BYU Field School Wraps Up Excavations at the Wolf Site

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

BYU Field School Wraps Up Excavations at the Wolf Site
The 2010 Brigham Young University Archaeological Field School recently completed excavations at Wolf Village (42UT273), a large Fremont farming village in northern Utah near the south end of Utah Valley. The site appears to have been occupied mostly in the A.D. 1100s and 1200s, although there is some evidence of earlier occupation. Excavations include complete or nearly complete exposure of four structures, including two adobe-walled houses, and test excavations into four other structures. One of the adobe houses had a vent shaft and a series of exterior wooden buttresses supporting its walls, while the other was associated with a massive storage pit that had a roof still partially intact over it. Excavations also yielded several figurines, large quantities of maize, several shell and turquoise items, and the usual assortment of stone tools and debitage, pottery, and animal bone. A Facebook photo album showing some of the findings can be accessed at the link below
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17977&id=100000416637044&l=56f48bb86e

Dr Laurence C. Harold Passes
Dr. Laurance C. (Larry) Herold, a geographer at the University of Denver, passed away in March of 2010. He had a long term interest in trincheras in northern Mexico. He began his career in archaeology, working as a ranger at Mesa Verde and then with Fred Wendorf on the Ranchos de Taos survey at Fort Burgwin. He is survived by his wife Joyce, long time curator of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and student of Native American basketry.
A tribute to Dr. Herold may be found at:
http://blogs.du.edu/today/news/geographer-traveled-the-world-but-loved-teaching-the-most

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture Receive Grant to Survey Ceramics Collection
A $57,370 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services will let the state-run Museum of Indian Arts & Culture in Santa Fe survey its collection of 5,300 whole and reconstructed archaeological ceramics vessels. The collection includes examples of some of the earliest known Mogollon and Ancestral Puebloan ceramics and others made during the 17th and 18th centuries.
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/living/97174799.html

Its Time for the Museum of Northern Arizona Hopi Festival of Art and Culture
The Hopi village of Orayvi is considered the oldest continuously inhabited settlement in the United States. Its traditions go back centuries, but in more recent times, a new tradition has taken hold in Orayvi - also known as Old Oraibi - and other Hopi villages. For 76 years, Hopis have traveled to Flagstaff to participate in a festival that showcases their artists and performers. The 77th annual Hopi Festival of Arts and Culture is next weekend at the Museum of Northern Arizona.
http://tinyurl.com/32n7gaf - Arizona Republic

Studies of Skull Morphology Suggest a Pair of Ancient Migrations into the Americas
Recent morphological studies of two groups of skulls support the idea that the New World was settled in two migratory waves, not one, as has been previously suggested by genetic studies. Paleoanthropologists from Brazil, Chile and Germany came to this conclusion by comparing the cranial morphology (or shape of the skulls) of an older group of remains, dating back 11,000 years ago with a more recent gropup of Amerindian skulls. Based on the test results, the scientists believe that 2 groups, one earlier and one much later, began settling the New World via Beringia; the now-submerged land bridge connecting present-day Russia with Alaska.
http://tinyurl.com/297sjmt - Yahoo News

Plein Air Painting Summer Show At Anasazi Heritage Center
The Plein Air Painters of the Four Corners will present their 2010 summer exhibition at the Anasazi Heritage Center from July 1 through September 6 (Labor Day). An opening reception will take place at the museum on July 4, 2010 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. This will be a juried event. The paintings on exhibit will be offered for sale. Proceeds benefit both the artists and the nonprofit Canyonlands Natural History Association. The paintings will feature landscapes and features of the Four Corners area.
http://www.co.blm.gov/ahc

Preserving Navajo History In Canyon De Chelly
Every spring and summer, after the winter thaw allows, about a dozen Navajo families still return to their old homesteads at the bottom of Arizona's Canyon de Chelly. The canyon has cradled human civilization for thousands of years. Early Puebloans, ancestors of the Hopis, built cliff dwellings high in the sandstone alcoves. And the canyon has been a sacred refuge to the Navajos for centuries.
http://www.gpb.org/news/2010/06/28/preserving-navajo-history-in-canyon-de-chelly

O'odham Saguaro Harvest Keeps Tribal Traditions Alive
At a small camp nestled at the end of a dirt road in the heart of Saguaro National Park, Stella Tucker keeps a time-honored tradition of the Tohono O’odham tribe alive. Every summer, Tucker and her family return to their small camp to gather fruit from the saguaro cactus until the monsoon rains come. Tucker uses saguaro fruit to make syrup, jam and a wine that is used in a Tohono O’odham wine ceremony.
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/tribal-tradition-lives-on-1.1494024

Thanks to Jim Allison, Jeff Boyer, Terry Colvin, Adrianne Rankin, and Wolky Toll for contributing to this week's newsletter.