Southwestern Archaeology, Inc. (SWA) Southwestern Archaeology Special Interest Group (SASIG) "Got CALICHE?" Newsletter Archaeology, Anthropology, and History of the Greater Southwest! Tuesday August 21, 2001 ***************************************** OBITUARY http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,539337,00.html Professor ET 'Teddy' Hall exposed the Piltdown Man fraud and dated the Turin Shroud as a medieval fake. He was a leading expert in the development of archaeometry, the science that took the guesswork out of establishing the age and origin of some of the most fragile and precious objects in the world's archaeological and art collections. PECOS CONFERENCE David Wilcox I've written reminiscances of the 2001 Pecos Conference. Please do post it however you think best. POLITICS IN ARCHAEOLOGY From: Deb Dosh On 8/20 wrote: " State lawmakers are trying to pass a bill that would require California museums and universities to return Native American remains and artifacts to tribes by July 2002. Fines would be placed on those that fail to do so. " Brian, I can't believe this. Exactly which Tribes will get what and exactly who will pay for this enormous project? Are the Tribes even ready to identify what is theirs or which Tribe has prescedence over the item(s) in question? I doubt it. I have read two articles regarding repatriation today. Both seem to target archaeologists as the bad guys, who just don't want to give up the goods. I don't think that is true at all. I think that NAGPRA is so complex and that, as usual, those who wrote it had no idea of the long term ramifications of such a project, that it will take another ten to twenty years to sort it all out and see that everything is returned. I don't think anyone is dragging their feet. I think it is just such an involved process that no one knows what to do or where to go for the funding necessary to mount such a huge, nationwide project. Tribes too must understand the legal implications of this law and many of the smaller tribes just don't have the governing bodies necessary to deal with these problems. Where do they get the funding to provide legal representation to even approach museums about returns? A lot needs to go forward before these things can be repatriated and of course in some situations, certain museums and agencies have such large collections of human remains, that even locating a suitable place for reburial becomes a problem. Editor's Reply -- You've identified an important issue -- funding. For details on the legislative bill, I recommend you contact the journalist who wrote the article. They may be difficult to swallow, but look at all the newsletter blurbs we've shared about hard politics in archaeology. Archaeologists are sometimes made out to be clueless (or as bad guys) in these news stories and annecdotal offerings. It is my impression that archaeologists start into this profession because they like culture(s) and they like 'doing' science. Some have social activist agendas, and some don't. Outsiders to the profession nearly always find professional archaeological and anthropological data interesting (great news for us!). Unfortunately, there are some who arrive on scene with few scruples about using our work to their own ends, unintended consequences be whatever they may (You didn't know this job was dangerous when you took it?). I recollect the screening of "Thieves of Time" at AHS Museum in Tempe. When Tony Hillerman narrated a concept that archaeologists were the bad guys, the audience of archaeologists gave a very collective audible groan followed immediately by sharp hissing. I suppose they had been expecting praise for chasing vandals, but Hillerman made it clear that archaeologists were yet just another type of enemy. To my way of thinking, we've spent years believing that we are good guys -- working lands claims cases; suggesting and developing markets for Native crafts based on prehistoric styles and artifacts that we've excavated; providing a depth of cultural information; doing good science -- but as unfair as it might sound, all our good work can be deeply discounted in the rhetoric of uniformed posturings that seek some mythic moral high ground. Our research community is made of many adobe bricks -- sites, people, relationships, ideas, methodologies; the construction style is organic (local); the mortar is the regulatory schema we enforce; the wall plaster is the information we provide; the roof is the preservation ethic to keep the edifice from melting rains. But in this house we have placed bones and sacred objects and cultural knowledge not of our own flesh and not of our own making, and we are outsiders, and some say this is pornographic. Such challenges (to the practice archaeology) are not exclusive to this country. And so as with any endeavor, all assets and liabilities tangible