Dear Friends,
It’s hard to believe, but we’re fast approaching the summer solstice on Friday, June 20.
In the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice is longest day of the year. Here in Tucson, daytime highs are again breaching 100 degrees, but the early morning temperature is just about perfect.
As an early bird, I love the fact that morning light is visible in the eastern sky as early as 4:30 a.m. The birds are loud and the city is quiet while I ride my bike to work. It’s a dose of bliss in an otherwise chaotic world. The summer solstice is therefore my second-favorite day of the year.
(My favorite day of the year is Groundhog Day. In a world of supercomputers and artificial intelligence, I love the fact that we still rely on a large rodent to do our weather forecasting. Punxsutawney Phil is an icon of cultural stamina from a bygone age!)
Tucon’s summertime cadence is radically different than during the rest of the year. Most of the 40,000+ University of Arizona students left in mid-May. Tucson’s beloved “snowbirds”—folks who come here during the winter but go back north in summer—are now mostly gone. Traffic is wonderfully light!
Here at Archaeology Southwest, the summertime cadence is different, as well. Folks are headed hither and yon.
Preservation Archaeologists Karen Schollmeyer and Allen Denoyer leave next week to lead another six-week field school session in Silver City, New Mexico. An amazing group of 14 students will learn field reconnaissance methods (survey) and how to process and analyze legacy museum collections excavated by the NAN Ranch Archaeological Field School decades ago.
Preservation Anthropologist Aaron Wright is hunkering down to write. His research focuses on sites in extreme southern Arizona, where he does fieldwork in the winter, when temperatures are tolerable.
Vice-President of Preservation and Collaboration John Welch is heading back to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he has long taught summer courses on cultural heritage preservation at Simon Frasier University.
I’m traveling to Darwin, Australia, in a couple weeks to represent Archaeology Southwest at the World Archaeological Congress, a triennial gathering of cultural heritage professionals and scientists from around the world. My hope is to build meaningful new relationships for Archaeology Southwest while learning new ways to engage in archaeological preservation, outreach, research, advocacy, and Indigeous collaborations. Frankly, it’s also going to be interesting to hear what our colleagues all across the globe think about recent events here in the United States.
More than half of my journey will consist of a sixteen-hour flight across the Pacific. If all goes well, I’ll leave Los Angeles late on Thursday evening, June 19, and land in Melbourne in the early morning of Saturday, June 21. That means I’m going to miss my beloved summer solstice! My first official day of summer will actually be the first official day of winter in the southern hemisphere! I’ll cross the International Date Line and the equator, and deal with jet lag from a 17-hour time difference. It’s an amazing confluence of cultural (i.e., time zones), natural (i.e., planetary geography), and technological (i.e., modern air travel) phenomena that will give me plenty of food for thought.
Given all of the above, Vice President of Communications & Outreach Kate Sarther and I have decided to join in the summertime change of cadence. Between now and Labor Day, you will receive this PAT newsletter every two weeks (so, your next edition will be 6/19/25). This will give Kate more time to focus on our next issue of Archaeology Southwest Magazine and other tasks.
Please be safe during your own summertime perambulations!
Steve Nash
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
Banner image: Ironwood National Forest, Bob Wick (BLM)
June 7 Day of Action for Public Lands: Ironwood Forest National Monument (Southern AZ)
Friends of Ironwood Forest will host a “Day of Action for Public Lands” from 8:00 to 9:00 AM at the Waterman Peak Trail Parking Area in Ironwood Forest National Monument (IFNM). The event coincides with the Anniversary of the Antiquities Act and the 25th Anniversary of IFNM’s designation, marking a powerful moment to both celebrate and stand in defense of America’s public lands.
The Day of Action comes in response to recent reporting by The Washington Post, which revealed that the Trump administration is considering shrinking six national monuments—including Ironwood Forest. While no formal announcement has been made, conservation groups across the country are mobilizing to ensure these landscapes remain protected.
