Thursday-Saturday, January 16-18, 2025, in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico: join the 19th Biennial Southwest Symposium coordinated by Michael Searcy and José Luis Punzo Díaz at the Hotel Hacienda, Av. Benito Juárez 2603, Centro, 31700 Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico beginning 7:00PM on Thursday through 11:00AM Sunday GMT. $50-75.

A photo of Paquimé, located near the Southwest Symposium Conference location,
with tours planned for Sunday (photo from Wikimedia Commons).

Consider an excursion to Tucson on Saturday, December 28, 2024, 8-11AM FREE (tho all gifts appreciated): Tucson's Archaeology Day offers FREE activities and demonstrations at Mission Garden, 946 W. Mission Lane,Tucson AZ. Every fourth Saturday of the month Old Pueblo Archaeology Center and Archaeology Southwest representatives come to Mission Garden to teach practical hands-on skills. Kids of all ages can try out fascinating ancient technologies such as etching shell, painting with natural pigments, throwing spears with atlatls, or making their own pinch pots, pendants, petroglyphs, and cordage. For more information visit www.tucsonsbirthplace.org or call 520-955-5200.

Photo of archaeologist Allen Denoyer courtesy of Friends of Mission Garden

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Following up on our previous post, here is one poet's view on such destructive expressions of privilege. Matthew Olzmann wrote:

Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America

- Southern Pines, NC

Tell me what it's like to live without

curiosity, without awe. To sail

on clear water, rolling your eyes

at the kelp reefs swaying

beneath you, ignoring the flicker

of mermaid scales in the mist,

looking at the world and feeling

only boredom. To stand

on the precipice of some wild valley,

the eagles circling, a herd of caribou

booming below, and to yawn

with indifference. To discover

something primordial and holy.

To have the smell of the earth

welcome you to everywhere.

To take it all in, and then,

to reach for your knife.

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Update on the 11/23/2024 vandalism of a petroglyph panel on public land in Utah: law enforcement have identified both perps. The woman, Daniela Ganassim Erickson, was arrested 11/30 and now sits in jail on felony vandalism charges. While she awaits a visit from the Consequences Fairy, we'd like to remind everyone that it was involvement by the public in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management that led to such a quick result. Members of the public who care enough about ancient places to do something when they see acts of destruction, really do make a difference and help preserve our patrimony. Thank you!

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