Southwest Archaeology Today

Southwest Archaeology Today (SAT) is a free, weekly e-mail news digest. In addition to sharing regional archaeology news, events, opportunities, and publications, SAT 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.

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

Extend Deadline for Public Commentary on Management Plans for Greater Chaco

Dear Friends of Southwest Archaeology Today, First, thank you for subscribing. Although Archaeology Southwest has closed its physical offices for now, our staff members are working remotely and doing their best to keep everything on schedule. We are committed to staying connected with you. We’r...

Educational and Public Archaeology Resources Online

Educational and Public Archaeology Resources Online Last week, Lewis Borck (University of Missouri) organized a community-crowdsourced spreadsheet of archaeology/history-oriented educational and public content online as a resource for teachers and students looking for activities/readings/videos the...

New Research on Pueblo Bonito’s Plaza Tree

New Research on Pueblo Bonito’s Plaza Tree The iconic Plaza Tree of Pueblo Bonito is widely believed to have been a majestic pine standing in the west courtyard of the monumental great house during the peak of the Chaco Phenomenon (AD 850–1140). The ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) log was disc...

Organizations Formally Oppose Proposed Changes to NEPA

Continuing Coverage: Organizations Formally Oppose Proposed Changes to NEPA The heart of NEPA is the requirement that federal agencies review alternatives prior to making decisions. This requirement that agencies take a hard look at the impacts of proposed projects has been the key to many preserva...

Feds’ Preferred Plan for Lands around Chaco Includes Oil-Gas Leasing

Feds’ Preferred Plan for Lands around Chaco Includes Oil-Gas Leasing The Bureau of Land Management Farmington Field Office, in coordination with the Bureau of Indian Affairs Navajo Regional Office, has prepared a joint Draft Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA) and Environmental Impact State...

Congressional Subcommittee Hearing Today: "Destroying Sacred Sites and Erasing Tribal Culture"

Continuing Coverage: Congressional Subcommittee Hearing Today on Desecration at Border Association on American Indian Affairs Executive Director and Attorney Shannon Keller O’Loughlin will testify to Congress Wednesday that recent U.S. government destruction of Native American sacred sites for th...

New Management Areas Protect Archaeology in Southwestern Colorado

New Management Areas Protect Archaeology in Southwestern Colorado The Bureau of Land Management Tres Rios Field Office has designated three areas of critical environmental concern in Montezuma and San Miguel counties. The new amendment to the 2015 Resource Management Plan designates the Mesa Verde ...

Final Management Plans for Reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Open Lands to Extraction

Final Management Plans for Reduced Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Open Lands to Extraction Thursday the Trump administration announced it was opening two national monuments to development. The culturally and geologically significant Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments will ...

Remembering Raymond H. Thompson (1924–2020)

Remembering Raymond H. Thompson (1924–2020) Raymond Harris Thompson, Jr., PhD, director emeritus of the Arizona State Museum (ASM), former head of the Department of Anthropology, and professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Arizona (UA), died peacefully on January 29 in Tucson, sur...

Continuing Coverage: Chaco Buffer Zone

Continuing Coverage: Chaco Buffer Zone Months after the U.S. House passed a bill that would create a long-sought, 10-mile drilling ban on federal land around Chaco Culture National Historical Park, the Navajo Nation is demanding Congress cut the proposed protection zone in half. The Navajo Nation C...

Indigenous Art Exhibition at Yale Challenges History and Perception

Indigenous Art Exhibition at Yale Challenges History and Perception “Place, Nations, Generations, Beings,” a somber and moving display of two centuries’ worth of Native American artworks at the Yale University Art Gallery, comes with a conventional list of acknowledgments plus an unconvention...

Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Litigants File Motions for Summary Judgment

Continuing Coverage: Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Litigants File Motions for Summary Judgment In a pair of federal court filings, a coalition of Native American tribes and environmental groups are asking a judge to rule that President Trump overstepped his power when he shrunk the Bears...

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