Road to Chaco to Remain Unpaved

Road to Chaco to Remain Unpaved
The Hopi refer to Chaco Canyon as “the place beyond the horizon.” Because of increasing cost and staunch opposition to a road improvement plan, it will remain the place beyond chip sealing. San Juan County commissioners voted Tuesday to pull the plug on a plan years in the making to pave and improve an 8.25-mile stretch of County Road 7950 leading to Chaco Culture National Historical Park.  http://www.daily-times.com/farmington-news/ci_22126823/county-cancels-chaco-canyon-road-project?source=rss 

Federal Agencies Promise New Respect for Sacred Places
Protection of sites held sacred by American Indians and Alaska Natives will be bolstered under a memorandum of understanding signed Thursday by four federal agencies and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The memo signed by the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Interior also calls for improving tribal access to sites that are on federal land. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/12/06/culture/feds-pledge-protection-sacred-sites/

Mini-course in the Ancient Southwest Available Online
Steve Lekson writes that CU Outreach has posted a mini-course on “A New History of the Ancient Southwest.”  It’s actually six videos, each 20-40 minutes long: 1 Hohokam; 2 Anasazi; 3 Chaco Meridian; 4 Mimbres; 5 PIV; 6 Paquime & SW-Meso. What better way to spend a yuletide evening with friends and family than watching three hours of twisted piffle, with yrs trly juggling (but not dropping) some very nice pots. A musical version is in pre-production, opening April 1.  Happy Holidays!  http://vimeo.com/album/1914925

Native American Graffiti Included in National Park Service Preservation of Alcatraz
Early last month, the National Park Service did something unusual: It painted graffiti onto one of its buildings. However, this is no ordinary graffiti. “Peace and Freedom. Welcome. Home of the Free Indian Land,” the hand-painted slogan on the Alcatraz water tower reads. The scrawl dates back to the nearly two-year occupation of the famous island prison by Native American activists at the tail end of the 1960s. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/alcatraz-water-tower_n_2234876.html

Planning Meeting for the Arizona Archaeology Expo – December 12, 2012
Please join the planning meeting for the 2013 Arizona Archaeology Expo. All are welcome! This year’s expo will be held on March 16, 2013 at the Horseshoe Ranch on the Agua Fria National Monument. We will be meeting in the Arizona State Parks basement meeting room (1300 W. Washington Street, Phoenix, AZ 85007) at 10:00 am on December 12, 2012. Any questions about the Expo or the planning meeting, please feel free to contact Kris Dobschuetz (kdobschuetz@azstateparks.gov) or 602-542-7141.

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. T. J. Ferguson (U. of Az. Anthropologist), who will give a lecture on Hopi Place Names Project, Dec. 17 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Mother Earth Father Sky Lecture Series held annually to honor and acknowledge the important work of The New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Admission is $12 at the door and includes refreshments. Call Connie Eichstaedt at 466-2775 for information (no reservations necessary) or website: southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society is pleased to present Jesse A. M. Ballenger and Maria Zedeno on Monday, December 17 at 7:30 PM at the Arizona State Museum (1013 E. University Blvd.) to discuss It’s Monumental, But It’s Flat: The Stone Architecture of Bison Hunters in Northwestern Montana. Jesse Ballenger will discuss the subtle monumentality and complexity of the ephemeral features in the Two Medicine River Valley of Northwestern Montana that form the vast webs of bison drive lines, residential camps, tombs, and monuments in relation to intensified bison hunting during the Old Women’s phase, ca. A.D. 1000-1700. Contact Jon Boyd @ 444-6385 with questions about this, or any other AAHS program.