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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BLM Releases Draft Monument-Management Plans for Grand Staircase, Bears Ears

BLM Releases Draft Monument-Management Plans for Grand Staircase, Bears Ears Most of the lands removed from southern Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument would be available to coal mining and oil or gas drilling under federal draft plans released Wednesday, putting nearly 700,000 ac...

Origins of Chaco’s Scarlet Macaws

New Paper: Origins of Chaco’s Scarlet Macaws And for more than a thousand years, these birds were traded north into what is now the southwestern United States in exchange for turquoise. The ancient Pueblo great houses of Chaco Canyon (in what's now New Mexico) started importing scarlet macaws fro...

On Their Feet

Steve Nash on Ancient “Tevas” I’ve spent a good chunk of my life hiking the U.S. Southwest, and I’ve kicked my share of sharp rocks and prickly cactuses as I’ve walked across hot sandy stretches of desert. My hiking boots usually provide adequate protection, but I’ve endured an abundanc...

Interior Rescinds Science Policy for National Parks

Interior Rescinds Science Policy for National Parks As deputy director of the National Park Service, Michael Reynolds played a key role in developing a sweeping new vision for managing national parks. The new policy, enacted in the final weeks of the Obama administration, elevated the role that sci...

National Monuments Review a Sham?

National Monuments Review a Sham? In a quest to shrink national monuments last year, senior Interior Department officials dismissed evidence that these public sites boosted tourism and spurred archaeological discoveries, according to documents the department released this month and retracted a day ...

Saved: Ironwood Forest National Monument

Successful Defense against Serious Threat to Ironwood Forest National Monument “The anti-monument rhetoric Rep. Gosar spoke on the floor of the House is nothing we have not heard before, and we will no doubt hear it again. But make no mistake: with this rightful defeat, we have set an important p...

How to Honor Sacred Native American Sites: A Guide for Visitors

How to Honor Sacred Native American Sites: A Guide for Visitors Lyle Balenquah is a Hopi archeologist and river guide who spends a lot of time in Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument. Compared to many other national parks and monuments, Bears Ears is relatively unregulated, with few rangers to pro...

The Promise of Existing Collections

Bill Lipe: The Promise of Existing Collections The value (and excitement) of archaeological field work doesn’t end when the pits are backfilled, the artifacts are analyzed, and the reports written. At least that’s true if the collections are safely curated in a well-run museum. Specimens collec...

Chaco Canyon's Agricultural Potential Reappraised

New Appraisal of Agricultural Potential in Chaco Canyon Discussions of agricultural feasibility and its impact on local population levels at Chaco Canyon have been heavily influenced by studies of soil salinity. A number of researchers have argued that salinized soils severely limited local agricul...

Taking Stock at the 112th Anniversary of the Antiquities Act

Commentary: Taking Stock at the 112th Anniversary of the Antiquities Act Today, the nation benefits from roughly 160 national monuments—from Alaska and Hawaii to Maine and Florida—designated through the Antiquities Act. They are places where visitors explore, play, learn, and connect and serve ...

Update on Threats to Molen Reef

Threats to Utah’s Molen Reef In the past, Orr, Bailey, and other rock art enthusiasts have been able to persuade the BLM to defer leasing while they conduct field work to document petroglyphs, habitation sites, and geoglyphs that might be impacted by development. But in 2018, guided by the Trump ...

More News and Views on New Bill to Protect Greater Chaco

More News and Views on New Bill to Protect Greater Chaco The fight to preserve Chaco Canyon cannot take decades — too much would be lost — but passing this important legislation is a step in the right direction. Remember, too, that Chaco is not just a New Mexico treasure. Like Stonehenge in Eng...

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