Previous Lectures
Steve Lekson - "Chimney Rock and Chaco Canyon, Pinnacle and Mesa Verde: Ancestral Pueblo Regional Dynamics"
15 March, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Dr Steve Lekson Recent excavations by the University of Colorado at Chimney Rock near Pagosa Spring, Colorado and at Pinnacle Ruin near Truth-or-Consequences, New Mexico illustrate two different regional dynamics in the Ancestral Pueblo world. Chimney Rock great house, atop a 1000′ tall ridge above the Piedra River, was an “outlier” of Chaco Canyon. Pinnacle [...] » Read more
Will Tsosie - "Ad i i l a, H á d i i l i ł ? !: perspective from a practicing native american archaeologist"
19 April, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Heritage is property that is or can be inherited. The questions are who’s property and why? Property, in this case heritage, is a commodity which is owned, used and controlled. Management of cultural resources is the control of cultural assets? Property, assets and control are the American 21st century capitalistic reality link to heritage. Heritage [...] » Read more
Todd Pitezel - "I Rented a Mule and Found Religion"
17 May, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Todd Pitezel on his trusty mule During the Casas Grandes Medio period (A.D. 1200-1450), the places where most people lived were of the simplest kind of settlement. Hundreds of sites, most being small pueblo-like units less than 900 sq m in size, dot northwestern Chihuahua, Mexico, along major and minor valley water courses. Nevertheless, the Medio period [...] » Read more
Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh - "Massacre at Camp Grant: forgetting and remembering apache history"
21 June, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Dr. Colwell-Chanthaphonh is Curator of Anthropology at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. His research interests include: Native American ethnology and archaeology, heritage management, collaborative methods, social and political uses of history, cultural landscapes, and research ethics. Dr. Colwell-Chanthaphonh received his PhD from Indiana University and his BA from the University of Arizona. Before [...] » Read more
Linda Mayro & Roger Anyon - "Preserving the Past for the Benefit of Future Generations: Accomplishments of the Pima County Historic Preservation Bond Program"
19 July, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Canoa Ranch: Rehabilitated blacksmith shop, tack room, and salt storage building. In 1997 and again in 2004, at the ballot box, the voters of Pima County resoundingly voiced their support of County Bonds for historic preservation. Many members of the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society actively supported the historic preservation bond program. Now that the 1997 [...] » Read more
Raymond H. Thompson - The Real Dirt of Southwestern Archaeology : Tall Tales from the Good Old Days
20 September, 2010 at 7:30 pm
The history of Southwestern archaeology is generally well known. Our understanding of the life of the prehistoric people of the Southwest is enriched daily. However, much less is known about the archaeologists themselves; their activities; their embarrassments and triumphs; their adventures and misadventures; their somber moments and their silly ones. This presentation of some anecdotes [...] » Read more
Matt Pailes - "Cerros de Trincheras in the Hohokam World: A Case Study of the Cerro Prieto Site"
18 October, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Matt Pailes at Cerro Prieto In the Tucson Basin the Hohokam early Classic period (ca. AD 1150) is characterized by large-scale population movements and the appearance of specialized site types including platform mound settlements and cerros de trincheras. Platform mounds are common throughout the Hohokam region during the Classic period. Cerros de trincheras are large villages [...] » Read more
Henry Wallace - "New Clues, New Research & New Photos of the Oldest Art in Western North America"
15 November, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Deeply incised and ground designs in a southeastern Arizona rock shelter marking what may be one of the earliest styles of rock art depiction in North America. Rock art is notoriously difficult to date and some dating techniques used for dating have been proven unreliable leading to considerable confusion in the literature on what is old [...] » Read more
T. J. Ferguson - "Two Views of Zuni Migration: Traditional History and Archaeology"
20 December, 2010 at 7:30 pm
Zuni Pueblo 1983, by Timothy O'Sullivan (USGS) The traditions of the Zuni people derive from the occupation of their homeland for more than a millennium. These traditions are tied to named places in a cultural landscape that provides the Zuni people with the means to symbolize and recall the ancient past. The Zuni landscape incorporates an [...] » Read more
Catherine Cameron - "The Bluff Great House and the Chaco Phenomenon"
21 February, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Jonathan Till and Vaughn Hadenfeldt expose one of the wide core-and-veneer walls in the east end of the great house. Photo by Ken Abbott, CU Public Relations The Bluff great house site is located on the San Juan River in southeastern Utah. It was the focus of research conducted by the University of Colorado (CU) [...] » Read more
Patricia Crown – “Chocolate Consumption, Exchange and Ritual in the American Southwest”
21 March, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Cylinder jars from Room 28 at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, probably used in ritual consumption of chocolate beverages in the late 11th century. Vessels in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. Photography by Marianne Tyndall. The discovery of cacao residues in ceramics from Chaco Canyon raises questions about how and when [...] » Read more
Linda Gregonis- "Whiptail Ruin: Hunters and Migrants in Thirteenth-Century Tucson"
