Rock Mr. Richens

Mr. Richens Mr. Richens, Mr. Richens
Mr. Richens Mr. Richens, Mr. Richens
Mr. Richens Mr. Richens, oh oh oh Mr. Richens
Ooo rock me Mr. Richens

Ah, archaeologists just can't throw anything away

So, I was flipping through some books on the history of various Utah counties and came across this picture:


First of all, I thought it interesting that Lane doesn't look too much different (just some gray hairs and no more mustache!). Even more intriguing was how familiar I was (and am sure you all are) with the equipment in the background! I think it's funny how archaeologists just can't get rid of anything!

More Arrowhead Spam From Aaron

Sorry everyone,

In my quest to get all these GB projectile point typologies described in my thesis, I've been looking at all the sources I can get my hands on. For the most part they are consistent (I have a pretty good discussion of that in my thesis) and I have found some great resources.

A few months ago, I posted that online projectile point reference guide. I've found another. Idaho State University, in conjunction with the Idaho Museum of Natural History has an exceptional online reference called Digital Atlas of Idaho.

The archaeology section is very comprehensive for the northern portion of the GB. Like all websites, there are some problems. Many sections are still under construction, and probably have been that way for several years. I was, however, impressed with their projectile point index. There are some great photos with brief discussions on chronology and geographic distributions (just click on the link "projectile points").

If you need a quick online reference for GB projectile points, this is probably as good as any on the web. At least until someone finds or makes a better one.

I thought farmers with guns were a problem, now we have to worry about speed freaks, too?

I was reading in the latest issue of Archaeology Magazine about the spread of looting by Meth addicts and producers. Apparently, cultural resources are gaining a lot of value in the drug market.

The story is focused on the SW, but states that "tweakers" or "twiggers" (a combination of tweakers and diggers) are looting sites throughout the nation.

Users have so much excess energy, that they tend to "hoover" a site and remove everything they find.

Check it out.

The full article will most likely be available at your library. I know that BYU carries this magazine.

Fun With Artifacts

I know that I've shown many of you these ground points from Parowan Valley, but some of you may not have seen them. Here is a photo I'm working on to include in the thesis. It's still not finished (scale, lettering, etc), but you get the basic idea.

I included the profiles of two of the points because they are ground on the sides. The other edges, while ground, do not show up very well in the photos.

The point on the far left exhibits very light grinding exclusively on the edge.

The distal end of point second from left has not been broken off from use or wear and tear. It has been ground down to a smooth and rounded finish.

The reason I am including these in my thesis, and showing them off to you, is that due to the grinding, they are clearly not tools used in hunting. Due to their smooth edges, it would be difficult to penetrate the hide of animals.

Enjoy!

Chocolate and Chile in the Southwest

As many of you may know, Patricia Crown along with the help of a researcher at Hershey have identified the chemical theobromine, exclusive to chocolate, in residue of a sherd from the trash mound next to Pueblo Bonito at Chaco. So we have pretty good evidence that chocolate made it to the Southwest much earlier than has been thought. You can read about it here:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Study-pinpoints-earliest-chocolate-use-in-U-S--to-N-M--pueblo

Well, a little insider info for you. At the excavation of site 315, a Medio Period site located about 1 km from Paquime, we found what is likely the evidence of the first chile seed ever found in the Southwest. Paul Minnis recently identified the seed during the analysis of some float samples that yours truly excavated from beneath a floor in one of the rooms. Minnis has recently written an article about it, so hopefully we'll see that surface soon.

So I say there was likely some pretty tasty mole being made long before the Spanish arrived. Dig on!

A day late, but Merry Christmas again!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a great Christmas! May your stomachs be filled with optimal foods, your moccasins made with the best dew claws, and your rabbit-skin robes the warmest of all!

NSF Christmas Joy

Just wanted to share the news that my NSF grant went through. I thought some of you would also want to see what my research will focus on. You can see it on the NSF website:
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0903004
Hope to run some ideas by you guys in the near future. Later.

Mike

2009 Utah Archaeology -- Student Issue

The 2009 issue of Utah Archaeology is going to be an all-student affair.  Get going on those articles now, rather than in June.

CALL FOR PAPAERS:

We are pleased to announce that the 2009 issue of Utah Archaeology will be an "All-Student" issue.  Graduate students and advanced undergraduates are invited to submit papers for consideration.  Appropriate submissions might include class papers and summaries of thesis work.  In order to be considered for inclusion in the 2009 issue, submissions must be received by June 20, 2009.  Electronic submissions are strongly encouraged (utaharch@gmail.com).  As always, submissions are to follow the most recent SAA style guide (see instructions for Authors below).  Please pass this announcement on to current students or recent graduates.

Instructions to Authors: 

Utah Archaeology annually publishes research relevant to the archaeology (both prehistoric and historic) of Utah.  Articles must be factual with some archaeological application.  We seek submissions from authors affiliated with government agencies, cultural resource management firms, museums, academic institutions, and avocational archaeologists equally. 

Authors submitting manuscripts are requested to follow Society for American Archaeology (SAA) style.  The most recent version of the SAA Style Guide can be found online at http://www.saa.org/.    

Categories of papers are: 

(1) Articles – Synthetic manuscripts, reports of analysis, overviews, and reviews of past research.

(2) Reports – Shorter manuscripts including descriptive reports on focused topics and topical pieces written for the non-specialist.

(3) Comments – Pertain to previous publications or topics of general interest.  Comments on published works will be submitted to the author of that work for review and reply. 

(4) Book Reviews – Reviews of current publications pertaining broadly to archaeology in Utah.   

Manuscripts must be typed, double spaced, on one side of 8.5 by 11 inch paper.  Type font should be 12 point and page margins 1 inch.  Submissions should contain appropriate headings and subheadings and must contain a brief abstract of less than 150 words.  Manuscripts should be paginated consecutively beginning with the title page.  Manuscripts should be submitted in an electronic format, as Utah Archaeology cannot retype papers and scanning text is often problematic.  Authors are encouraged to send files as attachments to an email message to the editors, although manuscripts may also be submitted on a CD.  All submissions are strongly encouraged to be in Microsoft Word.   All manuscripts are submitted for outside review.  Authors are sent reviewers' comments and a letter from the editor as to whether the manuscript is acceptable with revision, acceptable in current form, or rejected with a recommendation for substantial revision.  The editors reserve the right to evaluate manuscripts for appropriate subject matter, quality, length, and compliance with the style guide, and are highly likely to reject submissions which do not conform to the requirements above. 

Submissions and correspondence should be addressed to: 

David Yoder and Chris Watkins (utaharch@gmail.com)

or

David Yoder
256 ALLN-BYU
Provo, UT 84602


Chris Watkins and David Yoder, Co-editors Utah Archaeology

Utah Archaeology is Back

I walked into my boss' office yesterday and saw a copy of the 2006 Utah Archaeology put together by the two amazing new editors! It looks great and I just wanted to congratulate Dave and Chris and let you guys know I'm excited to see new editions come more than just every 4-5 years!
Now that I'm out in the "real world" I've noticed that you two (along with very few other people) are doing a really good job of giving BYU's program a good name...thanks.

