Congressional Spending Bill Includes Protection for Greater Chaco

Congressional Spending Bill Includes Protection for Greater Chaco
The U.S. Senate has approved a $1.4 trillion spending package for the 2020 fiscal year. The White House has said that the president will sign the legislation. Importantly, the legislation includes interim protections for the landscape adjacent to Chaco Culture National Historical Park. Paul F. Reed, Chaco Scholar and Preservation Archaeologist at Archaeology Southwest, issued the following statement: “We at Archaeology Southwest are elated that Congress took action today to protect Chaco Culture National Historical Park from oil and gas drilling. The appropriations bill ensures that there will be no more leasing on federal lands within ten miles of the park, pending needed studies and consultation with tribal communities. The ten-mile zone around the park is particularly important, as it includes more than a dozen Chacoan great house communities, ancient roads, and thousands of other significant cultural resources. Thank you, Senator Udall, Congressman Lujàn, and the entire New Mexico congressional delegation for securing these important protections.” http://bit.ly/2tFwDM3 – Archaeology Southwest

Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and U.S. Representatives Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), and Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.) announced that the final Fiscal Year 2020 Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill includes key protections for the area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park. The bill prevents the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from leasing oil, gas, and minerals on BLM land within a 10-mile radius of the park, reinforcing a long-standing “buffer zone” – developed in close coordination with the federal government, the state, the Navajo Nation and Pueblos – to safeguard sacred sites and sensitive cultural items. The prohibition applies while a cultural resources investigation is undertaken in the area, which is funded by $1 million in the bill to allow Tribes to identify culturally and historically significant areas. The bill also includes strong protections for Indian Tribes and allottees to make sure they can continue to develop their land for oil and gas. http://bit.ly/2SwuvAn – KRWG (NPR)

Continuing Coverage: Vice-Chair Clark Tenakhongva Discusses Bears Ears, Three Years Later
To mark the third anniversary of the original establishment of the Bears Ears National Monument, we interviewed Vice Chairman Clark Tenakhongva of the Hopi Tribe and representative for the Inter-Tribal Coalition about why he believes Bears Ears needs to be protected. Clark Tenakhongva: Hopi is still alive. We are still practicing that same religion and culture as we did in Bears Ears thousands of years ago. http://bit.ly/2Ssa5sj – The Cleanest Line, Patagonia

Archaeology Café Welcomes R. E. Burrillo to Tucson on January 7
Join us on Tuesday, January 7, as R. E. Burrillo discusses Bears Ears in his talk, “The Bears Ears Water Project: What Environmental Chemistry Reveals about Agriculture and Landscape Archaeology in the Greater Cedar Mesa Area.” We gather at The Loft Cinema (3233 E. Speedway Blvd.) around 5:30 p.m. to visit and enjoy food and beverages. Programs begin at 6 p.m. in Theatre 1. http://bit.ly/2r1qIQk – Archaeology Southwest

White Sands Is Now a National Park
Don’t expect any major administrative changes with White Sands National Monument becoming the first New Mexico national park since 1930, U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said. But the senator cited a study that said the national park could see an increase of 100,000 visitors a year with the change in status. He said such an increase would be “a boom for the local economies” with an additional $7.5 million in tourist spending in the area a year. http://bit.ly/39prvfs – Albuquerque Journal

Long known as a national monument, White Sands in southern New Mexico now is known as a national park due to language that made that name change that was included in the Defense Department budget bill signed by President Trump. “Our staff are very excited for White Sands to be recognized as a national park and to reintroduce ourselves to the American public,” said White Sands Superintendent Marie Sauter. “We are so appreciative of our partners, local communities, and congressional leaders who made this achievement possible and look forward to continued success working together.” http://bit.ly/379D08L – National Parks Traveler

Glen Canyon Officials Ask for Voluntary Embargo on Visiting Imperiled Rock Art Panel
Visitors to a national recreation area straddling the Arizona–Utah border are being asked to stay away from a rock art site that features sheep carved thousands of years ago. The Descending Sheep Petroglyph Panel is along the Colorado River between Glen Canyon Dam and Lees Ferry. It falls within the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. The recreation area is instituting a voluntary closure in January and February so that it can educate people about the rock art believed to be between 3,000 and 6,000 years old. Officials said they also want to protect it from vandalism and respect Native American beliefs tied to the site. http://bit.ly/2t1YNR8 – KNAU (NPR)

