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AAC News

Check in here for recent AAC news. members feel free to comment. Please contact AAC@AZarchaeology.org if you have a news post that you would like to submit.

  • 09/15/2020 21:53 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    The Arizona SHPO has finalized the Historical In-Use Structure forms! The forms and guide are now available on the SHPO website: https://azstateparks.com/shpo-forms-and-publications

  • 08/31/2020 16:38 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    The AAC board has recently drafted an updated Harassment and Assault Policy. It can be viewed by members on the documents page

    We welcome all members to review and comment on the document. Comments on the updated Harassment and Assault Policy will be accepted until October 1st, 2020 and can be submitted via email to aacboard@gmail.com


  • 08/27/2020 09:47 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    Due to the on-going pandemic, the AAC board will to hold a virtual Zoom-based conference on October 23, 2020, consisting of a two-hour event with a post-conference happy hour. We intend to host a series of 5-minute “lightning talks” that may include a brief slideshow from representative CRM firms regarding current Arizona archaeology, as well as general presentations (20-minute length). Please provide submissions no later than September 30, 2020 to be considered for participation in this event.


  • 07/17/2020 11:18 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    The Verde Valley Archaeology Center is pleased to announce that a new publication is now available for purchase on their website (verdevalleyarchaeology.org): The Dyck Cliff Dwelling: A Sinagua Habitation Site Overlooking Beaver Creek, Central Arizona (2020), edited by Todd W. Bostwick. This two-volume report presents a history of excavations and recent analysis of thousands of well-preserved artifacts from a Sinagua cliff dwelling located on private land northwest of Montezuma Castle National Monument. The report is more than 700 pages in length and includes 111 tables, numerous black and white photographs taken during excavations in the 1960s and early 1970s, and over 300 color photographs of the artifacts and architecture.



  • 07/17/2020 08:04 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    Republished with permission from AAHS, 2020 Glyphs 71(1):6-7. July 2020.

    Written by Suzy Fish and Maren Hopkins

    His many friends and colleagues will greatly miss Douglas B. Craig, who passed away on May 14 at the age of 64 after an extended illness complicated by COVID-19. Doug and his wife, Rebecca Craig, shared their unique, artisan-built home in the desert near Marana, Arizona throughout their 34 years of marriage. Their life together was full of good food, good music, artwork, and dogs! 

    Doug came to Tucson and Hohokam archaeology following a 1978 Harvard University B.A., received a 1982 Anthropology M.A. from the University of Arizona, and later returned to complete his Ph.D. in 2004. Doug was staff archaeologist at Pima Community College’s Centre for Archaeological Field Training in the early 1980s and thereafter was project director for Desert Archaeology, Inc. on the Roosevelt Community Development Study. Joining Northland Research, Inc. in 1993, he served as project director and principal investigator for the rest of his notably productive career. 

    Doug was the consummate field archaeologist, with expertise in the Phoenix, Tonto, and Tucson Basins and surrounding areas. He had the foresight and on-the-ground skills to design, execute, and bring to full publication a series of projects that advanced central Hohokam issues and cutting edge approaches in regional archaeology. Investigations at the Grewe site near Casa Grande Ruins provided the basis for Doug’s dissertation and combined many of the innovative intellectual pathways he so successfully pursued. These interests included the role of architectural visibility in population estimates, households and community development, duration of courtyard groups, Gila River streamflow in relation to population dynamics, agent-based modeling, and Hohokam applications of house society concepts. His creative inquiries into the rise of Hohokam inequality addressed labor estimates for public architecture, prominent courtyard groups’ sponsorship of feasting and ballcourt affairs, differential investments in domestic architecture, and the formation of corporate descent groups, property, and wealth.

      In addition to his exemplary cultural resources management (CRM) publications, Doug was a prolific academic author and valued collaborator. His individual and co-authored contributions have appeared in Archaeology, American Antiquity, Journal of Field Archaeology, The Kiva, Journal of Arizona Archaeology, Archaeology Southwest, Oxford Handbook of Southwest Archaeology, and numerous chapters in thematic edited volumes from academic presses.  

    Doug generously supported archaeological organizations and public outreach. He served as preservation advocate and as President of Friends of Casa Grande Ruins National Monument, President of the Arizona Archaeological Council and co-guest editor of two initial issues of its Journal of Arizona Archaeology, on the Editorial Board of American Archaeology Magazine, in officer and editor positions for Old Pueblo Archaeology, and on the Marana Cultural Preservation Board. Audiences enthusiastically responded to Doug’s lively presentations in countless public talks, site visits, and tours.

    Suzy Fish will remember her experience as Doug’s doctoral advisor when she gained a lasting colleague along with new perspectives on Hohokam archaeology. In a final collaboration at University Indian Ruin, we admiringly recall how field school students eagerly responded to Doug as pied piper, drawing them into the intellectual intricacies and adventure of investigating platform mounds.

    Maren Hopkins will remember Doug as a loyal friend, mentor, and colleague who taught her how to be bold, stick to her guns, and own her ideas. Doug was a timeless person, full of energy, joy, and curiosity. His integrity, creativity, and intelligence will never be forgotten.   