Starvation Doctrine

Hello everyone,

Well, I finally finished the film. The first screening will be next week, and we've begun submitting to festivals. Check out our website for details and to see the trailer. Later.

www.burningbuffalofilms.com

Projectile Point Quick Refernce Guide

Hey all,

I've been working on a re-analysis of the Baker Village collection and was trying to get a better idea of how to differentiate between Nawthis side-notched, Bear River side-notched, and Uinta side-notched.

I found this website. It's pretty basic but the index and references are pretty useful.

This index allows you to search nationally, regionally, or by state for different point types. I've noticed that the lists are missing a few point types, but for the most part, i really like the quick reference.

Rather than spend time searching by region, I went directly to the complete list .
I found this to be more useful, especially since i disagree with some of their regional demarcations.

I'm not sure if the site is associated with any university, but it's free and has some good information for those of you interested in typing projectile points without spending a lot of time doing lit searches.

The Fremont Master

Once again, southwestern archaeologists recognize the Fremont as well as the Master of Fremont ceramic typology. Check out the props to our very own blogging brother Chris Watkins.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~mpeeple/swceramics.html

Job Opportunity

I know this blog isn't for advertising so I apologize if this is out of place but I have a great opportunity to share and many of you probably qualify. My company is looking to fill the position of project archaeologist for our project on the test and training ranges of Nellis Air Force Base. The position is advertised on Shovelbums (the link isn't working but just type Geo-Marine in the search bar and you will see the ad). We encourage all to apply who are interested. We are looking for those interested in living in St. George or the surrounding area (or Las Vegas is you really want to). The project is already underway so this is urgent. I'm not sure how many of you would be available or interested but I figured I'd let everyone know of the opportunity. We are looking for long term, its a great salary and great benefits, if you have any questions you can email me at swenzlau@geo-marine.com

Here's the link:

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ShovelBums/message/5914

Trading Cards and Action Figures

I stumbled on these a couple days ago. Check'em out at:

http://www.theory.org.uk/cards.htm

and

http://www.theory.org.uk/action.htm

As some point in the far distant future when we are all millionaires and have lots of free time to fritter away we should do the Great Basin Trading Cards. It would be sweet.

Professors we know or have known

I saw this list the other day whilst in the Blogosphere and thought that since we have been and will be dealing with various profs for the foreseeable future, that a quick reference guide would serve useful. It's a fun read. See if you can find your professors!

This is not the full version, I edited it for clarity and eliminated the various jokes about inappropriate professor-student relations.

Irritating Assistant Professors:

1. Professor Knows-He's-A-Fraud-And-Hopes-That-No-One-Will-Figure-It-Out,
2. Professor I'm-Above-This-Place-And-Should-Be-At-Harvard,
3. Professor Rebel-Without-A-Clue,
4. Professor Only-Teaches-His- Dissertation,
5. Professor Promising-Young-Man,
6. Professor Could-Teach-Well-But-Forced-To-Do-Submental-Things-To-Raise-Student-Evaluations.

Irritating Full Professors:

1. Professor Happy-Pills-And-Shock-Treatment-Improved-My-Personality
2. Professor Couldabeena-contenda,
3. Professor Exploits-Grad-Students-as-Cheap-Labor-in-his-Consulting-Business,
4. Professor I-Have-Five-Stories/Jokes-So-Get-Used-To-Hearing-Them-All-The-Time,
5. Professor I-Have-A-PhD-So-I-Shouldn't-Have-To-Learn-Anything-New-Ever-Again.
6. Professor I'm-THIS-Close-To-Retirement-So-I'm-Not-Even-Going-To-Try-Anymore
7. Professor Leave-Me-Alone-I'm-In-The-Middle-Of-A-Bitter-Divorce
8. Professor Midlife-Crisis
9. Professor Refuses-To-Retire-Due-To-Some-Combination-Of-Dementia-And-Never-Ending-Scheme- To-Maximize-Lucrative-Baby-Boomer-Retirement-Plan-No-Longer-Available-To-Younger-Faculty
10. Professor Tenure-Caused-My-Divorce,
11. Professor Twenty-Graduate-Students-Do-All-My-Research,
12. Professor Used-To-Be-Cool
13. Professor Uses-Tenure-To-Pursue-Hobbies-Or-Job-On-The-Side-Full-Time,

Irritating Professors That Could be Assistant or Full-

1. Professor Complains-About-Working-Conditions,
2. Professor Doesn't-Read
3. Professor European-Accent
4. Professor Everyone-Is-Out-To-Get-Me
5. Professor I-Could-and-Sometimes-Do-Recite-This-Lecture-in-my-Sleep,
6. Professor I-Have-Family-Drama
7. Professor I-Want-All-The-Students-To-Like-Me,-So-I'm-Going-To-Give-Easy-Tests
8. Professor Laughs-At-His-Own-Jokes,
9. Professor My-Jokes-Aren't-Funny-But-They're-All-I-Have,
10. Professor Only-Person-At-Tiny-College-To-Have-Ever-Published-A-Book-In-A-Printing-Of-More-Than-200,
11. Professor Oops-I-Lit-My-Hand-On-Fire
12. Professor Seriously-Tardy-With-Grading-Papers
13. Professor Stared-Into-The-Void-And-The-Void-Stared-Back!
14. Professor Your-Life-Means-Less-Than-My-Research
15. Professor Your-Work-Will-Never-Be-As-Important-As-Mine,
16. Professor Wears-The-Same-Ratty-Clothes-All-The-Time
17. Professor Who-Cares-What-The-Subject-Is?-Let's-Discuss-My-Politics

North Creek/ Escalante photos

Notice the circular adobe-lined hearth in the western (left) profile

Exposing more of the shelter

Working in the dark

Some major changes at the Frosty Shop...Grammar!

John Clark's vindication: "Snail-Suckers"
The screeners were pulling tons of these out

I'll leave all the technical discussions of provenience and chronology to Dave and Brad, but I thought I'd provide some photos I took while laboring at North Creek. My apologies for the quality of some of the photos as they were taken with my phone.

Image J Plugin for Pictographs

This guy has written a really cool plugin for Image J that enhances pictographs, and can even make invisible ones appear in digital photos. Seems worth checking out. I've asked for a copy of it. I wonder how it would work on a Mesoamerican Mural like at San Bartolo...

Job in Phoenix

I asked Joel, Rich, and Jim to post this flyer on the board at OPA. The job is real, but somebody let me know what the reaction was and whether it actually makes it up.

Finally

Well, I just thought I'd post that yet another PVAP thesis is on it's way to the library shelves! The defense (which was actually more than a month ago) was rather uneventful. (Although I'm pretty sure it was quite eventful behind the closed doors) In a few days it should be available on the BYU library website, or if you're really interested let me know and I can send you a pdf.

Parowan Valley Map

I thought I would let everyone know that I have finished a map of the Parowan Valley with pretty accurate locations of the major Fremont sites. The locations were determined by old aerial photos taken during the excavations which were correlated with current aerial photography. In some cases the locations are very accurate (Parowan Site). I have a full resolution version of this map if anyone is interested in a copy for their own research. Send me a e-mail and I will send it to you.