and intangible must be accounted for. Archaeologists do create value, but rest assured that goodwill and values developed through a project, over a career in an academic or applied discipline, or during a lifetime, can be destroyed (or discounted overnight) often for reasons not understood at the time -- and sometimes just for the challenge of the attempt -- thus leaving many to wonder just how to sustain lasting residual value through the practice of archaeology and historic preservation. HISTORIC PRESERVATION http://www.pioneerplanet.com/news/mtc_docs/112115.htm Architecture has traditionally been one of the means by which human beings try to resist the obliterating tendencies of time. But we are no longer building for time. http://www.jsonline.com:80/news/metro/aug01/goulcol20081901a.asp Safeguarding modernist treasures from remuddling will require a more generous view of preservation. Such buildings are worth preserving for their beguiling optimism; their expanses of glass and simplicity of form signaled a belief that architecture could change the world. http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/business/35676_costco18.shtml In Cuernavaca, Costco plans to demolish a 1930s building to build two superstores. About 15 murals painted by famous Mexican artists decorate the walls and ceilings of the buildings, depicting scenes from Mexican history. A preservation group has asked the government to buy back the property from Costco to preserve the murals. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/breaking/0820preserve20.html The Diocese of Phoenix wants to tear down St. Mary's. The city's Historic Preservation Commission says it must be saved. Voters have said that preservation is important to them. http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0821montini21.html It's enjoyable to watch the government and the church try to deal with a powerful entity that believes it knows what's best for them. Facing off against each other must be like looking into a mirror. The facts are out, and the folks at the diocese are right. It's their property, their building, their decision. They should tear it down if they want. I doubt there is a single Catholic schoolboy who hasn't fantasized, however briefly and sinfully, of taking a bulldozer to the old building. CALL FOR PAPERS From: Randy Patton via h-net: Call for Papers Oral History Association, San Diego, CA, Oct. 23-27, 2002 -- Global Linkages: The Internationalization of Everyday Life. This conference welcomes presentations on oral history projects that investigate the relationships between regional cultures and economies and larger processes of globalization. Proposals must be postmarked by November 30, 2001. Each submission must be accompanied by a cover sheet, printed from our website . Contact or . CYBERIA http://augustachronicle.com/stories/082001/tec_124-6081.shtml In most societies, women tend to move to their mate's communities rather than vice versa. A new study confirms this has left a mark in local gene pools. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/08/20/ED25130.DTL Archaeologists have been examining urban remains on the East Coast and discovered that while human activity existed before AC, it could not properly be defined as life. http://www.kcstar.com/item/pages/local.pat,local/3acce885.820,.html In a move designed to give Kansans a sense of place, WSU is offering a new program focusing on the Great Plains. http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/20/national/20MONU.html?todaysheadlines There is a new battleground in the West, where the agriculture, mining and drilling of the Old West economy go up against the environmental enthusiasm of the New West economy, based on tourism, hunting and fishing. http://www.ocregister.com/news/peeps00820cci.shtml Airplane Wreck Chasers take note: Pieces of an airplane that crashed in 1963 killing Patsy Cline and three others are up for auction. Cline was famous for the hit "I Fall to Pieces." ****************************************** Contact the Newsletter Editor (Brian W. Kenny): (W) 602.882.8025 / (F) 603.457.7957 or . Send books, letter mail, and other media to: Southwestern Archaeology Inc, PO Box 61203 Phoenix AZ, USA 85082-1203. We request your technical and scientific writings, opinion pieces, timely news articles, and organizational activities and events, to be shared with our digital community. SWA invites you to redistribute SWA's "Got CALICHE?" Newsletter. Temporary Archive . Free Subscription . Thanks for reading today's edition! Southwestern Archaeology, Inc. (SWA) - A 501(c)(3) (not-for-profit) customer-centric corporation dedicated to electronic potlatch and digital totemic increase rites that focus and multiply historic preservation activities in the Greater Southwest. 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