“Arizona’s national monuments are not only ecologically vital, they’re culturally and historically significant,” said Tom Hannagan, Board President of Friends of Ironwood Forest. “Ironwood Forest represents everything the Antiquities Act was created to preserve – from ancient archaeological sites to unique desert wildlife. This is a moment to show how much Americans care for our public lands.” Friends of Ironwood Forest (press release) | Learn more »
Commentary: The Promise to Chaco Canyon Must Be Kept
In 2023, when the Department of the Interior finalized Public Land Order 7923, withdrawing federal lands surrounding Chaco Canyon from future federal mineral leasing for 20 years, many of us believed we had reached a turning point. … To now consider reversing this progress without transparency, without tribal consent, without even a public process, would betray both the law and the public trust. Chaco Canyon is not just a National Historical Park. It is not just a UNESCO site. It is the beating heart of our origin story. It is a place where our ancestors studied the skies, aligned the stones, built vast structures and roads to carry prayer and purpose across the land. Governor Charles Riley, Pueblo of Acoma, in the Santa Fe New Mexican | Read more »
Commentary: How the Administration Might Sell Off National Parks
Late Friday night, the White House quietly released a 1,224-page appendix to its 2026 budget proposal. While budgets are written by Congress, not the President, it still provides a detailed look inside the executive branch’s plans and priorities. This one would effectively eliminate public lands funding provided by the Great American Outdoors Act, cut a further 5,518 full-time national park employees, reduce the budget for seasonal staff by half, and bring massive budget cuts to national monuments. What’s all this add up to? Obama’s Director of the National Park Service [Jon Jarvis] warns the Trump administration is preparing for a sale. Wes Siler’s Newsletter (via Substack) | Read more »
QR-Coded Signage Will Encourage People to Report NPS Interpretive Material that “Disparages” America
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hopes to enlist the public in identifying interpretive materials in the National Park System that disparage Americans past or living or which contain content that detracts from viewpoints of scenic grandeur.
The goal, Burgum said in a secretarial order this past week, is “to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing.” …
To enlist the public’s help in discovering messaging the Trump administration disapproves of, signs will be posted across the federal landscape “to allow for public input as to the state of the property, its management, and its compliance with this Order. Each such sign shall include a QR code that links to a website managed by the land management Bureau, allowing the user to provide a written entry.” Kurt Repanshek for National Parks Traveler | Read more »
What he is targeting, obviously, are factual accounts of the violent colonialism and land-theft that are very real and significant elements of this nation’s history, and that have only recently been included in some interpretive materials. National parks and monuments are appropriate places for these histories, since the establishment of many of those parks involved displacing Indigenous people. Jonathan Thompson at The Land Desk | Read more »
Continuing Coverage: SunZia Suit Remanded back to Lower Court
Plaintiffs allege the Bureau of Land Management—under the Interior Department—illegally granted permits greenlighting construction of the SunZia Transmission Line, which broke ground in 2023. … “This is a very, very strong appellate decision—a big thumb on the scales of justice—in favor of the plaintiffs, and so it’s not just procedural,” said John Welch, vice president of preservation and collaboration at the nonprofit Archaeology Southwest. “They’re going to have to consult in much better faith than the BLM did on this project.” Gabriel Pietrorazio for KJZZ | Listen now or read more »
Read Justice Gorsuch’s Dissent in Oak Flat Case
Apache Stronghold asks us to review the Ninth Circuit’s extraordinary conclusion. But the Court today turns aside the group’s request. Respectfully, that is a grave mistake. This case meets every one of the standards we usually apply when assessing petitions for certiorari: The decision below is highly doubtful as a matter of law, it takes a view of the law at odds with those expressed by other federal courts of appeals, and it is vitally important. Before allowing the government to destroy the Apaches’ sacred site, this Court should at least have troubled itself to hear their case. Apache Stronghold v. United States, et al. 605 U.S. ____ (2025), J. Gorsuch, dissenting | Read more »
Volunteer Opportunities at Archaeology Southwest
Petroglyph Coding Manual Creator: Volunteer will create examples of different petroglyph forms to accompany a handbook/manual on coding certain qualities of the petroglyphs. Re-Inventory Data Entry for Deer Valley Preserve: Volunteer will assist with re-inventory data entry for the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve. This supports our Preservation Archaeology mission by contributing to the accurate documentation and management of petroglyph site data for research, stewardship, and educational use. Archaeology Southwest | Learn more »
