Major Clovis Discoveries at El Fin De Mundo, Sonora

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

- Researchers Report on Major Clovis Discovery in Sonora: Scientists have discovered a site containing the most extensive evidence seen so far in Mexico for the Clovis culture. The find extends the range of America's oldest identifiable culture, which roamed North America about 13,000 years ago. The bed of artifacts in the state of Sonora in northwest Mexico also includes the bones of an extinct cousin of the mastodon called a "gomphothere". The beast was probably hunted and killed by the Clovis people, known for their distinctive spear points, who mysteriously disappeared within about 500 years of leaving their first archeological traces.
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091021/full/news.2009.1034.html?s=news_rss

- The Center for Desert Archaeology Launches New Website: We are pleased to announce that our new website is up and running. Check out www.cdarc.org, and let us know what you think. We hope that you are as pleased with the updated content and more streamlined organization as we are. And there is so much more to come! Stay tuned as we continue to develop this new digital resource.
http://www.cdarc.org

- "Irrefutable" Evidence in the Case of Everett Ruess Refuted: A skeleton found in the Utah wilderness last year was not that of Everett Ruess, a legendary wanderer of the 1930s, despite initial forensic tests that seemed to have solved an enduring mystery, his nephew told The Associated Press. "The skeleton is not related to us," Brian Ruess, a 44-year-old software salesman in Portland, Ore., said late Wednesday.
http://cbs4denver.com/local/AP.NewsBreak.Family.2.1263150.html

- Friends of Arizona Archives Meeting Planned for Tuesday Oct 27 (Phoenix): Tuesday, October 27, 11:00 am at the Arizona State Library and Archives agency second floor conference room. This is in the 1938 addition to the state capitol on the second floor, 1700 W. Washington in Phoenix. Free parking available at Wesley Bolin Plaza.

- Nature Conservancy Presents the Hohokam of the Hassayampa River (Wickenburg): Find out who lived along the Hassayampa River in ancient times at The Nature Conservancy’s Hassayampa River Preserve 9-11 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 28. Maricopa County Park archaeologist Shelley Rasmussen will unravel the mysteries of the Hohokam and Yavapai cultures who inhabited the surrounding area. Class includes an introductory slide show and an easy walk around the preserve to explore where and how the Hohokam lived.
http://www.wickenburgsun.com/articles/2009/10/21/news/news13.txt

- Smoki Festival in Prescott This Saturday: Hopi tribal member and artist Michael Kabotie will give the keynote address at the event, talking about his "Journey of the Human Spirit." He will describe how he bridges the ancient Hopi world with modern American society, Nelson related. Kabotie and his late father Fred have been innovators in the Native American Fine Arts Movement, Nelson explained. Michael paints, creates jewelry and writes poetry.
http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=73668

- Lecture Opportunity (Reno): Dr. Pat Barker presents Prehistoric Sandals of the Great Basin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday as part of the Nevada State Museum's Frances Humphrey lecture series. The museum has some amazing sandals in its collection, including a 10,000-year-old sagebrush sandal currently on display in the Under One Sky exhibit.
http://www.rgj.com/article/20091020/LIV/910200310/1089

- The Mississippian Site of Chucalissa Featured on the Archaeology Channel: Located in Memphis, Tennessee, the Chucalissa prehistoric site represents the widespread Mississippian Culture. Founded initially around A.D. 1000, Chucalissa village reached its peak around 1500 with the construction of large platform mounds around a central plaza. Part of a complex society and supported by farming and natural foods, the Native American people of this site traded throughout much of the Midwest and South. Since its rediscovery in 1940, the site has become an education center for the University of Memphis through the C. H. Nash Museum.
http://www.archaeologychannel.org