Archaeology Southwest - Exploring and protecting the places of our past

Taylor Picard, Humboldt State University (July 5, 2017)—Recognizing that archaeological resources are nonrenewable, today’s archaeologists try to preserve as much of the resource as possible, as circumstances allow. Some nondestructive techniques include ground-penetrating radar, remote-sensing techniques, extensive surveying, exploratory trenches, and sample units. At the Preservation Archaeology Field School at the Gila River Farm site, […]

Archaeology Southwest Still Stands with Bears Ears President & CEO Bill Doelle concludes the organization’s official statement by asserting: “These are our provisional comments on an interim report. As Secretary Zinke prepares a final report, Archaeology Southwest will continue to compile an expanding database of detailed information that supports Bears Ears National Monument (BENM). Our commitment to […]

(June 16, 2017)—Archaeology Southwest joins sovereign tribal nations, local and national conservation organizations, and citizen stakeholders in opposing the recommendations put forth in Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s interim report on Bears Ears National Monument (BENM) dated June 10, 2017. In response to Secretary Zinke’s recommendations, William H. (Bill) Doelle, President & CEO of Archaeology Southwest, […]

The Antiquities Act Turns 111 – Celebrate by Protecting the Law This Thursday, June 8, is an important day. It marks 111 years since President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law. We at Archaeology Southwest cannot overstate this law’s significance. Through this act, America has protected its singular landscapes and people’s stories therein. Increasingly, the […]

Kate Sarther Gann, Communications Coordinator (June 4, 2017)—This Thursday, June 8, is an important day. It marks 111 years since President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Antiquities Act into law. We at Archaeology Southwest cannot overstate this law’s significance. Through this act, America has protected its singular landscapes and people’s stories therein. Increasingly, the Antiquities Act is […]

Aaron Wright, Preservation Archaeologist (May 30, 2017)—Another site protection success! On May 22, 2017, we closed on the Fleming parcel, 120 acres in the lower Gila River valley. We purchased 40 acres, and Gail Fleming, Trustee for the Lawrence J. and Gail Fleming Trust, donated an additional 80 acres. The parcel is a complement to […]

RESOLUTION A Resolution of the Board of Directors for Archaeology Southwest in opposition to any efforts to revoke or diminish Bears Ears National Monument. Whereas, Presidential Executive Order 13792 of April 26, 2017, directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a review of all Presidential designations or expansions of designations under the Antiquities Act […]

Allen Denoyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Ancient Technologies Expert (May 19, 2017)—In 2015, volunteers joined me in building a half-scale model of a typical dwelling from the Early Agricultural period (2000 B.C.–A.D. 50) in the Tucson Basin. We built the model near our full-scale replica Hohokam pithouse at Steam Pump Ranch in Oro Valley, a public […]

Bill Doelle, President & CEO (May 12, 2017)—The outraged community had the Swedish scientist arrested. The scientist, Gustav Nordenskiöld (1868–1895), had undertaken quite good archaeological excavations, by today’s standards, at cliff dwellings in southwestern Colorado’s Mesa Verde region. The trouble came in September 1891 when he tried to ship the materials back east by rail, bound […]

Kate Sarther Gann, Communications Coordinator (April 27, 2017)—An attack on one national monument is an attack on all national monuments. On April 26, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order requiring the Department of the Interior to review national monument designations since 1996 that are greater than 100,000 acres or that might have occurred with […]

Statement by Archaeology Southwest President and CEO William Doelle (April 26, 2017)—Archaeology Southwest denounces today’s executive order by President Trump, which requires the Department of the Interior to review national monument designations since 1996 that are greater than 100,000 acres or determined to be lacking in adequate public consultation. Although the review, if done in good […]

Scientific resources, cultural heritage and economic development at stake Tucson, Ariz. (March 6, 2017) – On the heels of Ryan Zinke’s confirmation as Secretary of the Interior, seven groups whose missions address the archaeology of Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico are urging the new Secretary to support the recently designated Bears Ears National Monument. […]

Kirk Astroth, Archaeology Southwest Member and Volunteer (March 3, 2017)—For the past 7 weeks, a team of us (Jaye Smith, Carl Evertsbusch, Fran Maiuri, Lance Trask, and I) have been working under the guidance of Aaron Wright to document the 594 boulders at the Painted Rock Petroglyph Site. I have found the work invigorating, the […]

