Dixie Archaeology Society

Infinity of Nations

The Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian is opening an exhibit of indigenous artifacts from the entire Western Hemisphere in New York. Meant to be a permanent exhibition, the emphasis is on the diversity, travel, trade, and interconnectedness of native peoples from the Arctic to Patagonia. The following website is an outstanding overview of the exhibition. Particularly interesting are the stories connected to each specified region and associated with George Gustav Heye (1874-1957), a Wall Street broker who collected 800,000 artifacts from across the Americas from 1897 until his death. The stories are an unblinking look into the artifact trade that peaked in the late 20s. The rage for possessing Indian material culture during this time set curator against curator, and Heyes' financial fortune against the heritage of an "Infinity of Nations." Go to: http://www.nmai.si.edu/exhibitions/infinityofnations/

Chris Oravec

The Lost City Museum will be having a guest lecture by Dr. Christine VanPool of the University of Missouri on Sunday, November 7th at 6 PM Pacific time. The following is an Abstract of the talk:

“The Spirit in the Material: A Case Study of Animism in the American Southwest”

by

Christine S. VanPool

Archaeologists are shifting from a focus on individual artifacts and sites as passive tools to a "cognitive" framework that considers the relationships among humans and their material record. Ethnographic and archaeological evidence demonstrates that people often imbue their surroundings, including tools, with a "life essence" that makes them active, as opposed to passive, objects. A growing number of archaeologists have sought to utilize this framework to reconceptualize human relationships with specific artifacts and classes of objects, features, and places on the landscape, and to understand how such "living" beings impact human behavior. Here I propose that archaeologists working with groups from the North American Southwest can gain insight into the social significance of pottery by examining Southwestern ethnographies. Puebloan potters consider pots living beings with a spiritual essence that is both affected by and that impacts humans. Pottery manufacture is a mutual negotiation and exchanges between the pottery and clay to create a "Made Being" with its own spiritual and material aspects. I explore the significance of this perspective on understanding the archaeological record and consider potential made beings from the Casas Grandes region. I will ultimately conclude that this perspective provides useful insight into the placement, decoration, and discard of many vessels that have puzzled Southwestern archaeologists for decades.

Carol Patterson, archaeologist and rock art expert, from Colorado will be the speaker. She will discuss

"The Ute Rock Art of the Uncompahgre Plateau".

The following is an outline of her talk:

- Intro with oldest sites of Archaic animals and humans with atlatls.

- Formative era - game drives, animals, mountain lion warnings, hunters with bows and arrows

- Proto-historic era - mythology, creation stories, bear dance, cosmic tree and levels of the universe, medicine men spirit helpers, shaman, spirit world - all depicted in petroglyphs and sacred landscapes, petroglyph maps of the Plateau and of the Gunnison Gorge.

- Historic era - political narratives, battles, sign language symbols and petroglyph panels showing historical events from the Ute's perspective. Clifford Duncans interpretations of Shavano, Palmer Gulch medicine site, and other spiritual places.

The talk will be on Wednesday, November 10th at 7 PM in room 203 of the Udvar Hazy Bldg. at DSC. The public is invited.

November is Native American Indian Month. Pipe Spring National Monument, in conjunction with the Paiute Indians, have developed a program that highlights various areas of archaeology and history of interest to those in the Southern Utah - Arizona Strip region.

For more information, contact:

Amber Van Alfen

Resource Management

Pipe Spring National Monument

928-643-7105

Boma's class begins on Monday, October 18th. There is still time to register. There are still openings. See the prior news article for more information.

DSC is sponsoring “The Art in Rock Art”, a Utah Arts Council Traveling Exhibition that features 24 photographs by Utah State University professor Craig Law, chronicling Utah’s prehistoric rock art. Located at the DSC Val A Browning Library daily through November 2nd, the photographs are a small selection of images included in a greater documentary project called the BCS Project run by professor law and David Sucec.

For more information contact the DSC Library at 435-652-7713 or go to www.utahtravelingexhibity.org.

Native American Day

October 23, 2010

9:30am to 3:00pm

OVERTON, NV. On October 23, 2010 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. the Lost City Museum will hold a Native American Day. The day will begin with a pottery workshop at 10:00 a.m. led by John Olson, an expert in recreating prehistoric pottery. The pottery class is open to the public and people of all experience levels. It will continue on a casual basis throughout the day.

Throughout the day, Native American artisans will be in attendance demonstrating different skills including flint knapping, beading, jewelry making and more. In addition there will be performances by Native American dancers, including The McCabe Family Indian Dancers, drumming presentations by Julie Smith and appearances by St. John’s Ballet Folklorico. Delicious food will also be available for sale. Everyone is encouraged to attend this unique cultural event.

For more information go to http://museums.nevadaculture.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=397&Itemid=125.

Wednesday, Spetember 29

7PM

Canyon Community Center

Springdale

Lecture and Booksigning

Cost - Free

Book Review:

Title: “Finders Keepers – A Tale of Archaeological Plunder and Obsession”

Author: Craig Childs

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date: 2010

What would you do if you found an arrowhead, a pot shard, a complete pot, an unopened storage cyst?

When does an archaeologist become a collector?

When do museums have enough stuff?

What is the best way to preserve the past?

Craig Childs poses these and many more questions in 15 though provoking essays on the legal, moral and ethical aspects of modern archaeology where he draws from personal experience in the southwest and from case studies from around the world. Craig hints at what he would do, but he leaves open the final question – what would you do?

In “Finders Keepers”, Craig believes that the finals disposition of any archaeological artifact is up to the finder and it becomes his responsibility, as keeper, to give the artifact the respect and honor that it deserves. Hence the Finder becomes the Keeper – he has the final say.

This book is a must read for anyone who searches for or visits archaeological sites. One should know in their own mind what they would do if confronted by any of the above circumstances.

It's time to sign up for Boma and Kat's class entitled

ANCIENT AMERICA IN 1491:

Native Gifts To Our Modern World

PRESENTED BY

Boma Johnson, Archaeologist

For more information, go to http://www.angelfire.com/trek/archaeology/index.html