Archaeology Café Tonight, Escalating Collections Management Costs, Field School Promotes Heritage Management

Southwest Archaeology Making the News – A Service of the Center for Desert Archaeology

- Archaeology Café Tonight with Paul F. Reed: Join the Center for Desert Archaeology at Tucson’s own Casa Vicente tonight, December 2, at 6:00 pm for the third meeting of Archaeology Café, a happy hour-style forum. Paul Reed will lead us in a consideration of "Chaco’s Unruly and Disobedient Prodigies" and share his insights about the distinctive nature of Puebloan culture and settlement history in the Middle San Juan region of northwest New Mexico. More information is available at the link below.
http://www.cdarc.org/pages/articles.php?req=read&article_id=710

- The Cost of Curation: "A Decade of Study into Repository Fees for Archeological Curation" is the sixth in the series Studies in Archeology and Ethnography on the National Park Service's Archeology Program's website. The report, authored by S. Terry Childs and Seth Kagan, presents the results of a third informal study into fees charged by non-federal repositories for the long-term curation of archeological collections. The report also examines trends in the cost of archeological collections management over the last decade.
http://www.nps.gov/archeology/PUBS/studies/STUDY06A.htm

- Boston University Field School Embraces Heritage Management: But according to Ricardo Elia, a College of Arts and Sciences associate professor and archaeology department chair, the field school training has yet to address one critical component of excavation: what now? So this summer, he will join the field school as its co-director and leader of a new heritage management curriculum. “There’s a responsibility we have as archaeologists that goes beyond pure research,” says Elia. “Sites are being destroyed, lost to development, and looted to fuel the antiquities trade. In recent decades, there’s been a growing awareness that archaeologists need to engage in policy-making and with the public to protect sites and plan for preservation, which has really transformed the field.”
http://www.bu.edu/today/2008/11/25/archaeologists-delve-beyond-dig

- 9 out of 10 Dentists Might Not Agree on This Way to Ensure Your Archaeological Significance: Thanks to the poor dental hygiene of people who lived thousands of years ago in what is now Peru, researchers are getting a more detailed understanding of what they ate. Dental plaque scraped from the teeth of people who lived as much as 9,200 years ago revealed traces of cultivated crops, including squash and beans, according to a report in the latest online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/12/02/science-teeth.html

- Research, Scholarship, and Travel Grant Opportunities, Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society: Awards are offered to students and researchers who are members of AAHS and involved in the study of archaeology, anthropology, American Indian studies, ethnohistory, and history of the Greater Southwest. Applications must be postmarked no later than February 15, 2009. Awards will be made by the AAHS Board of Directors and announced during Arizona Archaeology Month. All of the details, including instructions and application forms, are available at the following link.
http://www.cdarc.org/sat/aahs_grants_2009.doc - Ms Word Document

- Rock Art Tour Rescheduled: Old Pueblo Archaeology Center's "Deer Valley & Spur Cross Ranch Petroglyphs" guided fundraising "flex-tour" that was originally scheduled for Saturday December 6, 2008, has been rescheduled to Saturday February 28, 2009. Contact Old Pueblo at (520) 798-1201 or info@oldpueblo.org for more information or to make reservations.

- Lecture Opportunity, "Set in Stone but Not in Meaning: Southwestern Indian Rock Art." Join Old Pueblo Archaeology Center director Allen Dart at noon on Thursday, December 11, at the Pima County Public Library, 101 N. Stone Ave., Tucson. This free lecture is open to the public. Dart will discuss how even the same rock art symbol may be interpreted differently from popular, scientific, and modern Native American perspectives. For meeting details contact Librarian Coni Weatherford at 520-594-5570 or Coni.Weatherford@pima.gov in Tucson; for information about the presentation subject matter contact Allen Dart at Tucson telephone 520-798-1201 or adart@oldpueblo.org.

- Position Announcement, Heritage Stewardship Group, USDA Forest Service, Supervisory Archaeologist: This position provides leadership and skills required to operate an Enterprise Team based, in part, on private sector principals in order to improve and streamline the business of government. Further, the position provides leadership and management in areas that are distinct to the public sector. In addition, the position also requires the ability to manage a large and diverse group of employees over a wide geographic area. This position also serves as a lead for all heritage resource, both archeological and historical, activities and is responsible for providing program direction and setting priorities for a comprehensive heritage program with emphasis on stewardship and public service. Much more information on this unique opportunity is available at the following link.
http://www.cdarc.org/sat/outreach_hsg_team_leader.doc - MS Word Document

Thanks to Gerald Kelso and Cherie Freeman for contributions to today’s newsletter.