Preservation Archaeology Today

Preservation Archaeology Today (PAT) is a free, weekly e-mail news digest. In addition to sharing regional archaeology news, events, opportunities, and publications, PAT connects readers with news and commentary on U.S. public lands policy, global heritage protection and preservation, and the peopling of the North and South American continents. Review our submission guidelines here.

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Banner image: Paul Vanderveen

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Unfencing Conservation (and the Future)

Dear Friends, I was up half an hour earlier than usual Monday morning. As a result, I had to strap on my headlamp to safely reach my office in our side yard for my 20 minutes on the elliptical. As I opened the gate, my light illuminated a nascent spider web. The small spider glowed in the light, ...

New Report Highlights Urgent Threats to Cultural Landscapes Surrounding National Parks

Dear Friends, An archaeologist’s tools and skills, even if “rusty,” have a long use life. Over the past three weekends, I used my archaeo-toolkit in the service of what started out as basic yard work. An old citrus tree that had always struggled in our yard needed to be removed, not just...

Archaeology and Migration: Interview with Randall McGuire

Dear Friends, A house—a place to call home—matters. My professional life confirms that. Over my decades as an archaeologist, I have observed excavations of many hundreds of former residences. Some were 3,000 or more years old. My personal life confirms that. Every evening I leave my off...

What “Save” Means for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase

Dear Friends, I've been to London just once in my lifetime, during the summer of 2003. My wife, daughter, and I sweltered in our hotel without air conditioning. It was the historical day that London reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This week, it’s much worse. Temperatures in London have excee...

The Significance of Cooperative Land Management

Dear Friends, I’m back in Tucson after a week in the Poconos. Lots of good family time, and even a few birds I’m not used to seeing around Tucson—Eastern Bluebirds, Savannah Sparrows, and Yellow Warblers. Flying on airplanes used to be a wonderful time to settle into a window seat and ma...

Ninth Circuit Denies Apache Claim to Oak Flat

Dear Friends, Usually at this time of year I am scheduling a trip to Cliff, New Mexico, for the closing day of our field school on July 4th. Not this year. Because I now have grandkids with birthdays on the summer solstice and July 4th, I also have competing priorities at this time of year. An...

Tribes, BLM Sign Historic Agreement for Managing Bears Ears National Monument

Dear Friends, The lengthy timeline of emotional events related to Bears Ears National Monument settled into a very positive place this past Saturday. An even better future is on that horizon. The five Tribes of the Bears Ears Commission signed an Inter-Governmental Cooperative Agreement with t...

Ceremonial Items Returned to Yaqui Community

Dear Friends, I am blessed to work with an incredible staff at Archaeology Southwest. They are super-smart, they are very good at what they do, and I learn a great deal from interacting with and just listening to them. This week a number of us have been kicking around a tough problem. Stewing,...

Register Now for the 2022 Pecos Conference

Dear Friends, The Cooper’s Hawk—whose silent but powerful blow to the back of my head I described here last week—has not gotten much friendlier. Being a “friend of birds” at heart, I have become aggressively defensive. I enclose a photo of my protective gear: a hard hat—with enhanc...

The Lands Between

Dear Friends, Sometimes a blow is external—other times, internal. I got one of each over the holiday weekend. Apropos of our yearlong focus on “Avian Archaeology,” a Cooper’s Hawk that inhabits the Eucalyptus tree next to my house hit me on the back of the head at full speed, ...

13,000-Year-Old Ocher Mine in Wyoming

Dear Friends, I may soon be overwhelmed by positivity. It started at the Summit hosted by the Conservation Lands Foundation last week. That was one of the best professional gatherings I have ever attended. And today, I get to meet our 2022 field school students. We spend two days...

Glen Canyon Sites Re-emerge

Dear Friends, I am in Albuquerque this week, attending the Conservation Lands Foundation’s 2022 Summit. Skylar Begay, Ashleigh Thompson, and I drove up from Tucson on Monday, had a couple of meetings in Albuquerque on Tuesday, and enjoyed the conference opening last night. This is a signific...

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