Southwestern Archaeology Special Interest Group (SASIG) "Got CALICHE?" newsletter Sign up @ Monday March 13, 2000 ****************************************** COLORADO http://www.gjsentinel.com/auto/feed/news/local/2000/03/13/952961014.23059.4944.0317.html The course is designed to introduce students to the history and social events of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in the United States. The class is organized into major historical periods, from the pre-Columbian period - when Aztecs reached the highest level of indigenous civilization - through the Mexican revolutionary period of the mid-1800s through the early 1900s, to today. NEW MEXICO http://www.newschoice.com/Newspapers/MidStates/LasCruces/default.asp The "Las Cruces Historic Buildings Survey" states that Sam Bean and his brother, (celebrated Judge) Roy Bean operated a freight and passenger service line to Pinos Altos from this building in the 1850s. It became the Butterfield Stage Station after the Civil War. In the 1870s the Corn Exchange Hotel, one of the finest lodges in the Southwest, operated from here. John Davis, the proprietor, died in the early 1870s during the fever epidemic but his wife, Augustina, continued a business here until the early 1900s. ARIZONA http://www.azcentral.com/news/0313tovrea.shtml Tovrea Castle is being gradually restored. http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/LD0545.html Wal-Mart donated more than 13 acres on the northwestern part of its site Friday to the Archaeological Conservancy, a non-profit group that preserves such sites. http://www.daily-times.com/areanews/otherstories/3.html The Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site near Ganado, Ariz., became in 1876 the lifeline of supplies for Navajos looking to re-establish themselves following the 'Long Walk' of 1864. From: Jan R Bell Waiting for the Pot to Boil: Prehistoric Pottery in Southern Arizona. 3000 years of American Indian pottery in the Tucson basin will be the topic of a talk to be given by Archaeologist James Heidke, Tuesday, March 14, 2000 at 6:45 pm at Mission Branch Public Library, 3770 South Mission Road (NW corner of Mission and Ajo Roads), Tucson. Excavations over the past ten years, especially those associated with the widening of Interstate 10, have revolutionized archaeological understanding of the development of early lifeways in the Tucson basin and in the Southwest generally, including the development of pottery making technology. It was long believed by Southwestern archaeologists that the earliest pottery in southern Arizona was made by the Hohokam, arriving as a full-blown technology in the early centuries of the first millenia A.D. Recent work instead indicates much greater antiquity for pottery and development over an extended period of time. During the first two millennia of pottery production, from about 1200 B.C. to A.D. 700, there was a shift from making very small vessels that may have had a ritual function to the manufacture of household assemblages that would have served a wide range of daily needs. Heidke, with Desert Archaeology, Inc., has been at the forefront of analyzing and interpreting this new evidence. He will review pottery making from its prehistoric beginnings. The early pottery Heidke will discuss is the oldest currently known in the Southwest. UTAH http://www.sltrib.com/03132000/utah/33327.htm Forensic anthropologist Shannon Novak has pieced together the results of crime and warfare, meticulously re-assembling the bones of people who met violent ends. "All across the United States, when the dominant group has committed wicked deeds, historical markers either omit the acts or write of them in the passive voice," James W. Loewen writes in his new book, Lies Across America, which devotes a chapter to Mountain Meadows. "Thus, the landscape does what it can to help the dominant stay dominant and the rest of us stay ignorant about who actually did what in American history." http://deseretnews.com:80/dn/view/0,1249,155008657,00.html? Rainbow Bridge is the largest natural arch in the world: 290 feet high and spanning 278 feet. The National Monument was established in 1910. According to a suit, the Park Service has in effect closed federal land to visitors "in order to advance Native American religious activities," says the lawsuit. This amounts to "an unconstitutional endorsement to Native American religion and... excessive entanglement between government and religion." CYBERIA http://www.reasonmag.com:80/0003/bk.ta.rational.html Shepard Krech's book The Ecological Indian vividly describes the likely scene at Olsen-Chubbuck, the most studied jump in Colorado, eight millennia ago: "As people butchered the animals, they ate the tongues, scattering the bones throughout the site. When