MIA

Well, its been a long time, but I am trying to get myself back in the good graces of FOF and post something interesting. Most of you know I recently returned from Petra as a crew chief and enjoyed excavating several tombs there which were extremely well preserved, some of which contained pieces of Hellenistic glass, probably from Alexandria, Egypt. Several of the loculi also had intact textile shroud pieces with blue dye patterns which was also quite unique and are some of only a handful found in Petra to date. All in all, the archaeology was quite rewarding and one of those life altering experiences.

I recently found out that I have been accpeted to present a paper on the Seamons Mound Burial (near the shore of Utah Lake) at the GBAC in Portland, so if any of you will be there I would love to have the support. The remains have been dated to 1047 A.D. with moderate corn levels and high protein and are quite interesting inlcuding possible signs of head trauma and extreme spina bifida. This raises and interesting question about the lifespan of handicapped people in the prehistoric world, especially in a full or semi hunting and gathering family and community. Any thoughts or insight about how handicapped people have been treated ethnogrpahically would be appreciated.

Also, renew your UPAC membership becuase Utah Archaeology is getting a major face lift both inside and out and you dont want to miss the inaugural edition of the new format!

Howdy Partner!

It's almost official. I'm just putting the finishing touches an agreement to join Glen Rice as a partner in his CRM company, Rio Salado Archaeology. The deal includes a salary, benefits, and a cut of the profits, with the option to press on should I decide to go after Joel's job in earnest with Yoder in the fall of 2010.


I hope not to sound braggy, but it occurred to me today that only three years ago, I was a 9-dollar-an-hour wog suckling at the teat of Uncle OPA.
If I can do it, so can the rest of us. If anyone wants details, they can give me a buzz or grab me on email.

Dissertation data collection....DONE

Well, probably. I just got back from a two week trip back east analyzing sandal collections at the Peabody Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Penn. It was quite the trip, with many an exciting moment. Well, exciting is a pretty strong word, since all I was doing was measuring and photographing sandals all day. All of the curators that I worked with at the museums were very nice, although some museums allowed for much more, both in terms of scientific testing and handling, than others. I stayed at Cady and Jeff’s apartment for a week and got to catch up with Cady and hang out with their little boy Jarrit (sp?) (Sorry Cady, I have no idea how to spell names). I also got a chance to just peruse the PVAP collections that the National Museum of Natural History have. I know Cady has already talked about them, but holy artifacts batman, they’ve got some cool stuff. While in D.C. I also had two days to check out all the museums and monuments which was pretty cool, as I haven’t been back there since I was a teenager.

Although there are probably a few more sandals out there, I’ve got over 200 in my database right now so will probably start data cleanup, analysis, and crunching numbers soon. Leaving tonight for North Creek and will be there for the next 6 weeks. Oh, and the 2006 issue of Utah Archaeology (edited by yours truly, Chris Watkins, and Scott Ure as Technical editor) should be coming out in about a month (if all goes as planned). So renew your UPAC dues if you haven’t done so; everyone is going to want one of these newly formatted sweet sweet Ure creations

Dr Horrible

You guys, this is totally off-topic, but fairly entertaining...

Yesterday the first of three web-isodes was released on doctorhorrible.net.

Particularly for the closet Serenity fans, it's a fun laugh. I dunno if this is anybody's style, but I think it's pretty darn fun and wanted to share.

The next episode releases tomorrow and they're only free on the site until Sunday night. Sorry in advance to any interested down at North Creek who'll miss it.

Indian Jones

Let me begin by saying that I will not give anything away, so if you have not yet seen the new Indiana Jones movie, it is safe to continue reading this! May I begin by saying that I went into the theater expecting utter crap. This was my way of taking 311's advice "You can't be let down if you don't expect the world." I love the first three movies (well, I at least consider the second one a good 'Indy on vacation' type flick), and really was skeptical of the making of a fourth, a ridiculous 19 years after the last one.
My biggest concerns were as follows: Harrison Ford is old and, therefore, Indy will be old; Shia LaBeouf (who I think had his best role and did his best acting in Holes, and honestly just annoys me) was not only to play Indy's son but his greaser son; Sean Connery, who nearly eight years ago when talks were in full swing for this fourth installment was involved, is not back for this flick.
All I have to say after viewing the film last night is that each of those possible problems was handled extremely well and should have been the very least of my concerns! (The following is the closest I will get to a spoiler, just in case any of you really want to have no idea about the movie). All I will say is that during the first 1/2 or 3/4 of the movie I was pleasantly surprised and then I had to pinch myself b/c I thought I was back in Idaho with Aaron and Lane watching the 2 hour SciFi network "documentary" on the crystal skulls.

It's over.

Just wanted to announce the successful completion of my comprehensive exams. It really was an endurance test, and the oral defense proved to me that I can sweat from places on my body that I did not deem possible before. Minnis really gave it to me, and it made me have Clark flashbacks, minus the flying chalkboard erasers or karate kicks to the back of my chair. Hope you all finished up well. Lay-tar.


mike

Irrigation Agriculture and Fieldhouses?

I've finished a draft of the presentation I gave on campus earlier this semester. If anyone wants to read it and comment, I'd be glad to send it along.

AGRICULTURAL LABOR AMONG SMALL-SCALE IRRIGATION AGRICULTURALISTS:
INVESTIGATING FIELD HOUSE OCCUPATION IN THE PHOENIX BASIN HOHOKAM

Abstract

While Hohokam researchers have been primarily interested in large village sites, investigations have periodically been undertaken at field house and farmstead sites asking why the Hohokam built field houses when large villages were located nearby. We propose four possible answers to this question; households holding tenure to the land from adjacent villages were marking ownership of the land, pioneers lived in field houses prior to the establishment of more permanent villages, migratory laborers from outside the canal system lived in the structures seasonally, and field houses were utilized by land inheritors who held a primary residence in a distant village on the same canal system. These hypotheses are evaluated for two recently excavated field houses. Evidence is given supporting the idea that some Hohokam field houses were occupied by migrant laborers. We conclude with a discussion of agricultural labor among the Hohokam and the implications for small-scale irrigation agriculture.

If only he had the beard....

What the .....? Oh yeah, I just blew your mind.

Building Stonehenge

So I found this YouTube video pretty interesting-even though it relates to Old World stuff. Basically, a former construction worker from Michigan has figured out a few ways to move multi-ton blocks without using any modern technology-not even pullies or metal levers. And here's the interesting part-it only takes one person! Personally, I love when "complex" processes can be explained in an incredibly simple manner, so I thought I'd share it.
Enjoy:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0

Luminescence Poster

You can follow this link to a pdf of my SAA poster. I think that Luminescence dating has a bright future in archaeology, despite the somewhat rocky result for these projects.

Fremont-Hopi lecture

Well, maybe there is somebody else out there that sees the connection between the Fremont and the rest of the southwest.....

