Pecos Conference Recap - Blanding Raid Investigation Expands to Buyers of Looted Goods.

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

- 2009 Pecos Conference: About 400 archaeologists - and old friends - converged Friday at McPhee Reservoir to listen and discuss the latest digs in Southwest archaeology. It was a reunion for many of the attendees, especially for retired archaeologist David Breternitz of Dove Creek, who was attending his 53rd Pecos Conference this weekend. Breternitz worked with the University of Colorado field school at Mesa Verde for 13 years and directed the Dolores Archaeological Project at McPhee in the 1970s.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/13u7 - Durango Herald

- Archaeologists as Scientific Stewards at Pecos: Kevin Jones, a Utah state archaeologist, tried to understand Saturday why a group of people in the Southwest who are suspected of trafficking in stolen archaeological artifacts from public and Native American lands engaged in the alleged crime.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/kxib - Durango Herald

- Blanding Artifact Raids Likely to Expand Scope to Target Buyers of Looted Antiqities: Federal authorities in charge of the nation's biggest bust of artifact looting and grave-robbing are targeting more suspects ranging from those who do the digging to wealthy buyers in the lucrative black market of ancient Southwest relics.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/e8tm - Durango Herald

- San Carlos Apache President Finds Resolution Mining's Plans for Central Arizona A Serious Ecological Threat: Resolution proposes a block-and-cave mining method. As a token to environmentalists, it offers an exchange of riparian areas along the San Pedro River. But no one has undertaken a cost analysis of potential environmental impacts to avoid a disaster similar to those inadequately addressed by the ASARCO settlement agreement that Gov. Brewer recently signed. To date, there is no mining plan, reclamation protocols or bonding assurances. Nor is Resolution subject to permitting, water-quality requirements, cultural protections or financial assurances.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/9r0u - Arizona Republic

- Native America and Santa Fe Prepares for Indian Market: On the sprawling Navajo Reservation, and other Indian lands, artists are firing away at their pots, chipping at sculptures and polishing jewelry in anticipation of their most important event of the year. The Santa Fe Indian Market, the premier American Indian art show in the country, brings together the most gifted artists from 100 tribes across the nation with thousands of visitors and collectors from around the world.
http://www.star-telegram.com/living/story/1524805.html

- Southern New Mexico Film Festival to be Held at Western New Mexico University: The public is invited to attend a free film festival hosted by the Gila National Forest, National Park Service, Western New Mexico University, and the Western National Parks Association in recognition of the centennial celebration of Aldo Leopold’s beginning his work in the Southwest with the U.S. Forest Service. The film showing is scheduled for the evenings of September 25 and 26 at the WNMU Global Resource Auditorium Center.
http://www.cdarc.org/sat/2009_film_festival_final.doc

- Tucson Celebrates 234th Birthday August 20th: Tucson’s 234th birthday celebrations will be kicking off early and lasting well into the evening on August 20, 2009 at multiple locations and venues around the Old Pueblo. The many special events and festivities will showcase the rich, diverse cultural history of our city through ceremonies, dances, music, individual/group performances and of course, a wide variety of ethnic and popular food and drink.
http://www.cdarc.org/page/kwkt - Examiner.Com

- Excavations at San Francisco's Presidio Yields Artifacts from Spanish-American War: A dirt-encrusted button, some shards of terra cotta and the buried remnants of a mysterious rock circle were fresh treasures unearthed in the Presidio last week by archaeologists probing the ground at El Polin Springs, where soldiers of the Spanish-American War once slaked their thirst.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/12/BA7R19598O.DTL

- Visit Your National Parks for Free this Weekend: No entrance fee will be charged for visiting any of the 391 national parks will offer free admission the weekend of August 15 & 16, 2009.

-Employment Opportunity: Five Vacant Archaeological Technician Positions in Texas: This outreach notifies interested candidates of 5 vacant Archaeological Technician GS-0102-05/06/07 positions currently being filled on the National Forests and Grasslands in Texas. One position will be filled for each location specified below at the 5, 6 or 7 level. These are being filled using an Open Continuous Roster (OCR) position announcement. Applications for these positions are being processed through an on-line applicant assessment system that has been specifically configured for USDA Forest Service applicants called AVUE. Click on the appropriate website link below to directly access this on-line AVUE system to complete the application process, or alternatively, visit the USAJOBS.GOV website and search for job announcement numbers ADS07-R5-ARCH-34567G or ADS07-R5-ARCH-34567DP. REMEMBER: when applying, you must specify one or more of these locations in AVUE as preferred locations to be considered for these positions: Zavalla, Texas – for the Angelina National Forest position. Decatur, Texas – for the Caddo and Lyndon B. Johnson National Grasslands position. Ratcliff, Texas – for the Davy Crockett National Forest position. Hemphill, Texas – for the Sabine National Forest position. New Waverly, Texas – for the Sam Houston National Forest position.

Thanks to Carrie Gregory and Gerald Kelso for contributions to today's newsletter.