Carl Evertsbusch, Archaeology Southwest member and volunteer (February 17, 2017)—Gripping a pole lashed to one end of an 8×10 piece of dark plastic, I drift off into scenes of kneeling in dirt making earthshaking archaeological discoveries. With no warning a breeze hits our homemade contraption and threatens to launch my shade mate Jaye Smith (read […]

Jaye Smith, Archaeology Southwest member and volunteer (February 16, 2016)—Volunteerism—I have thought about this word and its true meaning many times over the past 4 years, and when I originally decided to devote my remaining time on this magnificent planet to volunteer full time in the archaeological sciences. Dictionary.com defines volunteerism as “the policy or […]

Fran Maiuri, Archaeology Southwest member and volunteer (February 14, 2017)—We’re in the middle of over 500 boulders with petroglyphs on them and we’re wearing bright orange vests that say ARCHAEOLOGIST. Five of us—Kirk Astroth, Carl Evertsbusch, Jaye Smith, and Lance Trask—are volunteering for Archaeologist Southwest, recording the Painted Rock Petroglyph site. This site is managed […]

Paul F. Reed, Preservation Archaeologist (February 20, 2017)—DEADLINE TO COMMENT IS MIDNIGHT TONIGHT, MST, 2/20/17. (Original post dated 2/7/17 follows) First, thank you to everyone who has contacted me and Archaeology Southwest about taking action on behalf of the Greater Chaco Landscape. To review our overall goals regarding this effort, please visit the website of […]

Leslie Aragon, Preservation Archaeology Fellow (January 31, 2017)—A couple of weeks ago, Lewis Borck and I (along with our friend and fellow archaeologist, Ashleigh Thompson) went to the Khalsa Montessori School here in Tucson to talk about archaeology to a group of first through third graders. We had it on good authority (from Lewis’s daughter, Maya, […]

Allen Denoyer, Preservation Archaeologist and Ancient Technologies Expert (January 19, 2017)—Shell tinklers are a relatively common shell artifact we find in Hohokam and Salado archaeological sites in southern Arizona. Most are made of Conus shell or Olivella shell, both of which come from the Gulf of California. People strung the shells together such that they […]

Statement by Archaeology Southwest President and CEO William Doelle (December 28, 2016)—President Obama has, through the authority provided him by the Antiquities Act of 1906, proclaimed the Bears Ears National Monument in southeastern Utah. Archaeology Southwest has long urged greater federal protections in the region, and we joined the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and the Friends […]

Andy Laurenzi, Southwest Field Representative (December 21, 2016)—Beginning with a visit in 1692, Padre Eusebio Francisco Kino and various representatives of the Spanish crown traveled on several occasions along much of the San Pedro River within what is now Arizona. They encountered a number of native villages inhabited by people archaeologists call the Sobaipuri, a […]

Aaron Wright, Preservation Archaeologist (December 16, 2016)—Some of the most exciting dimensions of archaeological work are the instances of discovery—identifying new sites on survey; unearthing features at the bottom of an excavation unit; finding interesting artifacts in the screen; peering at microfossils, use-wear on artifacts, and pottery temper under a microscope; gaining new insights from […]

Katherine Dungan, Preservation Archaeologist (December 6, 2016)—The archaeological site that we call Fornholt sits on a ridge overlooking the grassy, well-watered valley that surrounds Mule Creek, in southwestern New Mexico. Today, the most visible parts of the site are the two architectural mounds—the remains of masonry room blocks that likely date to sometime between the […]

Karen Gust Schollmeyer, Preservation Archaeologist (November 14, 2016)—As an anthropologist, I think about the power of symbols, and their power to unite or divide. When I taught traditional classroom anthropology courses, this was one of the key concepts we discussed. As a young teaching assistant for Peggy Nelson (a professor in the Barrett Honors College […]

What You Need to Know about the Dakota Access Pipeline Conflict In recent weeks, protests against the building of the Dakota Access Pipeline across North Dakota have escalated. Native American elders, families and children have set up tepees and tents on a campsite near the pipeline’s path in the hope of stopping its construction. Dave Archambault Jr., […]