This article via Western Digs is a year-and-a-half old, but it discusses the application of DNA technology to burials that are much closer to the GCAS's home than Denisova cave.

The burials were found in Room 33, aka the Gambler's House, of Pubelo Bonito in Chaco Canyon. [Figure on right via Stephen Plog and Carrie Heitman, Hierarchy and Social Inequality in the American Southwest, A.D. 800-1200.]

From the Western Digs article: "They were interred in what’s been described as “the richest burial known in the Southwest” — 14 men and women buried over the course of 330 years in the same crypt, some accompanied by pieces of pottery and pendants, others lavished with thousands of turquoise and shell beads....And new analysis of DNA from the 14 sets of remains shows that these elites weren’t merely members of the same influential class — indeed, they were all members of the same extended family, a “dynasty” that traced its ancestry to a single woman...."

Webmaster says check it out!

/s/ webmaster

Ordinarily this GCAS blog emphasizes topics that are directly related to our particular geographic area. However, this article via The Atlantic, about recent anthropological discoveries in the Denisova cave in Siberia, is relevant to us because it illustrates how DNA technology is impelling scientists to change their assumptions about how archaic and modern humans migrated, and how they interacted with the groups they encountered.

[Above photo: Excavation works in the East Chamber of Denisova Cave, Russia; by Bence Viola, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology]

Are you interested in learning about Salado culture ceramics?

Are you a member of Archaeology Southwest, or willing to become one?

Are you in Tucson or are willing to travel there regularly?

Is your answer to each of these questions an enthusiastic "Yes!"?

If so, boy howdy does Archaeology Southwest have a wonderful opportunity for you!

This here blog is always looking for content related to all things archaeological. We would like very much to include as many different voices as we can. How about yours?

Do you have an archaeologically-related event to announce?

Do you want to discuss an interesting book or article?

Would you like to write something about archaeologically-related issues that are close to your heart?

Many avocational archaeologists are familiar with the evidence that indicates that people in the Southwest began cultivating and eating a variety of corn during the Archaic Period in about 2100 BCE. In contrast, archaeological excavations in Utah have revealed that people had been harvesting, cooking, and eating wild potatoes as early as 8000-9000 BCE.

From the GCAS Library/Archives:

At some time between 9:00 AM on February 2, 1998, and 11:00 AM on February 12, 1998, the three Mimbres ceramic bowls shown below were stolen from the Silver City, New Mexico, home of Juanita Frank:

The theft was promptly reported to the Grant County Sheriff's Department, explaining that the artifacts had originally been found on Ms. Frank's family's ranch located east of Silver City. A newspaper report by the Silver City Daily Press dated March 11, 1998, published black-and-white photographs of all three bowls with the somewhat ambiguous description, "...They include a black-and-white bowl that is about 18 inches wide and 8 inches deep; a vessel that is 12 inches wide and 8 inches deep; and a smaller one. The unpainted portion of [one] bowl has been completed since the photograph was taken...."

"Is this what I think it is?" [Points to half-buried odd-shaped rock...]

"No. It's just a half-buried odd-shaped rock."

"What about this?"

"Well, now, that IS something!" [Group clusters together with excitement.]

Observe the two photos over there on the right. You can always tell you're in a group of amateur archaeologists when someone finds something interesting, and everyone gathers around to have a look...except for one person who will keep scanning the ground. Just in case.

Lonnie Ludeman, Conference Chair for the 20th Biennial Mogollon Archaeology Conference, announced that this conference is scheduled for NMSU in Las Cruces, New Mexico, from October 11-13, 2018; and is open to GCAS members to attend.