Hohokam Site Involved in Presidential Politics, Atlatl Throw Saturday.

Southwestern Archaeology Making the New - A Service of the Center for Desert Archaeology

- Hohokam Site Involved In Presidential Politics: the 200-page environmental assessment Verizon commissioned to study McCain’s land, and filed with the FCC. It was no small process. The group that Verizon hired to conduct the study, EBI Consulting, in turn had to subcontract a local archeological firm, Aztlan Archeology (page 145), to make sure the tower wasn’t erected on Indian burial grounds or risked causing an eyesore. Laurie Slawson, the archeologist who wrote the report, explained to me that Aztlan had examined a “prehistoric rock ring” (page 160) discovered at the proposed site and contacted about a dozen local Indian tribes, from Hopis to Havasupai, to make sure no cell phone tower arose on ancient Indian burial grounds (which, she says, does happen periodically and necessitates an expensive relocation process to less-sacred areas). The McCain site did contain archeological evidence of a long-ago Indian presence—a fire pit that Slawson attributes to the Hohokam, a prehistoric agrarian tribe—though apparently nothing sacred enough to stand in the way of wireless technology.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200810u/mccain-cell-phone

- Atlatl Throw This Saturday at the Blackwater Draw Site: Eastern New Mexico University's Department of Anthropology and Applied Archaeology, Blackwater Draw Archaeological Site, and Mu Alpha Nu Anthropology Club will host the eighth annual Blackwater Draw Atlatl Throw on Saturday at the Blackwater Draw Archaeological Site. The site is located along State Highway 467, about six miles north of Portales and one mile north of the turn to Oasis State Park.
http://www.pntonline.com/news/atlatl_15080___article.html/site_draw.html

- Apache Exhibit Opens in Oklahoma: “Unconquered- Allan Houser and the Legacy of One Apache Family” opens at the Oklahoma Historical Society on October 24, 2008. The exhibition of artworks, artifacts, and photographs will illustrate cultural survival and expression through five generations of one Apache family – the Haozous/Houser family. Spanning the years of 1886 to 2008 the exhibition will trace the family’s history in Oklahoma. Allan’s father, Sam Haozous, was among the Chiricahua Apaches forced from their New Mexico homelands, imprisoned in Florida, then Alabama, and finally assigned to the Ft. Sill Army base in Oklahoma.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/10/prweb1480554.htm

- Second Arizona Archaeology Expo Planning Meeting Announced: 2009 Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month. “Celebrate Arizona’s Past: Museums, Places, People. ”Thursday, October 16, 2008 at 2:00 PM. Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park 4619 E. Washington St., Phoenix, Arizona. Please come and share your ideas as the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) continues planning for the 2009 Arizona Archaeology Expo that will be held on March 14-15, 2009 at the Pueblo Grande Museum and Archaeological Park (PGM) in Phoenix. We will be exchanging ideas with the various partners, discussing programming, publicity, lay out and organization, sponsors, funding, off-site activities, etc.
For More Information, Please Contact: Ann Howard, Public Archaeology Programs Manager, State Historic Preservation Office, 602/542-7138, avh2@azstateparks.gov

- Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument to Celebrate Gila River With Special Event: The Monument is celebrating the Gila River on November 8, 2008 from 11am to 2pm with an event featuring new book releases, Gila Libre and Free Flow. The authors will accompany interested participants on a walk along the west fork of the Gila River focused on photography and writing. Along the way, Jan Haley will talk about the natural art of the river and Carol Sinor will focus on the river as inspiration for poetry and nature writing. Participants are encouraged to bring their cameras, sketchbooks, or journals or simply come and enjoy an autumn walk and learn what Dutch Salmon has gleaned from his years spent along the river. For your viewing and buying pleasure Jan will have limited edition large format prints from Free Flow available for the first time. Signed copies of Gila Libre and Free Flow are available for purchase (no sales tax) at the non-profit Western National Parks Association bookstore at the Gila Visitor Center. Proceeds from the sales at the bookstore provide funding for this and other Park programs provided to the public at no cost. Please call (575)536-9461 to place book orders by phone or for more information.

- The Clampers, A Drinking Club with a History Problem: With little more than mortar and their ever-present red shirts, the Clampers, as the organization’s members are known, have placed more than 1,000 bronze, wood and granite plaques throughout California, from the remote stretches of coast to mining towns like this one, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The group’s handiwork appears on roadsides, lakesides and at the sites of former brothels, breweries and ballrooms. Jails and forts have been plaqued, and so have whaling stations. Historical drinks have been commemorated — and, no doubt, imbibed — along with ghost stories, stories of heroism and plenty of tall tales in between.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/14/us/14california.html