developed in 1949, scholars found that the age of these “Clovis sites” coincided with the appearance at the end of the last ice age of an ice-free corridor of tundra leading down from what is now Alberta and British Columbia to the American Midwest. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/opinion/sunday/who-arrived-in-the-americas-first.html?_r=1

 National Monument Designation for Chimney Rock Appears Close to Passage
Chimney Rock, a southwest Colorado landmark that once marked the ultimate outlier of the ancient Chaco culture, is one big step closer to gaining national monument status. The U.S. House this week passed the Chimney Rock National Monument Establishment Act with support from both sides of the aisle. The bill was introduced by Republican Congressman Scott Tipton, with a companion measure pending in the Senate, cosponsored by Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall. Chimney Rock National Monument Establishment Act & http://summitcountyvoice.com/2012/05/17/colorado-chimney-rock-close-to-national-monument-status/

Leupp Kiln Conference Scheduled for June 22-24
The Leupp Kiln Conference began in 2003 when Tim Wilcox, a Navajo/Tewa archaeologist, artist and potter, volunteered to host the event at Old Leupp (near Winslow, Arizona).  This very informal gathering of archaeologists, potters, replicators and other interested folks has been held almost every year since at various locations in the American Southwest, depending on who volunteers to host the affair. In addition to firing various pieces of pottery using a whole range of firing methods and fuels (incuding trench, pit and surface kilns), one day of the two or three day event is dedicated to visiting clay sources in the local area to collect clays to make pots for future firings.  A major purpose of the event is to explore the techniques and technology involved in non-modern ceramic firing, but getting together with like-minded folks to burn a lot of wood, coal, animal dung and even corn cobs and to learn from each other is just as important. The 2012 Leupp Kiln Conference will be held at the Tarnoff Art Center in Rowe, New Mexico.  The entry fee for participants is $25 and includes bar-b-que on Saturday evening and entry into all events June 22-24, 2012.  http://leuppkilnconferenceorg.admin.melbourneitwebsites.com/

Human Remains Repatriated from Great Britan
Nobody thought much about the locked metal cabinet in the medical school at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. It was another forgotten fixture in the anatomy department — until a researcher last year found seven skulls with yellowing labels indicating the remains were those of Native Americans from California’s Central Coast. Earlier this month, the skulls and several bone fragments were boxed and gingerly placed aboard a jet to LAX at London’s Heathrow Airport. In a quiet ceremony, they were reburied in San Luis Obispo County, more than a century after their odyssey began.  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-adv-skulls-20120520,0,421863.story

Robert Redford’s Plea to Preserve Desolation Canyon
We have few places left that represent the raw beauty and the history of our American West like Desolation Canyon in my home state of Utah. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1968 for good reason. John Wesley Powell explored Desolation Canyon a century earlier, one of the last uncharted places in the lower 48 states. For thousands of years before that, the region was home to American Indian tribes, including the Hopi, Fremont and Ute people. Their pictographs and petroglyphs still line the canyon walls, silent reminders linking us to the most fundamental roots of civilization. Yet now, much of that is at risk. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/54109242-82/canyon-desolation-drilling-places.html.csp

Highway Archaeology in Utah’s Nine Mile Canyon
The crew members were down on all fours, working with hand tools in the dirt, as the double-tanker truck rolled by on the single-lane road just a few feet away. Their trowels loosened up the hard soil, which was carried to a sifting screen where small artifacts from what was once a Fremont Indian pit house were separated out and placed in neatly labeled paper bags. “We rarely, rarely get to excavate in the canyon,” said Jody Patterson, principal investigator for Montgomery Archaeology Consultants Inc. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865556086/Road-work-in-Nine-Mile-Canyon-yields-new-archaeological-finds.html

 Seventh-Grade Students Find Ancient Jar During Field Trip
A group of New Mexico seventh-graders have found could be one of the most significant archaeological discoveries in a while. Seventh-graders from Sandia Prep discovered a Native American pot, about 18 inches high and 14 to 16 inches wide and possibly 900 years old, while on a field trip last month in Cibola County. http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/index.php/auctions/upcoming-auctions/7272-nm-teens-on-field-trip-find-900-year-old-artifact#ixzz1v9kfdNYv

BLM Seeks Help in Combating Rock Art Vandalism
The Bureau of Land Management is responding to vandalism at rock art sites located on public lands, including the archaeological and historic site of Land Hill. Land Hill is part of the Santa Clara River Reserve – a 6,500-acre area of public land collaboratively managed by BLM and the cities of Ivins and Santa Clara, in part to protect the many prehistoric sites found there, including a high concentration of rock art sites that are preserved on those lands. The BLM’s St. George Field Office has increased its monitoring efforts, is educating the public about these fragile cultural resource sites, and is pointing out the legal consequences of vandalism activities. http://www.thespectrum.com/article/20120517/OUTDOORS01/120517010/BLM-seeks-help-stop-rock-art-vandalism-?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFrontpage

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
On May 21 Dr. Don D. and Dr. Catherine S. Fowler will present Exploring the Glen Canyon Country and Beyond, 1776-1962 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe, $12 at the door. Part of Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture  Series to honor the work of the Archaeological Conservancy.

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
Drawing on a study of the Cibola region, Preservation Archaeologist Matt Peeples will present Identity and Social Transformation in the Prehispanic Cibola World. Matt will explore the nature of widespread social transformations in the ancient Southwest and in today’s world. This lecture is one in a monthly series hosted by the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS).   The talk will start at 7:30 Pm, May 21st  in the University Medical Center’s Duvall Auditorium, 1501 N Campbell. https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/event/identity-and-social-transformation-in-the-prehispanic-cibola-world/

Tour Opportunity – Southeastern New Mexico Archaeological Site Tour
Friday-Wednesday June 15-20, 2012. Old Pueblo Archaeology Center offers its Mimbres Ruins, Rock Art, and Museums of Southern New Mexico archaeology education tour with archaeologist Allen Dart. Drive your own vehicle and meet tour in Silver City to visit Classic Mimbres and Early Mogollon village archaeological sites, spectacular petroglyph and pictograph sites, and the Western New Mexico University Museum, which probably has the finest Mimbres Puebloan pottery collection in the world. Fee $235 for the full five-day tour ($210 for Old Pueblo Archaeology Center and Pueblo Grande Museum Auxiliary members), or $50 per day to attend tour on individual days ($45/day for Old Pueblo and PGMA members). Participants are responsible for their own transportation, meals, and lodging. The tour will be based in Silver City Friday through Monday nights, Deming on Tuesday night, and will depart from hotels in those two cities each morning. http://oldpueblo.org/assets/20120615-0620%281%29MimbresRuins,RockArt,&MuseumsTour.pdf

Thanks to Brian Kreimendahl for contributions to this week’s newsletter.