Monday, April 14, 7:00PM
"Behind Smoking Mirror Pendants and Powamu: Fremont-Hopi Cultural
Affiliation".
Dr. Lynda McNeil
Within the context of ongoing debates about the relationship between archaeology and oral history, this presentation uses linguistic, archaeological, and rock art evidence to corroborate Hopi oral accounts of migration and ceremonial traditions "from the south". The wealth of evidence will be reviewed showing how Basketmaker II to Fremont settlement locations, design, and rock art are logistically, thematically and uniquely related to Hopi Powamu ceremony, artifacts, and ideology, Museum of the American West/Autry Museum.
http://www.mesoamericanet.com/


By the way, for those who haven't heard, we're having another baby. Soco power! Just in time for dissertation research. I guess we found out who's in control here. Gotta love it. We couldn't be more excited.

Lay-tar.

FoF: Almost Three Years!

I was just looking at the blog archive and realized that we haven't made much ado of the long life of this beloved blog. Almost three years! This blog has served many purposes, and I think it has proved fun and useful throughout its life.

As we near the three year mark, I wonder if the blog warrants any special posts commemorating it, the current status (research, life, etc) of its contributors, or a discussion of the benefits of this blog.

Chris, I know FoF is your baby and I don't mean to step on toes, but with all of the failed blogs out there (my experimental archaeology blog included), I think we have reached a milestone.

What do you all think? Are some special edition posts in order? Personally, I'd like to see general updates on everyone, and what they are doing with research and whatever other details each contributor would like to include.

Fremont Bird Effigy

Hey all,

I was going through the PVAP photos, here's a particularly interesting one from Summit. Thought you'd all enjoy it.

NSF, meet DTY

Oh yes my friends. I just found out two days ago that I will receive funding for my NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant! Oh happy day! I am so relieved, as now I have money for C14 dates and travel. Without which there was no way I could do my research. This was a resubmission, and this time I got 5 excellents out of 5. All the reviews were glowing, which, after having got trashed by one of the reviewers last time was nice. Anyway, thought I would let you all know.

And if you ever do an 11 hour survey day on a burned out middle of nowhere section of Utah, make sure on the way home you do not get a flat tire, and then have problems with the spare and the jack. You will have a bunch of tired, sunburned, hungry archaeologists. But if you do, pop open a luke warm Fresca and enjoy the show!

Large Congratulations to the Hollster!

I know that most of the local group was there and can affirm this, but for all who weren't, I offer a big congratulations to Holly for a well presented Thesis Defense. Why, she even made the old world look down right interestin'! I really enjoyed the presentation, though, and was glad to have another preview of what many of the rest of us are in for!

Holly, when you surface from your frantic week of edits, take a break! Congrats!!!!

Super Yoder II, summary

I accordance with Chris' wishes, I'll give my take on Dave's presentation. I was not the only FoF there though, and I encourage Brad, Molly, or Scott to throw in their observations as well. Also, if I'm way off base with my summary Dave, please correct me.

Also, I need to mention that I was not at Dave's lecture to the Anthro. 110 class, so this summary only covers what was said at the faculty/grad student presentation.

Dave's presentation covered a wide selection of his projects. As Dave himself said, he likes to keep his fingers in many pies.

First, he discussed his soft radiography research, showing several interesting x-rays of Anasazi sandals and other perishable items. I am still impressed at the innovation behind this idea. Dave has made some significant strides in perishable analysis. In addition to his discussion on the benefits of radiography, Dave talked about the cultural implications for different weaving patterns. He discussed the application of this data for his dissertation, the main hypothesis being that different groups can be identified with different weaving patterns on their sandals.

I found his discussions on active and passive style very interesting and beneficial to my interests in Parowan Valley.

After the sandals, Dave moved on to other research projects including North Creek Shelter.
His discussion of North Creek was straight forward, and since most of us already know a lot about the site, I'll avoid further discussion. Dave's discussion on North Creek demonstrated to the faculty that he is capable of working with students and other faculty in a multi-year project similar to a field school. In my opinion, this is a skill set that every faculty member should possess.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the presentation. I could tell that Dave struggled to create a concise presentation and that several of his other research interests had to be culled in the interest of time, but the content he did present was very informative.

I think that his presentation was well received by the faculty, but some of the questions coming from David Crandall were frustrating. Especially when Crandall asked Dave to define stratigraphy and to interpret a basic profile drawing. It seems unfair that anthropology doesn't go both ways. In other words, why do Socos like Crandall and Hawkins beat their drums of sexual innuendo and kinship, while knowing nothing of basic archaeological concepts? How can they refer to themselves as anthropologists if they have no understanding of how the human past is investigated?

I digress. Sorry.

Dave, it was a great presentation. I continue to be amazed at your work ethic and the important research you are doing.

Super Yoder

Best of luck to Dave today presenting to the BYU faculty. I'm sure it will be great. Somebody post a review/summary when they have a chance.

Good Times

I just wanted to say that it was good to see the crew during my recent trip to Provo. It was good times, really good times...

Also, I wanted to solicit some feedback on the trip. Do you think it went well? Specifically, what did people think about the research I presented and my stand up material in 110 or the grad lunch.

ETD Tips

After such ground-breaking BoM proofs have been revealed and more than one faithful truth-seeker has been so uplifted, I feel very useless sitting here with my porcelain fragments and barrel straps...

None the less, I just went to the library's little ETD training class and since I don't get to talk to most of you in person very often and don't have a clue where most of you are at in the process, I thought I'd share this in the hopes of being useful...This is the gist of the class and it’s all you’ll get going to the library class, so I wouldn’t bother going.

So here we go…

1. In Word, set your personal styles as you’re going for Chapter, Sub-chapter, Table, etc (all needed to show up in bookmarks). This is only useful if you do it as you write, rather than after it’s all done. If you’ve already got a near-finished typed-up product, the trainer says to just create a pdf and make the bookmarks there. Styles in Word will only save time if you do them as you go for most of your document.
2. Create a pdf (in Windows 2007, use PDFMaker and go to Preferences to choose which styles to import as bookmarks and set the level of priority.
3. Check bookmarks reference to the correct location.
   
1. If not, got to set destination and click the actual place it belongs for each incorrect bookmark. The multi-media lab has Acrobat Professional, which is what you need, but it has a bug where it tends to make the wrong destination, so be sure and check.
4. To Create Another Bookmark within the PDF, highlight the text for the bookmark and click create. To change order of bookmarks, drag around in bookmark tab. Also can nest (so all Chapter 1 subheadings are nested within Chapter 1 bookmark) by dragging to icon or to text.
5. Before saving, go to File Properties and select that it show page and bookmark tab when opened initially. The Library just prefers that.
6. If you want to import several pdfs into a single pdf document, choose Create From Multiple Files. Choose all you want, put them in the desired order and create.
7. If you’ve created your pdf and then you find an error, go into your original Word Document, fix it and not which pages are changed. Make this a new pdf. Go to the pages tab in your pdf, right click and choose replace with page from new pdf. Choose which pages from old and new documents to change out and click ok.