Excerpt: Early Agriculturalists of the Santa Cruz River Valley
Last summer and fall, drivers on Interstate 10 in Tucson, Arizona, could see an archaeological dig in progress near the Ruthraff Road exit. Desert Archaeology, a local cultural resource management firm, was excavating part of a prehistoric site called Los Pozos in advance of a highway improvement project. The project is the latest investigation at the site, which stretches for over a mile between the highway and the Santa Cruz River. Los Pozos dates to the Early Agricultural Period, roughly between 2000 B.C. and A.D. 1, a period during which irrigated maize agriculture was introduced to northwest Mexico and the U.S. Southwest from Mesoamerica. Over the past few decades, researchers in the Tucson area have found that farming occurred much earlier than was once thought and that it affected the lives of residents in profound ways. http://bit.ly/3646yo0 – The Archaeological Conservancy

More than Maize
Writing in the Journal of Ethnobiology, Natalie Mueller, assistant professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences, describes how she painstakingly grew and calculated yield estimates for two annual plants that were cultivated in eastern North America for thousands of years — and then abandoned. Growing goosefoot (Chenopodium sp.) and erect knotweed (Polygonum erectum) together is more productive than growing either one alone, Mueller discovered. Planted in tandem, along with the other known lost crops, they could have fed thousands. http://bit.ly/2EQfxNU -The Source, Washington University in St. Louis

Wax Cylinder Recordings Highlight Complexities and Nuances of Preservation
Alvin Schuster could scarcely believe his ears. He was hearing the voice of an ancestor whom he’d never met but whose legacy was a constant guiding presence in his life. Schuster, 75, listened with wonder to the restored recording of his grandfather, Louis Mann—made more than 100 years ago. And although his grandfather died before he was born, Schuster was raised hearing stories of his courage as a fighter for the rights of the Yakama people. That legacy influenced and guided Schuster’s life as a leader in local and national Native education. http://bit.ly/2Zqc9T6 – Yes!

Podcast: Tribal Consultation; Origins of the Heritage Voices Podcast
Jessica Yaquinto is an ethnographer and deals in tribal consultation. The podcast includes topics on mediating between tribes, community based participatory research, and tribes’ perspectives of anthropology. In this special episode, she talks about creating the Heritage Voices podcast, how she started and what it’s like being on the network. http://bit.ly/355uiXS – Heritage Voices

Job Opportunity, tDAR
The Center for Digital Antiquity is currently searching for a talented individual to join our team as our Assistant Director. Reporting to the Director of the Center for Digital Antiquity, the Assistant Director is responsible for assisting with strategic planning, operations management, budgeting, and marketing/sales. The Assistant Director assists with planning and implementing Digital Antiquity’s activities and operations, which includes helping to establish a long-term vision for the Center. If this sounds like a position you might be interested in, we encourage you to visit the official job post (http://bit.ly/2SuleJp) to learn more and apply! Our candidate search ends on Monday, January 20, 2020. http://bit.ly/2Qm6kCj – tDAR.org

Field School Opportunity, New Mexico
From Dr. Lewis Borck: “We’re once again running our field school in conjunction with Institute for Field Research (IFR) in the Gallina region of the American Southwest. We’re pretty broad and focus on creating flexible skillsets that work within academia and CRM. The students also work within a public archaeology framework. Importantly, there are scholarships available through IFR (link below) and we have one full scholarship for the Gallina field school for an Indigenous student. Potential applicants can contact me (@LewisBorck on Twitter) for more information if they want, but otherwise, they can apply through the scholarship portal for the “Indigenous Student Scholarship for Puebloan Rebels Field School.” They’ll also need to apply to the field school as well (no fee for application). If anyone has any questions, please do contact me. Scholarships: https://ifrglobal.org/students/scholarships/. Application: https://ifrglobal.org/program/us-nm-gallina/

REMINDER: Southwest Symposium, January 2020
The Biennial Southwest Symposium archaeological conference will be held in Tempe, Arizona, on January 30 through February 1. Reduced cost early registration for the conference is open until December 30. Come join us to hear a wonderful set of papers and posters, as well as one forum focused on current research on the archaeology of the U.S. Southwest/Mexican Northwest. https://southwestsymposium.org/

Editors’ note: Extra-special thanks to Cherie Freeman for her many contributions to this weekly digest for more than a decade. Cheers, Cherie!

Thank you all for this community, and our best to everyone in 2020.

We’re happy to help get the word out, but we’re not mind readers! Please submit news, book announcements, and events at this link for consideration: https://www.archaeologysouthwest.org/submit-to-sat/

Questions? sat-editor@archaeologysouthwest.org