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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Continuing Coverage: Avi Kwa Ame

Dear Friends, I had the opportunity to do another talk before a live audience of more than 50 people the other day. The group was fully vaccinated, and the theater setting allowed substantial distancing. Everyone wore a mask. I find it very satisfying to interact with a live audience. And ...

Bureau of Land Management Moves to Protect Chaco, Opens Public Comment Period

Dear Friends, Last Sunday morning I happened to glance out my kitchen window. On the power pole about 100 yards away was a very large white-breasted bird. It had to be a hawk. But it was really large. Fearing it would fly away, I moved swiftly to grab my bird guide and binoculars. I got a ...

2021 through an Anthropological Lens

Dear Friends, Not that I’m obsessed with healing. (OK, maybe I am—a quick search shows I bring it up here a lot.) Healing is part of why we are changing the name of our weekly outreach to you. From today onward we are Preservation Archaeology Today. Preservation Archaeology is guided by...

Paso por Aquí: Big Jim Griffith, Borderlands Anthropologist and Folklorist

Dear Friends, If you are working, I hope your work life is slowing a bit. Today—Wednesday—is a field day in the Sonoran Desert, my ideal way to ramp down. Thursday should be a very quiet day. I wish you all some quiet days ahead, no matter how you’ve been spending your days lately. I hope y...

Ancient Indigenous Farming Strategies as Climate Solutions

Dear Friends, Two shots and a booster. Everyone at the Southwest Seminars in-person lecture I gave on Monday evening in Santa Fe met those criteria—including me. And we were masked and socially distanced. (I did remove my mask for my presentation.) I opened my talk by thanking the audien...

STOP Act Passes US House of Representatives

Dear Friends, An advocacy trip to promote the protection of the Great Bend of the Gila has me meeting with the Tribal Council of the Fort Yuma Quechan (pronounced “kwahtsahn”) this morning. I’m here with Tribal Outreach Fellow Skylar Begay. The Tribal offices are on the California side of...

Secretary Haaland, Tribal Leaders Celebrate Chaco Protections

Dear Friends, It was wonderful to spend Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania with my daughter and my grandkids. It’s also good to be back in Tucson. My travels really brought home that there is a lot of change going on among professionals and colleagues across the nation. New job prospects are pro...

Chaco Protection Zone Comes Closer to Becoming a Reality

Dear Friends, As this arrives in your inboxes this morning, I should be airborne and well on my way to Baltimore. The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is holding a blended meeting with in-person and online options. I’m going to be there in person. And I get to talk about Preser...

In Celebration of National Native American Heritage Month

Dear Friends, If you live in the greater Tucson area and are comfortable going out in public, next week is full of opportunities. To celebrate the reopening of a special place—the newly renovated Pima County Historic Courthouse in downtown Tucson—there are 48 in-person talks being offered ...

Lifeways of the Little Colorado River

Dear Friends, “It’s impolite to talk behind someone’s back” is a phrase I’ve heard since I was a youngster. (Let’s not talk about how long ago that’s been…) So I guess I’m going to be impolite today. Skylar Begay, who began his work with Archaeology Southwest in Janu...

Ethics and DNA Studies of Human Remains

Dear Friends, The beautiful white egrets wading in irrigated fields just outside of the historical community of Buckeye were welcome omens as Skylar Begay and I headed out to the Great Bend of the Gila on Tuesday morning. We had spent the night at the Gila River Indian Community’s impres...

Time for Healing and Justice at Bears Ears

Dear Friends, For almost 40 years, I have lived in a house that overlooks a desert wash in Tucson. Tonight, as I was driving north from downtown Tucson toward home, the full moon was just topping the ridge of the mountains. I was struck anew by the incredible beauty of this desert that kee...

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