Arizona Republic Endorses a Preservation Approach to Ballot Initiatives

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

Arizona Republic Endorses a Preservation Approach to Ballot Initiatives
Prop. 301 would divert all of the Land Conservation Fund, which voters approved 12 years ago, into a one-time-only budget patch. It would sacrifice long-term benefits that include educational funding, community open space, and protection for archaeology, habitat and scenic resources on trust land.
http://tinyurl.com/2ae4xe5 - Arizona Republic

Data Recovery Nearly Complete at the Site of the Future Peoria Palo Verde Park
On a hot September afternoon, archaeologist Mark Hackbarth tread carefully across the fenced site that is dotted with short sticks with pink and orange markers. He looked for "hot spots" of Hohokam activity. The archaeologist has been using a device that sends radar pulses to capture subsurface images. "This is as good as it gets as far as archaeological sites go," Hackbarth said, pointing dirt-lined fingers to a dug-up area.
http://tinyurl.com/2ec4fr7 - Arizona Republic

Archaeology under Attack
Somewhere out there, there's a modern Western explorer who decided he had something so important to say that it had to be slathered in silver paint on a remote rock wall full of ancient petroglyphs in the national forest. The mysterious etchings depicting people, animals and a blazing sun are in a box canyon known as Keyhole Sink in the Kaibab National Forest east of Williams, a mountain town off Interstate 40 that has welcomed sojourners since its namesake, fur trapper "Old Bill" Williams, explored the locale in the early to mid-1800s.
http://tinyurl.com/22m263c - Arizona Republic

Poster Contest for Utah Archaeology Week
Archaeology Week isn't until May 7-14 but the Antiquities Section of State History is now inviting Utah residents to participate in the Utah Archaeology Week Poster Contest. Cash prizes will be offered in three categories: grand prize: $250; secondary school winner: $100; elementary school winner: $100.
http://tinyurl.com/2v5dpzj - Deseret News

Contractor Selected for New Mesa Verde Visitor Center
PCL Construction Services of Edwards has been awarded a $12 million contract from the National Park Service to build a visitor and research center at Mesa Verde National Park.
http://www.vaildaily.com/ARTICLE/20101005/BIZ/101009910/-1/RSS

Tour / Hiking Opportunity
Wilderness Hike to the Dittert Site,Saturday October 16, 2010. “Coyote, Doctor Dittert, and the Ancestors” Dr. Dittert said this site was built over a Chacoan outlier-like site. Others say it is closer to Mogollon country and influence. It may be the last mansion locally built before the difficult times of the 1270s. Come find out about two great ancestral cultures of the southwest, and decide for yourself if this is where they met, whether they got along, and why they chose this place. Modern interpretations are in flux. In the late 1200s drought was pervasive as was the likelihood of political upheaval.
Http://www.cdarc.org/sat/dittert_hike_2010.doc

New Website Documents Efforts to Preserve the Colonial Missions of Chihuahua (from Gloria Eugenia Alvillar)
My cousin who lives in Chihuahua, Chihuahua has sent this website on the mission reconstruction effort there. The video on the bottom half of the page is very well done. There is a Tarahumara governor who speaks toward the end of the film and it is moving. I would love to do a translation so that it can be shown in English. The narrative is respectful of all who participated in the legacy that is ours today. There are two architects from Valencia, Spain who are working on this effort and a small book has been published on how to restore old Spanish missions. Enjoy.
http://www.misionescoloniales.org/

Crow Canyon Announces New Three-Year Field Project
The new project shifts our focus in a number of ways: from the end of the ancestral Pueblo occupation to the beginning, from the final migration out of the region to the initial migration in, and from the best-understood period of ancestral Pueblo history to the least understood. The Basketmaker Communities Project: Early Pueblo Society in the Mesa Verde Region will focus on the earliest substantial period of ancestral Pueblo settlement in the Mesa Verde region, known as the Basketmaker III period (A.D. 500–750), and will investigate where these initial settlers came from, what their society was like, and the ways these early farmers impacted a pristine environment.
http://www.imakenews.com/crowcanyon1/e_article001886894.cfm?x=b11,0,w

Hueco Tanks Interpretive Fair Scheduled for October 16 and 17th
The Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site's 2010 Interpretive Fair Weekend will be held from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. October 16, and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. October 17. Attractions of the two-day event will include Native American dancing and drumming, folklorico dancers, pictograph, birding and nature tours and booths. Tours will begin at 8 a.m. both days of the fair, and will include birding tours, nature hikes, rare plant tours, hiking tours and tours to Native American pictograph sites. Visitors can browse informational booths on local history, desert wildlife, area parks and native plants. There will also be food, art and gifts for sale. An evening campfire storytelling program will start at 6 p.m. Saturday, October 16. The fair will be held at Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site, 6900 Hueco Tanks Rd. #1, El Paso, TX 79938. From US Highway 62/180, turn north onto Ranch Road 2775. Continue through the park gate to the headquarters building. The park is 32 miles northeast of El Paso.

Lecture Opportunity (Irvine)
The Pacific Coast Archaeological Society's October 14th meeting will feature Dr. Steven R. James speaking on “Archaeological Field Schools in California and the American Southwest: Historical Perspectives and Personal Reflections.” Meeting information: Thursday, October 14, 2010, 7:30 pm at the Irvine Ranch Water District, 15600 Sand Canyon Ave., Irvine, CA. Meeting is free and open to the public.
http://www.pcas.org

Student Employment Opportunity (Delores)
The Curatorial Program at the Bureau of Land Management - Anasazi Heritage Center is recruiting for qualified students who are interested in learning about the museum profession – particularly museum collections management for BLM and the Department of the Interior. The Student Temporary Experience Program (STEP) is temporary employment in the Federal government that provides the student with an opportunity to gain experience in the Federal government.
Http://www.cdarc.org/sat/ahc_step.doc