Southwest Archaeology Today

Southwest Archaeology Today (SAT) is a free e-mail news digest providing subscribers with information about current news and events in Southwest archaeology. Published weekly, SAT is maintained as a community networking tool for professional and avocational archaeologists in the American Southwest and Mexican Northwest. Review our submission guidelines here.

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New Mexico Senators Introduce Bill to Help Protect Greater Chaco

New Mexico Senators Introduce Bill to Help Protect Greater Chaco U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M) introduced the Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act, a bill to withdraw the lands around Chaco Canyon from further development by the federal government. The bill woul...

The Uncertain Fate of Bears Ears

PBS News Hour Considers the Uncertain Fate of Bears Ears In the rugged and remote canyons of Southern Utah, scientists say they've barely scratched the surface of discoveries that can reach back millions of years, or shed light on the last 10,000 years of human history. But their work in Bears Ears...

BLM Staffers Disallowed from Attending SAAs in DC

BLM Staffers Disallowed from Attending SAAs in DC The Bureau of Land Management blocked at least 14 of its staff archaeologists and other specialists from attending a major scientific conference this year, at a time when archaeological sites have become a flashpoint in the debate over public lands ...

Shocking Reversal on Chaco-Area Drilling Case

Shocking Reversal on Chaco-Area Drilling Case Environmentalists were shocked and dismayed this week after a federal court rejected their claims against oil and gas development near Chaco Canyon, N.M., just weeks after the judge partially sided with them. Judge James Browning issued an opinion Monda...

Important News about Southwest Archaeology Today

Important News about Southwest Archaeology Today Dear Friends: Southwest Archaeology Today (SAT) is undergoing an editorial transition and will resume publication on Wednesday, May 2. From then on, SAT will be delivered to your email inbox every Wednesday morning, though the occasional delay d...

Archaeology Southwest Is off to the SAA Meetings in Washington, DC

Bears Ears in DC: Two Forums Bears Ears, the Antiquities Act, and the Status of Our National Monuments, an SAA President-Sponsored Session, takes place Thursday, April 12, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., at the 83rd Annual Meeting of the SAA in Washington, DC. (Registered attendees only.) The paneli...

Archaeologists Document Oldest Known Footprints in North America

Archaeologists Document Oldest Known Footprints in North America A team of Canadian scientists from the University of Victoria and the Hakai Institute has found fossilized human footprints of at least three different sizes impressed into a 13,000-year-old paleosol beneath beach sands on Calvert Is...

Trump Administration Auctions off Parcels in Bears Ears

Trump Administration Auctions off Parcels in Bears Ears The Interior Department on Tuesday is auctioning off 32 parcels of public lands in southeastern Utah for oil and gas development. The Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) lease sale includes more than 51,000 acres of land near Bears E...

Momentum Builds against Oil and Gas Development on Ancient and Historic Landscapes

Momentum Builds against Oil and Gas Development on Ancient and Historic Landscapes Five years versus five days. That succinctly describes the different weights accorded to constituents raising objections to expanded oil and gas leasing in landscapes with special circumstances. As the Trump adminis...

Another Auction, Another Threat to the Ancient Places of the Four Corners

Another Auction, Another Threat to the Ancient Places of the Four Corners Now, the 13,000-year-old historical record of Native Americans who inhabited the outskirts of two national monuments near the Colorado-Utah border is facing an unprecedented threat. On March 20, the federal government is sche...

Zinke Postpones Chaco Fracking

Zinke Postpones Chaco Fracking “After hearing from tribes, Senators Udall and Heinrich, historic preservation experts and other stakeholders, I’ve decided to defer the sale that was scheduled for later this month,” Zinke said, referring to the state’s Democratic senators, Tom Udall and Mart...

Interior Department Reorganization Would Reduce Federal Authority on Public Lands

Analysis: Interior Department Reorganization Would Reduce Federal Authority on Public Lands U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke disclosed Friday in an Associated Press interview that he's revamping a sweeping overhaul of his department that's supposed to speed up permitting for development on public...

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