2022
09
Aug
Unfencing Conservation (and the Future)
Dear Friends,
I was up half an hour earlier than usual Monday morning. As a result, I had to strap on my headlamp to safely reach my office in our side yard for my 20 minutes on the elliptical. As I opened the gate, my light illuminated a nascent spider web. The small spider glowed in the light, ...
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2022
02
Aug
New Report Highlights Urgent Threats to Cultural Landscapes Surrounding National Parks
Dear Friends,
An archaeologist’s tools and skills, even if “rusty,” have a long use life. Over the past three weekends, I used my archaeo-toolkit in the service of what started out as basic yard work.
An old citrus tree that had always struggled in our yard needed to be removed, not just...
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2022
02
Aug
New Report Highlights Urgent Need for Federal Oil and Gas Reform to Protect Cultural Landscapes Surrounding National Parks
Washington, D.C. (August 2, 2022)—Today, Archaeology Southwest and The Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks (CPANP) released a report on the threats oil and gas development pose to ancestral homelands and sacred sites of Tribes within and adjacent to national parks in the United States....
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2022
26
Jul
Archaeology and Migration: Interview with Randall McGuire
Dear Friends,
A house—a place to call home—matters.
My professional life confirms that. Over my decades as an archaeologist, I have observed excavations of many hundreds of former residences. Some were 3,000 or more years old.
My personal life confirms that. Every evening I leave my off...
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2022
19
Jul
What “Save” Means for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase
Dear Friends,
I've been to London just once in my lifetime, during the summer of 2003. My wife, daughter, and I sweltered in our hotel without air conditioning. It was the historical day that London reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
This week, it’s much worse. Temperatures in London have excee...
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2022
17
Jul
Ah, Plants!
Janae Garcia, University of Hawai‘i at Hilo
(July 2, 2022)—Ah, plants! They surround us and blanket our Earth with such grace and beauty. I have always felt such a love and desire for learning about naturopathic medicine, as well as the variations and impact of plant use throughout history an...
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2022
17
Jul
Decolonizing Archaeology: An Indigenous Perspective
Totsoni Willeto, University of Arizona
(July 1, 2022)—Yá’át’ééh and warm greetings from all of us here at the Gila River Farm site. As we move through the final week and begin wrapping up the field school, one cannot help but reminisce about all the amazing moments we’ve shared with o...
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2022
17
Jul
A Home away from Home
Aleesha Clevenger, University of Arizona
(June 28, 2022)—A place that has become near and dear to my heart is the adobe structure. This small little mudroom building has been my go-to spot for reading, stargazing, and sunset-watching. Over the past week, it has proven to be a perfect place for ...
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2022
17
Jul
Inspired and Determined
Ashley Tillery, University of Nevada Las Vegas
(June 27, 2022)—Field school is truly an experience like no other—you work, play, and live with your classmates. We all have the same experiences but discuss them through many different lenses. An experience I will never forget was our field trip...
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2022
17
Jul
My Thrilling Discovery
Seth Pratt Phillips, University of Arizona
(June 23, 2022)—During my time spent learning and practicing experimental archaeology, I went to Mule Creek to search for obsidian. People have obtained obsidian for making tools from this local source for millennia.
Having just learned how to use a...
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2022
15
Jul
Meals, Bonds, and Paleoethnobotany
“[Humans] don't just survive; they discover; they create. ... I mean, just look at what they do with food!” – Remy, from the 2007 hit motion picture “Ratatouille”
Jonah Bullen, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
(June 21, 2022)—An important takeaway I’ve learned during my five year...
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2022
12
Jul
The Significance of Cooperative Land Management
Dear Friends,
I’m back in Tucson after a week in the Poconos. Lots of good family time, and even a few birds I’m not used to seeing around Tucson—Eastern Bluebirds, Savannah Sparrows, and Yellow Warblers.
Flying on airplanes used to be a wonderful time to settle into a window seat and ma...
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