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.

If you have news, announcements, or events, let us know.

Chaco Protection Legislation Is Balanced

Commentary: Chaco Protection Legislation Is Balanced New Mexico’s Sens. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall are strong supporters of Luján’s act, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a reasonable compromise that offers great protection to the park and its cultural riches without turning the entire nor...

Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act Passes House

Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act Passes House A bill to establish a permanent 10-mile buffer around Chaco Canyon to protect it from oil and gas extraction activity passed the U.S. House on Wednesday with bipartisan support. The bill, sponsored by U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland an...

Bipartisan Bill Would Expand Arizona’s Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

Bipartisan Bill Would Expand Arizona’s Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Congressman Tom O’Halleran (AZ-01) joined a bipartisan group of Arizona lawmakers to introduce the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Boundary Modification Act, legislation that would create a federal land exchange to e...

Another Look at Chaco and Chocolate

Podcast: “What’s in Your Cup, Chaco?” One thing that your insulated mug of hot cocoa says about you on a cold day is that this drink is for you as an individual, and that you're autonomous. For the people using the very first jars to drink hot chocolate found at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico aro...

The Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) Welcomes New Director

The Digital Archaeological Record (tDAR) Welcomes New Director Greetings! My name is Chris Nicholson and this month (October 1st) I was hired to be the new Executive Director at the Center for Digital Antiquity and tDAR. I come to Digital Antiquity from the University of Wyoming, where I served as ...

Coming Home: Mesa Verde Repatriation

Coming Home: Mesa Verde Repatriation The remains of 20 Native people and 28 funerary objects will be returned to the tribes with relations to Mesa Verde, the White House announced on Wednesday. The announcement comes after a repatriation agreement was reached between the United States and Finland. ...

Federal Judge Rules that Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante Suits May Move Forward

Federal Judge Rules that Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante Suit May Move Forward A federal judge has turned down an attempt by the Trump administration to dismiss legal challenges to its 2017 decision to cut the size of Bear Ears National Monument in southern Utah. In a three-page ruling issued...

September 28 Is National Public Lands Day

September 28 Is National Public Lands Day: Connecting to Nature through Service National Public Lands Day is the largest single-day volunteer effort for America’s public lands. Each year, hundreds of thousands of volunteers come together on the fourth Saturday in September to assist with various ...

Border Construction Imperils Archaeological Sites in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

Border Construction Imperils Archaeological Sites in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Environmental groups have fought unsuccessfully to halt construction in protected areas, arguing that more-imposing barriers could disrupt wildlife migration and threaten the survival of imperiled species. But ...

September Oil and Gas Lease Sale of Traditional Landscapes Criticized by Tribes

September Oil and Gas Lease Sale of Traditional Landscapes Criticized by Tribes For the third time since last year, the Bureau of Land Management is auctioning oil and gas leases on archaeologically rich canyons and mesas in San Juan County, but this time in the face of opposition from local electe...

Understanding When and How the Americas Were Populated

Understanding When and How the Americas Were Populated Most archaeologists would now agree that there were widely scattered, small but culturally diverse groups of people living in the Americas at least one or two millennia before the emergence of Clovis spear points. That estimate, then, placing p...

Before Highway Realignment, Investigations Reveal an Important Archaeological Site

Before Highway Realignment, Investigations Reveal an Important Archaeological Site A large, extensive network of Native American ruins was recently discovered just outside Durango on top of Florida Mesa, and it’s kind of blowing archaeologists’ minds. “As an archaeologist with 30-plus years�...

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