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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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...

80,000 Strong for Greater Chaco

Dear Friends, Thank you for stepping up these past months to show your support for the Greater Chaco landscape. Our top story today reports that some 80,000 responses were submitted to the Bureau of Land Management. That’s progress—and an important step in a long process. We’ll need you ...

Chaco and Naco

Dear Friends, Today let’s start with two short words that rhyme and two consecutive numbers. Chaco and Naco. 10 and 11. Chaco—actually the Greater Chaco Cultural Landscape—is threatened by oil and gas extraction. I sincerely hope that you will take two actions as soon as possible. First,...

Tunnel Fire Swept through Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument

Dear Friends, I’m in the field this morning, doing some filming in the few hours before the temperatures in the Great Bend of the Gila reach triple digits, so I have to keep this short. In this week following Earth Day, when so much of the news is about war and climate change impacts, I am g...

Blue Corn, Melons, and the Climate Crisis

Dear Friends, When a mentor of the highest order passes, it prompts deep reflection. Last Thursday, R. Gwinn Vivian (1935–2022) passed peacefully. I consider Gwinn my highest-order mentor. And I am merely one among many who feel similar gratitude and loss. If it weren’t for Gwinn, I wou...

Administration Puts $1B behind Conservation Goals

Dear Friends, This time of year, the glorious yellow blossoms of the palo verde trees can lead you to forget that we are more than two decades into a major drought. In Tucson the bloom is just beginning, but last Friday, as I drove to Gila Bend, which is at a lower elevation, the bloom was intens...

Chiricahua National Monument May Become a National Park

Dear Friends, I have been reflecting further on the excursion Archaeology Southwest’s staff took two weeks ago—our day on the San Pedro River with 12 staff members in a single van. Previously, I’ve highlighted cottonwood trees and agaves as signature plant species of the San Pedro. This wee...

Chaco Protection Zone Comment Period Extended

Dear Friends, Last week Archaeology Southwest staff had a glorious 10-hour field trip along the San Pedro River. It was pretty much a perfect day. Before I head to the Society for American Archaeology’s annual meeting in Chicago this week, I want to share with you another field day from ...

More Than a Mountain: Dr. Nicholas Laluk on Protecting Dzil Nchaa Si’an

Dear Friends, Temperatures in southern Arizona have been in the mid-70s, with occasional bumps up into the high 80s. The desert’s seasonal message comes across loud and clear—100-degree temperatures aren’t very far off, so get outdoors. I’ve had two wonderful trips through the San ...

Respect the Great Bend of the Gila

Dear Friends, Tucson has a magnificent Festival of Books that returned in-person on the University of Arizona mall last weekend. Archaeology Southwest had a booth, and I spent the afternoon in near-constant conversation with many people who are avidly pursuing knowledge, insight, entertainment,...

US Officials Explore Public Lands Management in Cooperation with Tribes

Dear Friends, Since February 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine, coverage of the war and the worldwide response has—understandably—overwhelmed the news cycles. As a result, the roughly contemporaneous release by the United Nations′ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), title...

New Guide Supports Grassroots Efforts to Change Derogatory Place Names on Public Lands

Dear Friends, Our Avian Archaeology series keeps leading me back to birds in these messages. This week I’m going extra-heavy on the bird theme. Yesterday evening, I enjoyed Kelley Hays-Gilpin’s talk on “Birds, Feathers, and Ancient Pueblo Pottery.” If you missed it, we’ll have it ...

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