Dear Friends,
The assault continues.
On August 12, the White House announced an unprecedented review of exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution’s 21 museums. Political appointees and administration loyalists—many of whom have little to no museum experience, much less expertise in the scholarly disciplines represented—will then make recommendations on what should be changed, enhanced, or canceled, based on their perspectives on what narratives should be told. Their guiding principle is to ensure that Smithsonian exhibitions “reflect the unity, progress, and enduring values that define the American story.” Whatever that means.
Nearly two years ago, I published a SAPIENS.org column “In Defense of Museums,” in which I argued that, despite all their flaws, museums remain deeply relevant and important institutions in our civic society. I still believe that, and I love the fact that museums have in the last several decades embraced alternative and nuanced interpretations of history over previously dominant narratives in which great white men are the only ones who did great things.
All of that is now under threat.
It’s a sad moment in a challenging year, coming as it does on the heels of a host of executive orders that actively threaten our national parks, our public lands, and federal funding for the arts and sciences, many of which have directly, and negatively, impacted our work here at Archaeology Southwest. The year 2025 will go down in history as one of crisis in American scholarship; but it has been said that in every crisis there is an opportunity. I certainly hope so.
Until next time,
Steve Nash
President & CEO, Archaeology Southwest
P.S. from Kate: If you’re like me, you could probably use a spark of joy every now and then amidst the chaos. In that spirit, I offer you Serious Eats’ secrets to the perfect SoNo HoDo (IYKYK, and if not, you will soon).
Continuing Coverage: Erasing History at US Museums and Parks
The Trump administration said on Tuesday that it would begin a wide-ranging review of current and planned exhibitions at the Smithsonian Institution, scouring wall text, websites and social media “to assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals.”
White House officials announced the review in a letter sent to Lonnie G. Bunch III, the secretary of the Smithsonian. Museums will be required to adjust any content that the administration finds problematic within 120 days, the letter said, “replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate and constructive descriptions.” Graham Bowley, Jennifer Schuessler, and Robin Pogrebin for the New York Times | Read more »
In this installment of our politics series, “If You Can Keep It,” we talk about how the administration is injecting itself into the affairs—and the exhibits—of the Smithsonian Institution and what that means for our understanding of our shared history. 1A (NPR) | Listen now »
The Fight to Protect Chuckwalla National Monument
The Torres Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe, Chemeheuvi Indian Tribe, Colorado River Indian Tribes, and Morongo Band of Mission Indians and NARF [Native American Rights Fund] on Monday filed to intervene in a case that threatens the long-sought designation of the monument. They were joined by local and state governmental entities, local businesses, California elected officials, and other local organizations. …
The challenge to the monument was brought in May in federal court by a Michigan resident who says his mining claims within Chuckwalla’s boundaries would be in jeopardy under the national monument designation. Miner Daniel Torongo was joined in his filing by the Blue Ribbon Coalition, a national off-road vehicle interest group. Stewart Huntington for Indian Country Today | Read more »
Report: Administration Is Systematically Destroying Parks and Public Lands
Former park service employees and those who work closely with the agency have identified the administration’s strategy. Jonathan B. Jarvis, former NPS Director, and Gary Machlis, former Science Advisor to the NPS Director, laid out the administration’s plan in a May 2025 opinion piece: Step 1: Severely slash NPS budgets, force retirements of experienced leaders, terminate those who resist, cut park staffs, and replace superintendents with political appointees ready to serve private interests. Step 2: Ignore public concerns, the outdoor recreation industry, conservationists, and tourism-dependent communities while allowing parks to deteriorate. Step 3: Claim the private sector can better run the parks that the administration purposely sabotaged. Save Our Parks | Read the report (opens as a PDF) »
The Case Is Cracked; Now the Belongings Must Come Home
Federal authorities and tribal police in New Mexico eventually busted the thieves. Pleas were entered, punishments doled out and the case was closed. Inexplicably, authorities never pursued recovery of the stolen items.