it was over they had completely butchered the buffaloes on top, but they cut the ones beneath them less thoroughly, and hardly (if at all) touched the ones on the bottom, especially in the deepest parts of the arroyo. To complete the picture of camp life near a piskun, Krech, a Brown University anthropologist, reminds us that 200 to 300 people would be living near the stench of all that rotting meat without toilet facilities. Throughout The Ecological Indian, Krech systematically debunks popular myths--many of them promoted by politically motivated greens pushing draconian environmental measures--and instead brings reality to the history of American Indians. Krech provides us not simply with a better, more accurate understanding of how Native Americans related to nature. More generally, he provides us with a sense of how human beings have long interacted with nature. He also builds a foundation upon which we might build more workable ways of allocating and conserving scarce resources. http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dsliving/134ld1.htm Much of what America purchased was advertised on the side of brick buildings. The hand-painted works that remain are visual archaeology - graphic landmarks of a bygone era in advertising and lifestyle. Forwarded From: Teresa Paglione Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) introduced S. 2181, a bill that provides full and permanent funding for cultural and historic preservation programs --including $150 annual for the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) - on March 6th. S. 2181 joins the "Conservation and Reinvestment Act of 1999"(CARA) as one of two major proposals pending in Congress which would permanently fund the HPF. Bingaman's bill, however, would provide more funding for historic preservation programs through the HPF. Revenues generated from the sale of Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas leases are directed through the HPF to finance the national preservation program, including the State Historic Preservation Offices, Tribal preservation programs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and the "Save America's Treasures" Program. The Bingaman bill is in need of support and cosponsors in the Senate. We urge you to call your Senators if they are on the attached target list using the U.S. Capitol Switchboard (202-224-3121) and tell them to support S.2181 because: 1) It would fully fund the HPF at $150 million annually. 2) At least $75 million of the HPF would be allocated to the states. 3) Of the remaining $75 million, $15 million would be for the protection of Civil War battlefields; $60 million would be available for matching grants for historic preservation (of which $30 million would be designed for "bricks and mortar" projects that preserve endangered historic properties). 4) A sustained commitment to the preservation of our historic built environment cannot be achieved without stable and permanent funding for the HPF. 5) For more than 30 years, the HPF has supported programs which celebrate and protect our past through matching grants to state, tribal and local governments. In addition, one dollar from the HPF leverages sixty-five dollars from the public and the private sectors for preservation work. 6) HPF funding is used by the State Historic Preservation Offices to administer the federal rehabilitation tax credit, which has leveraged over $19 billion in private investment in historic resources since 1976. 7) Full and permanent funding of the HPF will boost rehabilitation and reuse of existing buildings and help prevent urban sprawl. Target List - Delaware: Sen. William Roth, Jr. (R), Sen. Joseph Biden, Jr. (D) Kentucky: Sen. Mitch McConnell (R), Sen. Jim Bunning (R) Maine: Sen. Olympia Snowe (R), Sen. Susan Collins (R) Montana: Sen. Conrad Burns (R) New Hampshire: Sen. Judd Gregg (R), Bob Smith (R) New Jersey: Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D), Sen. Robert Torricelli (D) Pennsylvania: Sen. Arlen Specter (R), Sen. Rick Santorum (R) Rhode Island: Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R) Tennessee: Sen. Fred Thompson (R) Utah: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), Sen. Bob Bennett (R) Vermont: Sen. Jim Jeffords (R) Virginia: Sen. John Warner (R). If you have any further questions, contact the Public Policy Department at 202-588-6255 or . ****************************************** Thanks for reading SWA's 'Got CALICHE?' newsletter! Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico (an ethnographic look at applied scientific practices in the American Southwest). Southwestern Archaeology, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. PO Box 61203, Phoenix AZ 85082-1203. Cellular 602.510.2910; Fax 603.457.7957; E-mail: