Protests at Standing Rock: A Model for How We Might Protect the Chaco Landscape?

Protests at Standing Rock: A Model for How We Might Protect the Chaco Landscape?
Protesters in North Dakota have made headlines for months with their prolonged opposition to the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The thousands of protesters include representatives from Native American tribes along with environmental activists who have joined the Standing Rock protest camp. It has been well documented that government officials and the pipeline company made extensive efforts to meet with tribal leaders of the Standing Rock Sioux, but those efforts were stymied by a lack of cooperation. The lack of meetings has now led to a political battle as the tribe claims they were not consulted. http://bit.ly/2fdCMCd – ValueWalk

Wirt Wills Leads a Chacoan Field School
Wills oversaw a group of 11 UNM archaeology students participating in a six-week research program at Chaco this fall. The program involved continuing the search for a former homestead and trading post next to the extensive Pueblo Bonito ruins. Students also reviewed the condition of sites examined by archaeologists in previous years to document any changes.The object of the course was to teach the students basic techniques of field research methods like mapping, artifact identification and excavation to equip them for potential careers in cultural resource management. http://bit.ly/2fdMBQI – Albuquerque Journal

Peabody Museum Celebrates 150 Years
On October 8, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University marked its 150th anniversary and International Archaeology Day with free admission all day, and an afternoon of hands-on activities, live music and birthday cake. Over 1500 visitors turned out for the event (which included free admission to the connected Harvard Museum of Natural History), to see curators bring out rare objects from storage, such as the FeeJee Mermaid, the bear claw necklace collected by Lewis & Clark, a 90,000 year old human skull from Israel, and a jadeite jewel of an Aztec goddess. Nearly 300 visitors checked out the Zooarchaeology Laboratory to touch and identify animal bones. http://bit.ly/2fdGxYs – Archaeology Institute of America

Hopi Tribal Chairman Honanie and Representative Raul Grijalva Urge President to Protect the Grand Canyon While There Is Still Time
The Grand Canyon is recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site thanks in large part to its unsurpassed beauty, which encompasses extensive stretches of old-growth forests, unique geologic features and pristine watersheds. Thousands of plant, animal and aquatic species, some of which are found nowhere else on Earth, thrive above and below the canyon rim, right down to the Colorado River itself. The area has been home to humans for more than 12,000 years, a span that includes some of the earliest known cultures here in North America. The Hopi tribe considers the Grand Canyon a place of origin, a spiritual home and sanctuary of cultural tradition. The tribe’s history and culture cannot be separated from it. For generations the entire community has considered the Canyon hallowed ground. Few issues unite the tribe like the continued preservation of the Grand Canyon and the surrounding area, and that’s why today the Hopi strongly support the proposed Greater Grand Canyon Heritage National Monument. President Obama should use his power under the Antiquities Act to establish this monument and protect this sensitive land while there’s still time. http://bit.ly/2fdT6mo – The Hill

Publication Announcement: Catherine M. Cameron’s Captives: How Stolen People Changed the World
In November 2016, the University of Nebraska Press will publish Captives: How Stolen People Changed the World by Catherine M. Cameron, a professor at the University of Colorado.  Captives brings together a vast amount of information on captive-taking and enslavement in small-scale societies – an evil often overshadowed by the massive trans-Atlantic African slavery, or in more remote times, the “industrial” slavery of empires like Rome.   Perhaps the most astonishing contribution of this book to the demonstration that captive-taking and enslavement was present in virtually every society in the world from perhaps as early as the Neolithic period. Captives brought new technologies, religious ideas, and design styles.  Perhaps most significantly, their presence created status for their masters and their labor enriched him, leading to permanent social inequality.  Understanding the deep history and global occurrence of the capture and enslavement of women transforms our understanding of the structure and operation of small-scale societies and can help us contextualize and understand slavery in entirely new ways. http://bit.ly/2gsORbS – University of Nebraska Press

Lecture Opportunity – Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. Bryan Brown and Gary Cascio who will give a talk on Historic New Mexico River Crossings on November 28 at 6pm at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the annual Mother Earth Father Sky Lecture Series held to honor The New Mexico Environmental Law Center. Bryan is an Ornithologist/Avian Ecologist and Environmental Consultant to University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University. Gary is a photographer and Graphic Designer, Amateur Historian and Researcher of Colorado River and Rio Grande Historic Ferries together with Bryan. Admission is by subscription of $12 at the door. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt tel 505 466-2775; email: southwest seminar@aol.com; website: http://bit.ly/YhJddr – Southwest Seminars

Lecture Opportunity – Tucson
The Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society (AAHS) is pleased to present David R. Wilcox on Monday, December 19th at 7:30 pm in the University Medical Center’s Duval Auditorium (1501 N Campbell Ave, Tucson 85724), who will discuss, “Frank Hamilton Cushing as a Professional Archaeologist in the 1880s and Anthropology at the 1893 World’s Fair.” Meetings are free and open to the public. For more information please visit the AAHS website: http://www.az-arch-and-hist.org/, or contact John D. Hall at jhall@sricrm.com with questions about this or any other AAHS program.