  • 06/16/2020 15:43 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    The 2020 Arizona Historic Preservation Conference has been moved online to be Preservation in Place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

    https://www.azpreservation.org/conference

    A full-day virtual event will include interesting plenary and keynote speakers, including Paul Edmondson, president & CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (pictured at right); seven informative breakout sessions; a toast to the recipients of the 2020 Governor's Heritage Preservation Honor Awards and Governor's Archaeology Advisory Commission Awards; and an end-of-day networking "happy hour" hosted by local preservation luminaries. From the comfort of your home office, kitchen table, or Arizona Room, you are free to pick and choose what you would like to join in and participate.


  • 04/25/2020 12:41 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    The next meeting of the AZSITE Consortium Board is Thursday April 29, 2020, 10 am. Remote participation only. The draft Agenda is now available on the SHPO website, along with an AZSITE fee proposal, at https://azstateparks.com/shpo/

  • 04/25/2020 12:31 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    After almost 30 years, the book Archaeology of the Pueblo Grande Platform Mound and Surrounding Features - Volume 5: Special Studies has been published!

    The fifth volume in the Pueblo Grande Archival Project Series (Archival Series) focuses on artifacts that were collected during excavations on and around the Pueblo Grande platform mound from the 1930s through the 1980s.  The goal of this special studies volume was to collect and summarize artifact data from all the previous investigations. This large undertaking balances the unevenness of the data with its unique provenience, that is, from features on a platform mound and immediately adjacent to it, from one of the most significant Hohokam centers in that tradition’s realm. The Hohokam were an archaeological tradition who used stone, clay, animal bones and hides, natural vegetation, and agricultural crops in their daily activities for shelter and subsistence. They were also a religious society that likely included priests, healers, and shamans. Village leaders, heads of clans, and other people of importance also lived at Pueblo Grande. The roles of different villagers were almost certainly reflected in their material culture. Despite the problems with sampling, the studies presented in this volume enhance our current understanding of the people who lived at Pueblo Grande.

    A team of professional archaeologists volunteered their time to research and write about these collections.

    For information about how to obtain a copy of this important volume, please contact City Archaeologist Laurene Montero (laurene.montero@phoenix.gov).


  • 04/15/2020 09:22 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    The agenda for Thursday's (4/16/20) 10 am Governor's Archaeology Advisory Commission meeting is now posted on the SHPO website at https://azstateparks.com/gaac.

    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting will be held virtually. You can access the site via this link: https://azgov.webex.com/azgov/j.php?MTID=m6e03d4022b494c0c4e1d6610ae3627cf or by the Webex APP using Meeting number (access code): 285 053 117 & Meeting password: wuS36Q

    There's also a call-in number: 602-666-0783.


  • 03/13/2020 08:03 | AAC Board Admin (Administrator)

    https://www.saa.org/quick-nav/saa-media-room/saa-news/2020/03/12/saa-cancels-85th-annual-meeting

    Dear Meeting Registrants, Exhibitors, and Participants, 

    It is with deep regret that we must announce that the Society for American Archaeology’s Board of Directors has voted to cancel the 85th Annual Meeting in Austin this April due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak.

    This was not a decision we made lightly. We recognize the implications that it will have for those who were preparing to present research, for those looking to expand their professional network, and for our event partners in Austin. However, given the increasing rate of spread of the COVID-19 virus, the high-risk nature of a large public meeting, the extremely large number of presenters and attendees who are prevented from coming to Austin because of travel restrictions from their employers, universities, and from CDC guidance, the WHO pandemic classification, and the President’s statement restricting travel from Europe to the United States, we feel strongly that this is the most responsible option for our members’ health and for the broader community.

    The Board chose to make this decision now in the hope that it will lessen the disruption on our attendees and meeting participants, recognizing that the closer we get to the meeting date, the more difficult it will be for individuals to cancel or recoup their financial commitments. 

    Hotels in the SAA rooming block will allow guests to cancel and get a refund before 72 hours of your first night’s stay, which you can do by calling the hotel in the case of an individual registration or having your university/employer sponsor call on your behalf. For airline cancellations, we recommend contacting your airline’s reservations hotline for current information.

    We have begun and will continue exploring options for remote symposiums and other forums for presenting research, but for now our primary focus is on communicating with everyone who is affected and completing the logistics of cancellation.

    We recognize there are still discussions to be had with our event partners and we do not currently have answers to all of the potential questions. We are working to provide answers as soon as possible.  

    We will continue to issue updates and answer questions as we complete discussions with the venue, hotels, exhibitors, and sponsors. Please feel free to submit questions via this Google form, and we will answer them as soon as possible and post an FAQ on the website. 

    We would like to recognize and offer our profound gratitude to everyone involved in the 85th Annual Meeting for their incredible work and support throughout the year-long planning process, particularly program chair Matthew Bandy, and local advisory chair, Bradford Jones. We also offer our thanks to our speakers, session chairs, committees, exhibitors, and those who were excited to support Public Archaeology Day. The SAA Annual Meeting is a group effort and everyone should be tremendously proud of their contributions.

    Thank you for your patience as we navigate this difficult time. We know that many of you have spent weeks and months preparing for this meeting, and we look forward to making next year’s Annual Meeting a healthy and successful one. 

    Sincerely, 

    SAA Board of Directors 

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