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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Ceremonial Shield Will Return to Acoma Pueblo

Ceremonial Shield Will Return to Acoma Pueblo A sacred ceremonial shield will be returned to the Pueblo of Acoma following a settlement agreement filed Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court. The settlement orders the EVE Auction House in Paris, France, to release the shield into U.S. custody at t...

ICOMOS Releases Report on Cultural Heritage and Climate Change

ICOMOS Releases Report on Cultural Heritage and Climate Change The “Future of Our Pasts: Engaging Cultural Heritage in Climate Action” report was released by ICOMOS [International Council on Monuments and Sites] on Wednesday 3 July 2019 in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan at an event held during th...

Fighting the Downsizing of Bears Ears National Monument

Commentary: Fighting the Downsizing of Bears Ears National Monument The value of a landscape scale is that it is the best tool to capture the diverse human stories represented in the archaeological record of an area. These maps and images make it clear that the Trump-downsized monument fails to enc...

One-Year Moratorium on Chaco-Area Drilling Passes House

One-Year Moratorium on Chaco-Area Drilling Passes House Today, U.S. House Assistant Speaker Ben Ray Luján’s initiative to secure a one-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling near the Chaco Culture National Historical Park was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives. Assistant Speaker Luján...

Carleton Bowekaty and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition

Profile: Carleton Bowekaty and the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition The fight to protect Bears Ears has been going on for over 80 years, since the 1930s. Despite the current setback, [Bowekaty’s] motivations to protect Bears Ears remain strong: Bowekaty wishes to reconnect his people to the land...

BLM Changes Position on Leasing within Chaco Buffer Zone

BLM Changes Position on Leasing within Chaco Buffer Zone The Bureau of Land Management no longer opposes an effort by members of the New Mexico congressional delegation that would ban oil, gas and other mineral leasing within a 10-mile buffer zone around Chaco Culture National Historical Park. BLM ...

Fingerprints Show Chaco Potters Were Male and Female

New Research: Fingerprints Show Chaco Potters Were Male and Female In the Pueblo communities of New Mexico and Arizona, pottery is a skill that is traditionally passed down from grandmothers and mothers to younger women of the community. This custom was thought to have ancient origins, and archaeol...

Breaking News: Interior Commits to One-Year Moratorium on Chaco-Area Leasing

Breaking News: Interior Commits to One-Year Moratorium on Chaco-Area Leasing Last night, Senator Martin Heinrich and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt announced a commitment from the Department of the Interior to place a one-year moratorium on oil and gas leasing within a 10-mile buffer zone aroun...

Continuing Coverage: Protecting the Greater Chaco Landscape

Continuing Coverage: Protecting the Greater Chaco Landscape Appropriators in the U.S. House of Representatives would ensure federal lands around Chaco Canyon in New Mexico are protected from new energy and mineral development. The House Appropriations Committee released a report to accompany its In...

Tragedy at Danger Cave

Tragedy at Danger Cave A cave with evidence of some of the earliest humans in Utah was looted last week by thieves — who, state park officials say, tore security fixtures from the walls and stole all the artifacts inside. http://bit.ly/2YvTweV - Salt Lake Tribune Feature: The Bears Ears Educat...

Mixed Ruling Has Implications for Protecting Greater Chaco

Mixed Ruling Has Implications for Protecting Greater Chaco A federal appeals court has ruled that U.S. land managers should have done more to consider the effects on water resources before approving a handful of oil and gas drilling permits in northwestern New Mexico. The court, in a decision relea...

Spotlight on the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research

Spotlight on the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research The Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research here at the University of Arizona was founded in the 1930s by A.E. Douglass, an astronomer who turned to trees to better understand the connection between sunspots and climate. The lab has helped establish other ...

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