(January 8, 2026)—Happy New Year, Friends!
I hope your holiday season was all that you hoped it would be—full of laughs with family and friends, (too much) good food, safe and easy travels, and some psychological rejuvenation with rest and resets, however you may achieve those Rs.
Here at Archaeology Southwest, we’re looking forward to a fun and productive 2026. I’d like to share some highlights for the next six months, giving SPECIAL THANKS to you for your year-end gifts that are making this work—the path ahead of us—smoother and more possible.
This week, our entire staff, including those based in Denver, Farmington, Las Cruces, Phoenix, and Taos, gathered in Tucson for a couple of days to kick off our strategic planning process, led by VP of Finance & Operations Lyrae Williams. We even took a staff photo wearing our wonderful new Archaeology Southwest “Respect the Land You Stand Upon” t-shirts! (Thanks again to our friend and collaborator Lyle Balenquah for letting us quote his impactful imperative.) If you haven’t yet, please order yours today.
The next issue of Archaeology Southwest Magazine, a window on the cultural history of canids and humans in North America, is at the press and will hit the USPS January 23. Donors, watch your mailboxes. Friends who aren’t yet donors, please give here or purchase your copy (and back issues) of the magazine here. (And watch our social media channels for teasers!)
On February 6, the outreach team will host the next installment of Tread!, this year’s fantastic Archaeology Café lecture series, in the Corona Room of our historic HQ in downtown Tucson. Our speaker Vance Holliday (University of Arizona) will present “Tracking the First Americans.” On March 3, Ben Bellorado (Arizona State Museum) will share “Road Signs and Walking Shoes: Sandals and Sandal Imagery as Part and Parcel of the Chaco Road System.” Finally, on April 7, Skylar Begay, our Director of Tribal Collaboration, will relate “Looking Back at the Path Laid Down.” Please join us in person, live on Zoom, or check out our YouTube channel for recordings.
In March, our research team expects to hear from the National Science Foundation (NSF) on the status of a $1.5 million application we submitted for multiyear support to expand Tribal collaboration on the continued creation and refinement of the cyberSW platform. As you may recall, the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” illegally canceled our $350,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year; it has not been reinstated. As a result, the pending NSF application is even more critical. Fingers crossed and please light candles if you are so inclined.
We’ll be turning up and turning out locally for the Tucson Festival of Books on the University of Arizona campus March 14 and 15. Stay tuned for our booth number, and come say hello if you’re in town!
In late April, many of our staff will attend the Society for American Archaeology meetings in San Francisco, where they will commune with more than 3,000 other researchers, practitioners, and knowledge holders from around the world to present results of their work. Director of Outreach Sara Anderson will be welcoming you to our booth in the exhibition hall. See (some of) you there!
In mid-June, preservation archaeologist and field school director Karen Schollmeyer and I will spend two weeks in Reserve, New Mexico, doing logistical (and some field) work to prepare for a full archaeological field school session in 2027. If you are passing through west-central New Mexico at that time, please let us know and we can try to arrange a visit.
Finally, our preservation and collaboration teams continue to acquire and preserve important parcels of land across the American Southwest. They continue to fight the illegal installation of the SunZia transmission line through the San Pedro Valley east of Tucson. They continue to advocate for historic preservation of all kinds, including at the federal level, where archaeological resource protection laws are under near constant existential threat. Our Bureau of Indian Affairs-funded teams continue to document and help prosecute archaeological resource crimes on Tribal lands and to help repatriate ancestors and their belongings from Tribal lands under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. And we will begin a new listening and learning project focused on the stunning archaeological and paleontological resources of White Sands National Park in southern New Mexico.
I really AM optimistic about 2026.
Given how difficult 2025 was, however, and how chaos and uncertainty continue to reign in the federal government, it is prudent to remain cautiously optimistic. Land, place, and ecosystem conservation programs remain under threat. Tolerance for cultural, social, and individual diversity continues to be attacked. Sovereignty, impugned—and even violated. The fundamental principle of free speech, which undergirds all other rights and responsibilities we have in the US, including the pursuit of our organization’s mission, remains under assault across the board.
We at Archaeology Southwest will continue to fight for all that we stand for and believe in—actively respecting, learning, sharing, and honoring people’s and communities’ connections to places, to say the least.
Please know you have our sincere gratitude for your attention and support.