Now, the [Santa Ana] pueblo’s historic preservation and repatriation experts are partnering with a tribal conservation officer who once served as the top cop for the federal Bureau of Land Management to crack this cold case, one irreplaceable item at a time. Susan Montoya Bryan for AP via Indian Country Today | Read more »
Update: More Virtual Tours of Bears Ears Just Released
CyArk is launching a fifth virtual tour of Bears Ears, created in collaboration with Indigenous partners. This is part of a new series that was funded by the BLM and focusing on landscapes of Comb Ridge and includes experiences produced by the Pueblo of Zuni, the Pueblo of Acoma, and the Hopi. CyArk | Click below »
Experiencing a Home of Hopi Ancestors at Bears Ears
Ancestral Pueblo Home connected to Zuni People
Ancestral Home connected to the Pueblo of Acoma
And Speaking of Digital Archaeology…Meet “Hardware Archaeology”
Kenton Smith had stumbled upon a relic of another era. The images, commonly known as silicon doodles, were used around the 1970s and after as a form of expression and to protect against technological theft. The doodles could be tame—the designer’s initials—or elaborate and whimsical, like a Tyrannosaurus rex driving a convertible.
Though well documented, the doodles are a rarity, and the practice has largely been phased out. The hunt for them requires time, money for parts and an archaeologist’s spirit as collectors search flea markets and online auctions for the chance to unscrew hardware casings, whittle down chip caps and train their eyes to catch a glimpse of magic. Emmett Lindner and Lyndon French in the New York Times | Read more »
Commentary: Climbers: Learn, Listen, Engage with Respect and Humility
As a climber myself, I am drawn to the rocks as much as anyone else. But I recognize that ancestors before me climbed out of necessity, protection, defense, and survival. These same canyons, spires, and cliffs carried our prayers and voices of sacred rituals and of native languages in reverence long before they ever heard English or other languages from climbers frequenting these walls. These words also kept the world together. They made these places safe, silent, and intact for human beings and non-human relatives so we can co-exist together in a good way. Let’s keep doing that while learning that not every place should be conquered, but loved and respected in the ways required and asked of us. Angelo Baca and Kitty Calhoun in Climbing (Outside Magazine) | Read more »
Editor’s note: This is an excellent and thought-provoking three-part essay. Strongly recommend, even for recreationalists and sportspeople who don’t rock climb.
Continuing Coverage: Oak Flat
After attempting to rush transfer of an Apache holy site into the hands of a private mining company to avoid judicial review, the federal government now says the land transfer is immune from such review and cannot be enjoined or delayed despite challenges to the document that triggers the exchange.
In a six-hour hearing in Phoenix Wednesday [August 6], Arizona’s San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Arizona Mining Reform Coalition pleaded yet again with a federal judge to halt the transfer of Oak Flat—a 2,400-acre site in the Tonto National Forest used for the most sacred of Apache religious ceremonies—to the private ownership of Resolution Copper, which plans to swallow the site in a 2-mile-wide, 7,000-feet-deep crater.
