Southwest Archaeology Today for July 5, 2006

Archaeology Making the News: A Service of the Center for Desert Archaeology

– Mesa Verde Museum Association forms the Mesa Verde Institute: After more than 30 years of existence, the Mesa Verde Museum Association, a privately operated, nonprofit organization that co-operates with Mesa Verde National Park, has a new tool to achieve its goals. Mesa Verde Superintendent Larry Wiese formally announced the formation of the Mesa Verde Institute during Thursday evening’s Centennial Ceremony at the park’s Morefield Amphitheater.
http://tinyurl.com/zamwn – Cortez Journal

– Celebration at Mesa Verde Provides an Archaeological Family Reunion: The Mesa Verde Centennial Ceremony brought together people from all over the world, literally. From the continental west, as in Sparks, Mesquite and Las Vegas, Nev., and Tucson, Ariz., some of the Wetherill family made an appearance. Then again, some were said to hail from Minneapolis, Minn.
http://tinyurl.com/m7nnu – Cortez Journal

– Confllicting Interpretations at Bison Kill Site:Ten thousand years ago, a band of nomadic hunters stampeded 600 bison off the edge of a small cliff then speared and butchered the beasts before hauling off the meat. Or maybe not. Maybe, instead, a lightning bolt or a swift-moving grass fire killed the whole herd, and their remains were quickly buried beneath wind-blown sand and silt. A few decades later, hunters camped on the buried bison remains, leaving behind stone spear points and tools that, over the millennia, have mixed with the animal bones.
http://tinyurl.com/e6rj7 – Rocky Mountain News

– New Mexico Seeks to Honor More Women with Historic Markers: Historic markers throughout New Mexico commemorate such people as Spanish explorer Vasquez de Coronado, Apache leader Geronimo, even the outlaw Billy the Kid and a hanged train robber, Black Jack Ketchum. But only one of the state’s 500 historic and scenic markers mentions a woman – famed San Ildefonso Pueblo potter Maria Martinez. Even then, it’s the pueblo that is the subject of the marker. The state is trying to change that with an initiative to make a woman from each of the state’s counties and tribes the subject of a historic marker.
http://tinyurl.com/fy69a – Albuquerque Tribune

– World Heritage, UNESCO Examines Some 37 Sites for World Heritage Status: The World Heritage Committee, holding its 30th session in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on July 8 to 16, announced on Monday that it would examine 27 cultural, or manmade, sites, eight natural sites and two so-called mixed sites, drawn from 30 countries across the world.
http://tinyurl.com/zxanm – Middle East Times

– Registration Begins for the Gran Quivira Conference (From Sharon Urban): The Gran Quivira Conference is held annually. It deals with the Spanish Colonial time period throughout the United States and southward. If your interests are in this time period please present it to other scholars of similar interest.

The XXXV Gran Quivira Conference
5-8 October 2006. Place: Caborca, Sonora. Registration fee $70.00 up to 15 September 2006; $80.00, after 15 September Bus: $100.00 per person. Information: Carmen Villa Prezelski (Tucson) (520) 722-6410 or e-mail cprezelsk@aol.com. Sharon Urban (Tucson) (520) 730-0563 or e-mail shurban@heg-inc.com