*If you have questions, the multimedia lab in the No Shhh Zone of the library is the best place to find answers on the pdf process. That’s also the main place on campus where you’ll get access to Acrobat Professional, which you’ll have to use.

Additional Resources:

As a reminder, there are templates, examples, and lists of requirements on the Grad Studies website (they’re forms ADV 11 and 12, various parts).

BYU’s Online Tutorial for Creating an ETD ready pdf—really slow and boring, though!

Download a free trial of Acrobat Professional

Microsoft’s Walk-Through on Creating Quick Styles in Word 2007

The Land of King Lamoni Discovered

While at work on Monday, I made what I feel is a significant discovery regarding BoM archaeology. Normally, I would reveal my discovery in a more appropriate venue, but since word has made it around the OPA office so quickly, I thought I would reveal the discovery here on FOF.
While sifting through notes of PVAP architecture, there was a pithouse at Paragonah which was listed as having one burial and 15 additional human arms. Fifteen is certainly "not a few" as we read in Alma 17:38. After a brief consultation with Lane, I learned that on the Sand Hollow survey, OPA workers identified King Lamoni's throne. Therefore, I surmise that King Lamoni's land stretched as far north as the Parowan Valley and nearly to the Saint George Basin (or farther) to the south-I also have an inkling that the route on which King Lamoni and Ammon were when they ran into King Lamoni's father was likely the I-15 corridor.
This will certainly alter the PVAP research design and possibly my thesis focus. If any of you PVAPers (current or former) have noticed any other connections between the PV and BoM, please let me know and we can discuss publication.
(Perhaps now the Parowan Valley Archaeological Project will finally gain long-deserved respect among BYU bigwigs.)

Back on Campus

As most of you probably know, I will be on-campus this week giving some research presentations in anticipation of Joel's retirement. I thought I'd put up the tentative schedule as well as some descriptions of the research I am going to be presenting.

Wednesday February 20

6:00 PM -- Arrive Salt Lake Airport
6:00-8:00 PM -- Dinner with Grandparents in SLC
8:00 PM -- Bum a ride from someone from SLC to Provo (any takers?)

Thursday February 21

Pre 11:00 AM -- Either hanging out at OPA or feverishly finishing presentation
11:00 AM -- Research Lecture 919 SWKT My Thursday presentation is entitled "Agricultural Labor, Class, and Population Circulation among the Phoenix Basin Hohokam," in which I argue for the presence of a landless class of attached laborers that contributed to the operation of an extremely productive canal-based agricultural system in a small-scale society in the American Southwest, along with an attendant theoretical discussion.
12:00-? -- Lunch with faculty
?-5:00 PM -- Hanging out at OPA/feverishly finishing lecture for following day
5:00-? PM -- Dinner with Joel

Friday February 22

Pre-10:00 AM -- OPA or feverishly finishing lecture
10:00 AM-11:00 AM -- Lecture to 110 class in B-190 JSFB based on my dissertation research, which is currently entitled "In Search of Alliance: The Organization of Production and Exchange in 14th Century Central Arizona." In this research, I am investigating the conditions under which higher-order political alliances emerge (or do not emerge) in small-scale agricultural societies using data I have gathered on the production and exchange of ceramic vessels. In addition to presenting my own research, I intend to discuss archaeological models, the problem of equifinality in archaeological interpretations, and issues pertaining to my specific analytical methodology.
11:00 AM-12:00 PM -- Great Basin Seminar
12:00 PM-1:00 PM -- Lunch with Grad Students
1:00-3:30ish -- Bum ride to Airport (I think Evie said she would pay someone to take me)
3:30ish -- Arrive SLC
4:40 -- Depart SLC

Looking forward to seeing the crew.

UPAC and Utah Arch

A most of you know, Chris and I are attempting to become the new Utah Archaeology editors. At the business portion of the UPAC meetings we discussed the issue and some have asked that I do a post explaining where the issue sits. At the meeting we discussed how Utah Arch needs to get back up and running and that it should have institutional support if at all possible. Although no one with institutional support is willing to step up. Most agree that there should be some type of editorial board headed by an editor(s). The board would be made up of specialists and when an article was sent to Utah Arch the primary editor(s) would send it to the specialist who would then pick out a couple of reviewers and take care of the reviewing and revision process and then send it to the editor when it was ready to go. The editor would then put the issue together. Lori H. (the president of UPAC) had me stand and talk for a bit about Chris and I being willing to be co-editors. In the end nothing was decided and Lori said we should continue the discussion on a message board. After the meeting Dr. J and I talked with Lori and she committed to send us everything Jason Bright had for the next issue (2005) which is supposedly almost ready to be printed. But I have yet to hear from Lori (despite an email to her on Tuesday) and am doubtful about how 'close' the next issue really is. All of this in my mind epitomizes the problems with using a board, put a lot of people in charge of doing something and nothing ever really gets done, or it gets done very slowly. Anyway, we'll see how it turns out, but I don't have too much faith that it will be resolved anytime in the near future. C'est la vie.

Sweet sweet ABD

Ah yes my friends......it cometh. I just found out yesterday that I passed my Comprehensive Exams. Yea! For those of you who don't know I took my exams in the beginning of Dec, passed two of my questions but failed one. My committee allowed me to rewrite the one I had a problem with and this time I passed. I'm not officially ABD yet as I have to defend my proposal, but I'll be doing that sometime in February. This puts me one step closer to graduating and buying that double-wide I always promise Sally!

Buy, Sell, Trade!!!

Thought everyone would like to know that one of the best investments right now are looted artifacts!!! So get your shovels.....

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1693792,00.html

By the way, I've failed to publicly congratulate Aaron on his marriage to his new beautiful bride. Amie and I couldn't be happier, and we're excited to meet her.

Lay-tar

Mr. Freeman

Just a quickie. I've been cleaning out my email inbox, and found an email that Craig Freeman sent. I ran into him a few months ago. This email contains his contact information. If anyone is interested in getting into contact with him, let me know and I'll forward it. Otherwise, I'll delete it.

To the Imminent and Eminent Thesisers...

Is anyone among the BYU crew planning on attending one of the ETD Library classes that Joel forwarded to us this week? I'll be out of town the whole week, but would love to still get this information! I'll pay the note-taker in evil holiday goodies, if that's any motivation... =)

Thanks!

As an apology to those for whom this has no application, I present the latest findings at Hierakonpolis, courtesy of the Forest Service's own Tom Flanigan. Don't nobody say that ye weren't warned!

Hope everyone enjoyed their turkey!

A Lesson from Virgin Ceramicists

This weekend I attended the Virgin ceramics conference with Dr Allison at the Museum of Northern Arizona. It was pretty interesting to see archaeological decision-making that was actually productive (as opposed to arguments that persist through decades in article form). The ultimate goal of the conference was to produce a ceramics field manual for the Virgin area (or North and West of the Colorado River, as Margaret Lyneis prefers) that could also work as a guide back in the lab.

