Puye Cliff Dwellings to Reopen, Field School Announcements

Southwestern Archaeology Making the News - A Service of the Center For Desert Archaeology

- Puye Cliffs to Reopen for Public Visitation: Santa Clara Pueblo, which owns and operates the site, reopened the ruins for group tours last fall. The landmark will open to the general public in late May. But self-guided tours of the site are a thing of the past — partially because of the theft of artifacts and vandalism that occurred when the site was virtually unmonitored. Now tours of the cliffs will be conducted by guides who can keep an eye on tourists and educate them about the history of the place.
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Ruins-revisited

- Historian Seeking Historic Photos of Downtown Chandler: Chandler’s historic downtown area has experienced a renaissance in recent years, with renovated buildings becoming home to new restaurants, art galleries and other businesses. In another effort to share downtown Chandler’s unique story, the Downtown Chandler Community Partnership, Chandler Arts Commission, and the City’s Museum Division are partnering to create special tile plaques for downtown buildings. Artists will design each plaque that will be placed on designated historic buildings around Dr. A.J. Chandler Park. Each plaque will feature historical photographs and information.
http://www.chandleraz.gov/newsrelease.aspx?N_UID=1309

- Field School Announcement: University of Arizona Dendroarchaeology Fieldschool, May 18-June 5, 2009, 3 credits, 9am-4pm daily The Laboratory of Tree-ring Research at the University of Arizona is pleased to offer its 9thannual presession course devoted entirely to the collection, analysis, and interpretation of archaeological tree-rings. Participants (undergrads, grads, professionals) will learn the most accurate and precise dating method used by archaeologists via lectures, laboratory exercises, and field work. The first week in Tucson will provide participants with a basic background in dendrochronology and dendroarchaeology. The second week of this intensive 3-week course is a field trip to various archaeological sites in the western New Mexico led by Drs. Ronald H. Towner and Jeffrey S. Dean. During the third week back in Tucson, participants will prepare, crossdate, and interpret the dendroarchaeological samples collected during the field trip. Non-credit option is available. For more information, contact Dr. Towner directly. phone: 520 621-6465; rtowner@ltrr.arizona.edu

- Field School Announcement: Archaeological Field School, Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, Arizona. Northern Arizona University and the Kaibab Vermilion Cliffs Heritage Alliance invites applications for a field school of archaeology in the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument, north of the Grand Canyon in Arizona. The field school will be directed by Michael O'Hara from June 1 - July 10, 2009. Students will learn about surveying, excavation, mapping, artifact analysis, and cultural resource management primarily at West Bench Pueblo, a Late Pueblo II (A.D. 1050-
1200) Virgin Anasazi village on the Colorado Plateau. To apply or for
more information on this field school, contact fmo@asu.edu or go to
http://www.public.asu.edu/~ohara/2009fs.htm

- Publication Announcement, "Las Capas: Early Irrigation and Sedentism in a Southwestern Floodplain", Edited by Jonathan B. Mabry: This volume summarizes the results of archaeological data recovery fieldwork at the Early Agricultural period site of Las Capas undertaken by Desert Archaeology, Inc., personnel in 1998 at the request of the Arizona Department of Transportation for a redesigned on-ramp to the Interstate 10 highway in the western Tucson Basin, southern Arizona.
http://www.cdarc.org/sat/ap-28.doc - MS Word Document

- New Video on the Archaeology Channel Highlights Indus Culture: Among the least heralded of mankind’s founding civilizations is that of the Indus Valley. The remarkable Indus Civilization of India and Pakistan was contemporaneous with other early civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Iran and influenced later cultures, including that of modern India. A new institution setting out to fill that information gap is the Indus Heritage Centre, featured in Saving the Indus Valley: Gujarat, India, the latest video feature on our nonprofit streaming-media Web site, The Archaeology Channel.
http://www.archaeologychannel.org

Employment Opportunity (Springerville, AZ): The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests, located in east-central Arizona, will soon be filling a Forest Archeologist position. This position is a permanent full-time position at the Supervisor’s Office with a duty station of Springerville, Arizona. This position is currently advertised on an open continuous roster as 0193-12. This notification is being circulated to inform prospective applicants of this upcoming opportunity. If you are interested in applying for this opportunity, please call or send an e-mail message to: Robert S. Taylor – Resources Staff Officer, email: roberttaylor@fs.fed.us

Thanks to Brian Kenny For contributions to today's newsletter.