Anthropology Community Remembers Keith Basso

National Museum of the American Indian Remembers Keith Basso
Keith H. Basso (73), a major figure in American Anthropology and American Indian Studies, died from cancer in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday, August 4. He devoted his life’s work to understanding and bringing to the appreciation of others the rich cultural traditions of contemporary Western Apache peoples, most notably their linguistic forms of expression—their verbal creativity. He is most closely associated with the White Mountain Apaches who live at Cibecue, one of the more remote communities on the White Mountain Apache Reservation in east-central Arizona.  http://bit.ly/13R4Fr2 – National Museum of the American Indian

Preservation Archaeology: No New Ruins
Sometimes archaeologists can prevent ruins. Yes, I said prevent, not preserve. Camp Naco is teaching me life lessons about just how hard it can be to prevent ruins. After working with a devoted team of ruin preventers for the past eight years, it is time to start counting successes. Camp Naco will soon be declared “asbestos free” as a $400,000 Environmental Protection Agency grant is completed. My field trip on August 8 revealed that five buildings are now stabilized. Three more are almost there. One yields optimism. And one remains at the mercy of the elements due to a lack of funds. http://bit.ly/17hNbTp – Archaeology Southwest

Preservation of Tucson’s Fort Lowell Resumes
A fight over the planned restoration of the historic officers’ quarters at Fort Lowell is over. City officials said Tuesday night that they will allow the restoration work to continue despite a lack of funds to build an adjoining parking lot as initially planned and required by both federal and city codes. Pima County had put the project on hold late last month after learning the city was going to insist it had to build a 19-space parking lot, complete with four spaces compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. http://bit.ly/16EwJN1 – Arizona Daily Star

From Supply Camp to Boomtown – Excavations in Downtown Phoenix Reveal Historic Cemetery
The graves had sat largely undisturbed for nearly 70 years, forgotten as generations of residents moved into the Valley and the city expanded from its beginnings as a 3-square-mile outpost. But a crew operating a piece of heavy machinery at the site of the Maricopa County sheriff’s new headquarters in downtown Phoenix last spring unearthed a scattering of human bones and, in the process, launched a study that would reveal the city’s lineage from supply camp to boomtown.  http://bit.ly/166EEX3 – Arizona Republic

Congressional Initiative Might Actually Support Archaeological Preservation
It is not often that Congress does anything warranting praise, but CPAA finds a recent public lands initiative from three Utah congressmen to be praise worthy. Reps. Rob Bishop, Jason Chaffetz and Chris Stewart are in the process of gathering land management proposals — including designating National Conservation Areas for sensitive archaeological landscapes — from a variety of stakeholders on all sides of the environmental debate. This process could lead to more protections for sensitive areas like Cedar Mesa and Nine Mile Canyon. Public hearings are scheduled. CPAA is actively participating in the drafting of certain proposals. We encourage our friends here to participate in these public meetings.  http://bit.ly/19m4QPv – Deseret News

Friends of Cedar Mesa Propose New National Monument
The area enclosed by the above boundaries has many, many outstanding examples of Ancestral Pueblo rock art and cliff dwellings that are nationally and even internationally recognized in books, articles, and on the internet. Sites and rock art of later Ute and Navajo cultures are also present. The Hole-in-the-Rock trail, over which Mormon settlers traveled to found the community of Bluff, passes through the center of the area and is a venerated historic site. http://bit.ly/15rVsRQ – Friends of Cedar Mesa

Pueblo Grande and the Origins of Phoenix Canals
From a distance, the Pueblo Grande Ruins in Phoenix looks like a mound of dirt. Look past the high rise buildings and highways and you will see it is a prehistoric site of an Indian farming community that lived there from 400 up until the mid 1400s. Did You Know this village created an irrigation system of canal water the city of Phoenix uses in part today? “When you think of Pueblo Grande and when you think of the first people who lived here, you need to think of water,” said Roger Lidman, the director of the Pueblo Grande Museum. “Almost 1000 miles of canals. They build it with stone stools, sharpened wooden sticks and baskets,” he added. http://bit.ly/14lMPbm – KJZZ Radio

Discover Magazine Takes a Look at the Julian Wash Site
Downtown Tucson and the Santa Catalina Mountains loom in the distance in this October 2000 photo showing an excavation at Julian Wash in Arizona. Once dismissed as a probable trash heap, the site is now recognized as a large Hohokam village from about A.D. 750 to 1150, and it is a shining example of preservation archaeology, in which sites are excavated and preserved in concert with development.  http://bit.ly/140OAeU – Discover

Lecture Opportunity – Dolores
On Sunday, August 18, at 2 p.m. at the Anasazi Heritage Center, Dr. Laurie Webster will talk about the challenges and rewards found in studying the most fragile kinds of prehistoric artifacts. Her lecture is entitled “Ancient Textiles, Hides, Baskets, and Wood from Southeast Utah.”  Perishable materials rarely survive for long because they are easily destroyed by mice, insects, mold, fire, or other environmental dangers. Cloth, wood, or leather degrade rapidly in most outdoor environments, but they may survive in the arid environment and dry rock shelters of the Four Corners region. The Anasazi Heritage Center is 3 miles west of Dolores, and is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, contact the museum at (970) 882-5600 or visit the web site at www.co.blm.gov/ahc.

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Michael Waters, Paleo-Indian Archaeologist and Director, Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University who will present “In Search of the First Americans,” August 12 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the annual Native Culture Matters Lecture Series  to honor and acknowledge the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary and refreshments are served. Contact Connie Eichstaedt, Director at 505 466-2775, email: southwest seminar@aol.com or website: www.southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe 
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Suzan Shown Harjo (S. Cheyenne/Hodulgee Muscogee), Poet, Activist, Legislative Analyst, and Founding Trustee, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) and President, The Morning Star Institute Luci Tapahonso, Navajo Nation Poet Laureate and Professor, Department of English Language and Literature, University of New Mexico, and Author, Blue Horses Rush In,and Recipient, Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas; and Sara Marie Ortiz (Acoma), MFA, Native Arts Writer and Filmmaker, and Author, Red Milk; who will give individual readings Good Words: Poetry by Luci Tapahonso, Dr. Suzan Shown Harjo and Sara Marie Ortiz followed by a panel discussion on August 19 at 6pmat Hotel Santa Fe as part of the annual Native Culture Matters Lecture Series to honor and acknowledge the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). Admission is by subscription or $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary and refreshments are served. Contact Connie Eichstaedt, Director at 505 466-2775, email: southwest seminar@aol.com or website: www.southwestseminars.org

Arizona Archaeology Expo Planning Scheduled for Friday, August 19
Meet at 10:00 a.m.at the State Historic Preservation Office, Arizona State Parks, 1300 W. Washington, Phoenix, Basement Boardroom to share your ideas as the SHPO initiates planning for the 2014 Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month (AAHAM) celebration.  We will be deciding on a theme for the month, so bring your ideas!  We will be identifying our partners, discussing tentative plans for the 2014 Archaeology Expo, and exchanging ideas for the promotion of this important educational program within our state. The 2014 Archaeology Expo will be held on March 29 (Saturday only), at Catalina State Park.  The host of the Expo, Arizona State Parks, will be present to discuss preliminary plans for this unique Expo. For More Information, Please Contact: Kris Dobschuetz, SHPO Archaeological Compliance Specialist, atkdobschuetz@azstateparks.gov or (602) 542-7141.