The general format of the conference was as follows:
A panel sat at the front of the room and a ware (lower case "w") was brought up as the topic (gray wares, white wares, red wares). Then the panel and audience discussed the various Wares (capital "W") and defined them as far as their paste and temper were concerned. Then, topics were brought up such as whether or not a certain brown ware was a just misfired gray ware, etc. and decisions were actually made! They were crossing out Wares and Types left and right! The most impressive part of the conference (at least to cynics like me) was when the panel and audience could not reach a consensus (usually because the data was sparse), they assigned four or five people to a subgroup who will be reporting back with more data and a recommended conclusion in less than a year.

As I sat and watched all of this, I couldn't help but think about how this needs to be done with projectile point typologies (I know you are all laughing right now thinking, "Yeah, right," but so was I when I heard about this conference, and surprisingly it is possible to get these professionals to agree on things when the end goal is mutually desired). The two additional problems that would exist with a proj point conference that didn't with this conference is that (1) the projectile points cover a much larger geographical area-and, therefore, would include many more professionals; and (2) that years ago Colton set up the MNA to be an arbitrator for such discussions and no equivalent institution exists to regulate or house such a conference.
I just wanted to let you all know about the conference this weekend and also see what you all thought about it.

Book of Mormon Stories

Hey all,

I was reading in the Daily Herald and came across this article.

To me, it feels a little like vindication for all those times I've had to tell people that Lehi and Co. could not have populated all of the Americas, and that there were other people that arrived much earlier.

Of course, we can expect a significant backlash from the Antis, but I think it's a great change.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!!

Well hello, everybody!

Did dinosaurs ever live on earth with man?

How did ancient artists know what dinosaurs looked like?

When and where was the last dinosaur sighting?

The answers to these questions and more can be found in the following website:

http://www.discoverynews.us/

Oh, man. For those of you who have been in the office lately, you have had the pleasure of viewing some literature that I brought in from GJ that talks about this stuff. I just wanted to provide the website for those of you who have not had the opportunity to look at the articles in person. It's kinda along the same lines as a post that Aaron posted awhile back.


Enjoy.

Three Corners Conference Roll Call

The Three Corners Conference is coming up next weekend:

http://www.nvarch.org/3corners/3Corners2.pdf

Joel, Cady, and I are on the program with a paper on Fremont Exchange. Yoder and I are going, is anyone else planning on attending?

Utah Geology -- a GIS Fest

Scott and I stumbled onto the following website with a bunch of free GIS and pdf maps of the geology of Utah.

http://geology.utah.gov/maps/gis/index.htm

Check it out all of you GIS-ers.

Southwest Symposium - 20th Anniversary

Hello all,
Just thought you may be interested in the upcoming SW Symposium held at ASU in January. All the infomation can be found at this link...
http://www.public.asu.edu/~ndwilso1/
It should be a good conference. They will be discussing foraging, mobility and migration, social power and interaction, the protohistoric, and the history of Southwest archaeology, understanding human movement, landscape change, and the connections among groups at local and pan-Southwestern scales. Check it out and I hope to see you all there. Lay-tar.
Mike

Heat-Treated Purple Obsidian!

Enjoy:

http://www.macuahuitl.com/pb/wp_98514d3c/wp_98514d3c.html

http://aztecswords.com/

A Fond Farewell to Cady Waldrom (Reinhold) Jardine

Officially, I think that Cady and fam left this morning, but she came into the museum yesterday to say goodbye. You will be missed Cady. The student office won't be the same without you. No longer will we be able to talk turquoise and exotics, nor will we be hounded for details and photos of marriages, dates, and babies:) In all seriousness, it was great having you around to bounce ideas off, to offer advice, and to share sources.

I (and I'm sure the rest of us) wish you and your family the best as you start a new life in D.C.

I'll have to add your name to those for whom we pour out a little Fresca when we're in the field.

New BYU Anthropology Website

Dear FOF,

Just as an FYI, the new BYU Anthropology website is now live and running. It still has some minor fixes but for the most part is ready to go. Take a look here and let me know if you find any problems. Thanks!

Scott

Sand Hollow II - Take 2

Well, I'd have to agree with everything Dave mentioned. I had a blast with old friends and met some fun new people. Sand Hollow was everything Aaron said it would be...hocking sand. But, at the same time, Scott and I finally got to test the Panasonic Toughbook for digital mapping in the field and it worked great! Thanks to Scott and his persistence on the acquisition of the computer, we will likely be presenting a "product review" at the SAAs in Vancouver. Stay tuned.

As for the flooding, just look at the pics. The apartment with the most water was where two of the male crew members were staying. Some of the girls and I were able to salvage all the site maps, field notes, Topcon, and laser levels in the boss's apartment due to our quick feet and "bags-in-the-cracks-of-the-door" quick thinking. Not to mention, we saved a lot of Dave's dissertation material from the floor of his room (Just make sure to put us in your acknowledgments, Dave).

And in reference to the Andrew Johnston Collection, I was blown away. Dave and I were able to photograph sandals for his dissertation project and I photographed and did a cursory analysis of the Casas Grandes pottery. The pictures say it all. I really was waiting for Vincent Price to come out of the corner and talk in his creepy, old man voice.

SandHollow II

Well, my time at SandHollow has come to a close; although Rich and Lane are still working down there and will be until the end of August. For those of you who have not been to Sand Hollow, it can generally be summed up as HOT, sandy, and ephemeral. Most of the time we were digging wickiups and hearths, although we did excavate a pithouse or two as well. One of these had a lot of adobe wall and roof fall, no ceramics, and a piece of corn came out of the bottom. So all signs point to Basketmaker, which would be really interesting. That was definitely the highlight of the season. Mike Searcy and family were also there for a good chunk of the summer, which was great. It was good to be back in the field with a Friend of the Fremont.

The day I was leaving St. George got flooded by a thunderstorm. Two of the apartments we were renting got a couple of feet of water in them. Mike will have to post some pictures; it was crazy. He and I also got to check out the Andrew Johnston private collection in Kanab. I'll have to post on that another time; it was a sweet/creepy experience. Now I'm down at North Creek for Dr. J's last year there. We took out the back fill (a monumental task) and have started excavating. Already we have found two new pits and two hearths on the Early Archaic use surface and some tools down at 3.30 meters below ground surface. That hole is DEEP. It's not field school though, so we are all being careful.

Mt Meadows Massacre Article

This will appear in the September Ensign. Looks to be a definitive statement...

Type, Series, and Ware in Fremont Ceramic Classification

I already sent this to several of you. If I missed anyone that's interested, let me know. Comment away!

ABSTRACT

For nearly thirty years, Fremont ceramic analysts have primarily relied on a single seminal work – Prehistoric Ceramics of the Fremont, by Rex E. Madsen (1977). Although the value of R. Madsen’s study cannot be overstated, the intervening years of research have yielded a wealth of relevant data and refined analytical techniques. In addition, certain key observations from previous analyses were omitted from the R. Madsen typology. I review the past and current conceptions of the Fremont ceramic typology as well as the literature pertaining to variability within pottery types, specifically temper. Based on this existing research and my own observations, I propose a reclassification of Fremont pottery within the Type – Series – Ware hierarchy proposed by Colton and Hargrave (1937). Fremont pottery is surmised under a single ware, with series defined by temper and types by surface treatment. Building on the work of Lyneis (1994; Geib and Lyneis 1996), and in reference to recent developments in Hohokam ceramic studies (Abbott 2000), I further suggest ways to identify temper variability and to apply quantifiable differences to studies of pottery provenience.