18 April, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Pottery found on the floor of structure 19A at Whiptail Ruin In the 1960s and 1970s, Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society volunteers, University of Arizona students, and Pima College students excavated Whiptail Ruin, a village in the northeastern Tucson Basin that dates to the mid- to late A.D. 1200s. Analyses of the notes and artifacts from [...] » Read more
Margaret Nelson - "Then and Now: Then and Now: Lessons from Mimbres"
16 May, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Margaret Nelson Archaeological research is inherently interesting, but does it help us think about the present and the future? We argue that archaeological sites are a valuable heritage resource and that archaeological research delves into and improves our understanding of past lives – ways of being and doing. This is true. But can the experiences of [...] » Read more
Bruce Anderson - "The Interplay Between Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology in Interpreting Human Skeletal Variability"
20 June, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Our skeletons silently record much of our individual life histories Ceramic figure from Tlatilco, Mexico Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology are fundamentally different in scope yet inextricably linked. While the skeletal analyses performed during routine forensic anthropological casework are nearly always done on unrelated individuals, skeletal analyses performed during bioarchaeological investigations are typically done on related [...] » Read more
Ronald Towner - "Tree-Rings, Documents, and Oral Histories in Cebolla Creek, NM"
18 July, 2011 at 7:30 pm
An elaborate dugout at the Savage Homestead in Cebolla Creek, El Malpais NCA. The Cebolla Creek area of west-central New Mexico is an isolated area of lava flows, pinyon-juniper forests, and flat valley bottoms that is part of the El Malpais National Conservation Area. Completely depopulated today, in the early 20th century the area was home [...] » Read more
No Lecture - Pecos Conference
15 August, 2011 at 5:30 pm
Pecos Conference 2011 Click for more information on the conference » Read more
E. Charles Adams - "Homol’ovi and Beyond"
19 September, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Room Closure at Chevlon Ruin. Photo courtesy of Homol’ovi Research Program, Arizona State Museum Since 1985, E. Charles (Chuck) Adams has directed the Homol’ovi Research Program of the Arizona State Museum excavating five of the seven pueblos in the Homol’ovi Settlement Cluster. These settlements are integral to Hopi oral history and were variously occupied from 1260-1400. [...] » Read more
Janet Lever-Wood and Laurie Webster - “What’s in the Bag? A New Look at Ancient Bags through Museum Collections and Rock Art”
17 October, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Basketmaker II human figure with bag, Grand Gulch, Utah. Credit: William D. Hyder, “Basketmaker Ceremonial Caves of Grand Gulch, Utah.” In Rock Art and Cultural Process, edited by Solveig Turpin, 2002. Ancient bags are depicted in Southwestern rock art and have been recovered from many archaeological sites in the region. Despite their widespread presence in the [...] » Read more
James Snead - "Relic Hunters: Encounters with Antiquity in 19th Century America"
21 November, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Visit to Mesa Verde 1889 When settlers crossed the Appalachians and moved through the Midwest and Southern United States in the early 19th century they encountered the ruins and artifacts left by previous inhabitants at every turn. They thus experienced their new surroundings as complex landscapes already imbued with “history.” This engagement was almost entirely distinct [...] » Read more
Excavations at the Historic Alameda-Stone Cemetery in Downtown Tucson - Roger Anyon
19 December, 2011 at 7:30 pm
NOTE SPEAKER CHANGE! A Cienega-phase (Late Archaic) pit house was discovered in the project area, under the Stone Avenue sidewalk south of Council Street. The pit house extended west under Stone Avenue itself, beyond the western limit of the project area. The rectangular hole visible in the center of the pit house was probably excavated in [...] » Read more
David Yetman - "The Ópatas. Who they were and what became of them"
16 January, 2012 at 7:30 pm
In 1600 they were the largest, most technologically advanced indigenous group in northwest Mexico, but today, though their descendants presumably live on in Sonora, almost no one claims descent from the Ópatas. The Ópatas seem to have “disappeared” as an ethnic group, their languages forgotten except for the names of the towns, plants, and geography [...] » Read more
Evelyn Billo, Robert Mark and Donald E. Weaver, Jr. - "Sears Point Rock Art and Beyond, Synopsis of the 2008-2012 Recording Project"
20 February, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Petroglyph antlers reach for the sky in the Sears Point Archaeological District, Arizona. Utilized for centuries by many cultures, the National Register Sears Point Archaeological District (SPAD) is located along the rich riparian habitat of the Gila River. Currently managed by the Yuma District of the Bureau of Land Management, a large portion of the District [...] » Read more
William Lipe - Before Lake Powell: Memories of Glen Canyon Archaeology
19 March, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Glen Canyon Project Field School, Loper Ruin, mouth of Red Canyon. Summer of 1958 When the Glen Canyon Dam was completed in 1963, Lake Powell started to fill, eventually extending more than 180 miles up the Colorado River in Arizona and Utah. Named by John Wesley Powell in 1869, Glen Canyon lay at the heart of [...] » Read more
Ben A. Nelson - "Power, Distance, and Mesoamerican-US Southwestern Interaction"
16 April, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Ben Nelson “Trade goods” found at impressive distances from their sources in today’s American Southwest and Mexico have inspired archaeologists to think of imperial reach, commercial exploitation, mercantilism, and explosive growth of power centers. Turquoise, copper, macaws, and pseudo-cloisonné ceramics, along with symbols such as butterflies and the horned serpent, have long been seen as evidence [...] » Read more