Despite U.S. District Judge Dominic Lanza granting 60 days for the plaintiffs to challenge the Forest Service’s final environmental impact statement (FEIS), the issuance of which initiates the land transfer, Department of Justice attorney Erica Norman said Wednesday that no challenge to the statement can prevent the transfer. Joe Duhownik for Courthouse News Service via the Tucson Sentinel | Read more »
Publication Announcement: Paleoamerican Fluted Point Cultures in the Carolinas
Daniel, I.R., Goodyear, A.C., Moore, C.R. et al. Toward a synthesis of Paleoamerican fluted point cultures in the Carolinas. Sci Rep 15, 28341 (2025). Read now (open access) »
August In-Person Lectures (Santa Fe NM)
Aug. 25, Deborah Jackson Taffa (Kwatsaán/Laguna Pueblo), Looking Back: A Memoir. Admission fees apply. Southwest Seminars | Learn more »
REMINDER: Aug. 21 Online Event: Copper Networks in the U.S. Southwest, Mexican Northwest, and Mesoamerica
With José Luis Punzo Díaz. The emergence of metallurgy, especially copper, took place in western Mesoamerica a little over a thousand years ago. This new type of objects was quickly appreciated by the societies of the time and integrated into long-standing exchange networks that spanned thousands of kilometers from the earliest production sites in western Mexico to the southwestern United States. In this presentation, we will explore the exchange networks for these objects and how they changed over time, with special emphasis on the relationships between the southwestern U.S. and Mesoamerica. Dr. Punzo Díaz has been an archaeology researcher for Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH, the National Institute of Anthropology and History) since 2004. Third Thursday Food for Thought series (Old Pueblo Archaeology Center) | Learn more and register »
Aug. 23 Online Event: Human Governing and Well-Being
With Gary Feinman. How can we learn from our ancestors to make a better world for tomorrow? Dr. Gary Feinman and an international team of social scientists with the Coalition of Archaeological Synthesis are examining dozens of ancient societies on several continents. Their goal is to better understand how the governing systems humans create affect the practices and well-being of their people. From these insights, they hope to draw lessons that can help create governing systems that allow people to thrive. Amerind Museum | Learn more and register (free) »
Aug. 23 In-Person Event (Tucson AZ): Celebration of All Things S-cuk Ṣon/Tucson, 250 Years after the Founding of the Presidio
Although the Tucson basin has been inhabited for thousands of years, the formal inception date of the City of Tucson is August 20, 1775. Today we use this date to celebrate Tucson’s rich TucSonorense culture and its many inhabitants. This event celebrates the cultures and traditions that make Tucson so special. Opening remarks by Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and Pima County Chairman Rex Scott, and entertainment by Folklorico Tapatio, Mariachi Innovación, Chinese Lion Dancers, Barbea Williams Dance Company, and waila music with Gertie and The T.O. Boyz. There also will be a Presidio Garrison musket demonstration, lasso demonstration, rodeo wagons and Mormon Battalion wagons on display. 196 N. Court Avenue, 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Free. Tucson Presidio Museum and the Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block at the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum | Learn more »
Aug. 23–24 In-Person Event (Flagstaff AZ): Hopi Arts & Cultural Festival
The 14th Annual Hopi Arts & Cultural Festival, a celebration of Hopi heritage, art, and tradition. This annual event brings together community members, artists, and cultural leaders to honor and share the richness of Hopi culture with the broader public. Admission is free and open to the public. HAEA | Learn more »
Aug. 28 Online Event: Changing the Narrative: A Holistic View on Archaeology
With Georgie Pongyesva. This webinar examines the conflicting approach to the discipline of archaeology between Western and Hopi perspectives. Drawing from lived experience, history, and conflicting religious worldviews on land and “resources,” Georgie discusses how and why it is time to change the narrative and discipline of archaeology to include the greater landscape, living descendants, and holistic perspectives when it comes to how we examine and record “archaeological data” and the overall scientific discipline of archaeology. Crow Canyon Archaeological Center | Learn more and register (free) »
Sept. 3–Dec. 10 Online Class: The Hohokam Culture of Southern Arizona
Archaeologist Allen Dart teaches “The Hohokam Culture of Southern Arizona” online course Wednesdays Sept. 3–Dec. 10 (skipping Oct. 22) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Arizona time (same as Pacific Daylight Time through October). Topics include Hohokam origins, artifacts and architecture, subsistence, settlement, social and organizational systems, interactions with other cultures, and ideas on religion and trade. Arizona Archaeological Society Certification available. Reservations and $109 donation prepayment due by 5:00 p.m. Sept. 2nd: info@oldpueblo.org or 520-798-1201. Old Pueblo Archaeology Center | Learn more »
Sept. 18 Online Event: A Cat’s Tale: How Domestic Cats Came to the Americas
With Martin Welker. The domestic cat is one of the least studied domesticated animals. Variably portrayed as cute and fuzzy pets, mousers, or contributor to smaller species’ extinctions, cats were among the earliest domesticated animals to reach the Americas. Third Thursday Food for Thought series (Old Pueblo Archaeology 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!