Mormons Murder Goshute Indians...

This should be a heckuva USAS Meeting...

A Craig Freeman sighting

This just in-

Lane ran into Craig Freeman in Vivian Park (Provo Canyon). Craig was on Rollerblades. Lane said that Craig is still doing construction/concrete stuff, but that he is thinking about getting back into archaeology.

So, who knows? Maybe everyone's favorite metalhead and epigrapher will return to the fold.

Aaron's SIR

This semester was pretty uneventful. It comprised of me going down to Sand Hollow in January, and then spending the rest of the time in the bone room analyzing the chipped stone from PVAP. After plodding through only one box (there are 14 total), I have now analyzed 900+ tools from Summit (42IN40). Most of them are utilized flakes.

So, my previous method of "just get through all the boxes" has been foiled. No way am I gonna be able to do 13 more boxes with similar artifact counts and ever graduate. Enter sampling strategies.

For now, I am working on revising drafts of my proposal and figuring out how to sample the assemblage. I've been reading a lot of stuff on Homol'ovi (the Hopi Mesas area) and despite the obvious differences between the Hopi and the Fremont, I have gained some perspectives into how to sample a massive collection, and also gotten some ideas about studying spatial distributions of chipped stone.

This past week I was near Bliss, Idaho with Lane doing Idaho Power stuff for Mr. Baker. We documented several sites along the Snake River. Cool stuff up there. We found several points, some late prehistoric ceramics, sandstone shaft smoothers, and a few rock shelters. Apparently the week before I went up, they found a burial. Shane was all over it. Not much left, just some vertebrae and teeth.

We did find a really cool site near the banks of Salmon Falls that, according to his journal, was visited by John C. Fremont. He and his cronies traded with the Shoshone for dried Salmon and spent some time near the falls. The site was very large with lots of groundstone, shell, chipped stone, rock art, and circular features with upright slabs. There was also a historic component, stacked stone walls and a ditch. It was pretty picked over by visitors to the site (read: looters) and little has been done to preserve it. After finding several looter pits, Lane shook his head and uttered, "Bastards." He then lamented Idaho's neglect for this historically significant site. Hopefully, with some strong suggestions to put it on the register, it will get there. We could have easily spent three days recording that site due to the massive amount of stuff there.

I wish there was more to report, but I didn't take any cool classes, and I've been doing a lot of analysis so there isn't much else to say.

Yoder and Stats

I seem to remember a tent-mate who found a very effective use for archaeological stats.

Yoder, I still need to send this one to Ian Robertson. I think he'd get a kick out of it.

Yoder's SIR_Spring 2007

This semester was relatively light at the beginning but quickly took a downward spiral. As far as classes go, I only had two, one of which was a directed readings course.

I took Anthropological Statistics from Karen Harry. Why? Because I’m such a stats retard that I don’t remember anything if I’m not constantly using it. Even though it was pretty basic stats I was worried at first, but Ian’s teachings were still rattling around in the back of my head, and surprisingly, I was able to remember a lot of it once I started thinking stats again.

My directed readings course was focused on stuff for both my dissertation and for my comps. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about technological style, iconological style, isochrestic style, and the whatnot. I’m particularly a fan of the technological and isochrestic style camp and this theoretical orientation will be the basis for much of my dissertation research. And can I throw a plug in here for James Sackett. The guy knows how to write. He has a nice clean, clear, writing style that keeps you interested. Whenever I’m writing for an academic audience (article or presentation) I always feel compelled to dress it up in fancy terms. I hate doing this but feel like that as a grad student I have to do this to be taken more seriously. This is crap and I don’t want to do it anymore. I, and everyone else in archaeology, should write in clean clear language like only a few do really well.

At the end of the semester I decided to take the job with Uncle OPA and then had to cram everything to get out of Vegas and up to Utah in time. I started the job two weeks before the end of the semester which meant that I had to have others cover the Anthro 101 classes I was teaching, turn in assignments early, etc. It got very hairy near the end, but was worth it.

Now I’m keeping it real in Sand Hollow. Speaking of which, I am able to write this today because we got SANDBLASTED and had to pack up and come home early this morning. We got to the site around 6:20am, and were able to work for a couple of hours but conditions quickly turned into a full scale sand storm. So it was home for FSing and writing up notes. Grit in the teeth, good times. I am still waiting for Aaron to come down (come on dude, just for a week) and can’t wait for Mike to start. I’m also supposed to be studying for my comps at night, but so far that has failed to happen. Where does the time go?

Mike's SIR - Spring '07

This past semester was a little busier than the last. I don't know if my mental state will remain stable, but we'll see. Now that it is over, I can breathe a little easier. Overall, it was a good one.

Linguistic Theory - This is a required course for all graduate students at OU. It was really good to read some classic stuff by Boas, Sapir, and Kroeber. I really enjoyed Keith Basso's book on the Western Apache. His writing style is very colloquial and frank. I think we should all write a little more like that, but then journals wouldn't publish our stuff. My project for this class was working on the Q'eqchi'- English dictionary that my friend (at SUNY Albany) and I had started about a year ago. We are using a software program by SIL that is for field linguists and is a tool used to build lexicons. The advantage of this is that we can output the lexicon to many different formats - web, text (WORD, etc.), and as a stand-alone dictionary with searchable functions. This is going to take longer than we expected, but it needs to be done.

Symbolic Anthropology - I took this as a special readings course with a Berkley-ite who allowed me to take a mock-comprehensive exam question instead of write a paper at the end. It was good practice and got me ready for at least one portion of the exam, which I will be taking next Spring. Also, I was able to read some of the classic symbolic literature from the 60s and 70s like Firth, Cohen, Turner, Levi-Strauss, Ortner, and Douglas. It was a really good baptism by fire. I may bleed archaeology, but I occasionally pee cultural anthropology and enjoy it. What can I say? They don't call me Soco for nothing.

Work - I've been a TA for a few semesters now and will be taking on my own intro to anth. class this coming fall. It should be fun; I really enjoy teaching. Also, I work for the property management company where I live and have been able to get cheap rent. I work for them 2 days out of the week and do on-call emergency maintenance at night and on weekends. In addition, there have been a lot of freelance opportunities this past semester which included English to Spanish translations, 2 websites, and 2 logo design projects. I should have passed on all of them due to time constraints.

Film - In all the hoopla of school and work, the illegal immigration film rolls on. We just interviewed our first illegal immigrant last night (although we still concealed his identity). None have been willing to appear on camera until now. A new law also just passed here in Oklahoma making it a felony to transport an illegal. I guess I won't be taking any of the Spanish Branch members anywhere, or maybe I will. The law also prevents illegals from obtaining state ID, health benefits, and jobs (employers are required to do social security number checks on all new employees). It is a hot topic everywhere, but we have been able to document the debate right here in OK.