June In-Person Lectures (Santa Fe NM)
June 9, Kelsey E. Hanson, Painting for Rain: Technologies of Chromatic Prayer in Chaco Canyon; June 16, Steve Simms, First Peoples of Great Salt Lake: A Cultural Landscape from Nevada to Wyoming; June 23, John R. Welch, Fortresses of the Upper Salt River, Arizona; June 30, Philippe S. Cohen, Our Global Backyards: Field Stations and Marine Labs. 6:00 p.m., Hotel Santa Fe. $20 at the door. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »
June 12 Online Event: Rethinking the Origins of Horse Domestication and Its Impact on the Ancient World
With William Taylor. The domestication of the horse is widely understood as one of the most significant events in human history – with horse transport linked to drastic changes in ecology, communication, culture, ceremony, and even the very structure of societies across the ancient world. But, how did this transformative relationship between people and horses first emerge? New discoveries from archaeological sciences are overturning long-held assumptions about the timing and process of the first domestication, revealing a process that was far more rapid – and far more disruptive than previously understood. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
June 12 Online Event: Context Is Everything
With Robert Dello-Russo. There is a fascinating scientific controversy surrounding the radiocarbon dating of the footprints left by early humans at White Sands National Park. Determining accurate ages for them is important to our understanding of the peopling of the Americas. In this presentation, Dr. Dello-Russo will focus on the geology of the Paleolake Otero Basin and the trackway site, how the radiocarbon-dated Ruppia cirrhosa seeds came to be found there, what impact hard water may have had on the radiocarbon dates, and the role of stable carbon isotopes in evaluating their accuracy. Pacific Coast Archaeological Society | Email membership@pcas.org to learn more »
June 14 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Juneteenth Festival
Cultivate a community of people of all backgrounds in a day(s) of unity to commemorate and celebrate Juneteenth and African American culture with musical performances, inspiring speakers, storytelling, cultural exhibits, religious observances, kid-zone, food vendors, etc. The primary mission of the Tucson Juneteenth Festival is to celebrate with the Tucson community the history of Juneteenth and to preserve Juneteenth for future generations to come. 5:00 to 10:00 p.m., Kino Sports Complex, 2500 E. Ajo Way. Tucson Juneteenth Festival | Learn more about this and related events »
June 16 Online Event: Aztec Conquest of the Toluca Valley
With Angela Huster. When the Spanish collected Native historical accounts of the preconquest Toluca Valley for a series of 16th-century court cases, the Triple Alliance-Aztec conquest of the region, a generation earlier, featured prominently in local narratives. The Toluca Valley, immediately west of the Aztec heartland in Central Mexico, was not one of the growing empire’s first conquests, but it was one of the first times that the state had to incorporate an ethnically and linguistically different population. This presentation gives an overview of the region’s archaeology and a look at the effects of Aztec rule on the commoner majority of the population, based on the results of two recent projects in the area. Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society | Learn more and register (free) »
June 19 Online Event: Beyond Any One Scholar’s Expertise: The Story of the Safford Valley Grids Archaeology Project
With William Doolittle and James Neely. They headed a project that investigated expansive tracts of rock-bordered grids north of the Gila River in the Safford Valley that had mystified archaeologists and others for nearly a century. Third Thursday Food for Thought series (Old Pueblo Archaeology Center) | Learn more and register (free) »
June 19 Online Event: LiDAR and the Central Mesa Verde Region
With Katie Williams. LiDAR point clouds, published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) 3D Elevation Program, are being increasingly used by archaeologists to identify and document ancestral communities and features at a landscape scale. Since 2021, the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center has applied GIS visualizations derived from LiDAR point clouds to refine how we identify and define ancestral communities, social networks, and changes in social structures through time and space. This work has also prompted conversations around appropriate uses of LiDAR data on ancestral lands by non-tribal entities and the intersections between these large data sets and Indigenous Data Governance. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
Remember to send us notice of upcoming events and webinars, tours and workshops, and anything else you’d like to share with the Friends. Thanks!