Summer - So the rumors are true. I will be working for Uncle OPA this summer. I'm really excited to be working with all the folks at Sand Hollow. Amie and the kids will also be coming along after a fourth summer in a row of having to leave them for an extended period of time. It also looks like I may even make money for the first summer in a long time. And now that OPA has some cool techno tools, Scott and I can finally do a write-up on the Tablet PCs and handheld computers.

Lay-tar-----------------------------------

Friends of OPA Unite!

Now that Dave and probably Mike have joined the rest of the crew with Uncle OPA, I wonder if the time is ripe to talk to the bosses about organizing a "Friends of OPA" alumni group to support Rich and co. It could start, and possibly stay, small, existing primarily as an email list. It would be easy to put together on google groups.

Basically, we could send out an "OPA Update" to the listserv two or three times a year to let people know how OPA was doing, and have the list ready for people to send in their letters of support to the Dean and Crandall the next time the ship starts sinking. This would also serve as the basis for future group activities, such as the occasional get-together to excavate Wolf Village, or a forum to get the money together for endowed fellowships in support of graduate students studying Fremont subsistence, architecture, and ceramics (Joel, Rich, and Lane's primary research interests).

I can think of the following people other than the FOF:

Sarah Baer
Jake Sauer
Megan Schaub
Jamie Bartlett
Aubrey Baasgaard
Shane Baker
Mery Ann Clements
Jan Wickel
Wade and Jessica Arden
The Big Horn Archaeology dudes
Kenny Winch
Charmaine Thompson
Byron Loosle
The Dude from Baseline Data
Jim Wilde
Debbie Newman
Emily Wise
and many more!

What does everyone think? Maybe some of you guys in St. George can talk to Rich about it, and I'll email Joel. We can start putting together an email list and ask people if they want to be on the google group, and then see what we can do to support Uncle OPA!

Watkins SIR Spring 2007

Not really an eventful term, but my highlights were:

Classes -- Beyond Chiefdoms with Ben Nelson and Kate Spielmann. In this class, we reviewed the chiefdom literature and pretty much decided that the classically defined chiefdom only ever existed in Polynesia, but that there are societies that are neither states nor tribes that the chiefdom label could be applied to, for lack of a better term. Also, we decided that chiefdoms do not necessarily preceed states, and in fact, there are no historical or archaeological cases where a chiefdom turned into a state. I wrote a paper for this class in which I compared mortuary assemblages from the Southwest (including the Fremont, Hohokam, PIV, and Casas Grandes) to a Southeastern Chiefdom. Surprisingly, the Fremont assemblage was a lot like the chiefdom, and the pure Southwestern groups were very similar. Go figure!? I only used one metric to compare them though, the diversity index, which is a count of the number of artifact classes in a burial, which supposedly is related to the number of roles a person held in life.

Dissertation -- I continue to collect and analyze sherds from the Southern Sinagua area, putting together a temper typology for the region. As part of my analysis, I'm developing a new method to analyze ceramic thin sections by digitally photographing the slides and using computer software to quantify the amount of each temper particle present. The team includes people from Geology, Archaeology, Electrical Engineering, and Photography. If it works, and I'm pretty sure it will, we will reduce the cost of thin section analysis by 1/10th. Exciting times!

Work -- I'm currently finishing up a chapter describing Hohokam mortuary ritual on Canal System 7 based on a dataset of nearly 1,000 burials excavated over the last year or two. I've identified several roles, including household ritual specialists, group ritual specialists, hunt/war leaders, and ceramic entrepreneurs. We'll see if any of it holds up.

This summer -- I'll be working on my dissertation 2 days a week, and doing excavations here in the Phoenix Basin the rest of the week. Good times, my friends, good times.

Herod's Tomb Found?

Could this be? Somebody get Holly on the horn to assess this. And let's get those SIRs in. I'll try to have mine up today.

And by the way, Mr. Yoder joins OPA

You like that....by the way...OPA. I'm good.

So those positions that Scott posted about a one-year contract with OPA.....yours truely will be filling one of those positions. Hurrah! I'll be helping run the Sand Hollow excavation during the summer and analysis and write up in the fall and winter. I'm looking forward to working with the bosses again and can't wait to get into the dirt (or sand in this case). I start on Monday. Pretty quick, but I'm way excited. Aaron might even be around.

Now if I could just sell my house. Not to worry, I hear the market is great! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18289082/

SAA's and graduate students

Is anyone going to the SAA's this year? My professors keep asking me this. This is understandable. But when I answer no, one or two of them kinda look at me odd like "really, why not? What are you doing instead?"

I know they just want to be nice and are interested in my academic welfare, BUT, I feel like saying "I have a wife, three kids with one on the way*, and make a whopping $12,000 a year" Are you serious?!@#% No I'm not going to the freakin SAA's. You want to know what I 'm doing instead, I'm buying diapers; and then I'll probably drop by the welfare office and pick up my foodstamps. After that I'll spend another 12-15 hour day at my office working on assigments, publications, and research. THAT'S what I'm doing instead of going to the SAA's!


*Sally is now 4 or 5 months pregnant with our last one. Please O Pleeease let it be a little girl or I will be facing a discontent wife who reminds me that the sex of the child is entirely dependent on the male (i.e. Mr. Yoder).

I want to kill myself

By: Phyllis Gunderson

Archaeologist Mathilda Howard believes in solid scientific fact, not mythical advanced civilizations or stones that shine. But when an old Tibetan monk shares his experience of the "lights that do not die," Matt knows she had to learn more. From a sacred mountain in China to a lost civilization in Brazil, Matt finds that she is digging up more than simple artifacts. Her questions lead her to a new religion, but it may cost her all that she values in life: her career, her prestige, and even her family. As evidence of the shining stones mounts, she finds herself faced with decisions she never thought she'd have to make. How much is Matt willing to sacrifice for the lost stones of the Jaradites?

Continuing BYU's Parowan Synthesis...

Just wanted to send a Congrats and Well Done to Molly for her thesis proposal defense on Monday. She'll have to supply the details, but the worked bone gaming pieces of PVAP are looking like they'll tell us some interesting things when compared to the ethnographic evidence. Molly stood up to our favorite trio of committee members (the 3 J's) very confidently and made some interesting points about our favorite neighborhood Fremont.

Kudos!

anti-evolution museum

Hey all, it's been a little quiet around here so I decided to post a link to a story about an anti-evolution museum that some Christian Fundies are building in Kentucky.

http://www.kentucky.com/158/story/26286.html

If the link doesn't work, just google "anti-evolution museum, kentucky" It should show up.

Due to all of our religious backgrounds, I think this story is worth a read. It's not Fremont related, but the main content of the story could hit home with archaeologists/other scientists with religious convictions.

I think that we should be quick to point out pseudo-science like this museum. I know that I have dealt with many a Mormon Fundie who has told me that dinosaur bones were put on the earth by Satan to deceive men, that C-14 is a flawed method, and that the age of Earth is in the 4-5000s.

A nod to Mr. Ure

I figured that you all should know that Mr. Ure has been accepted to our auspicious graduate studies program at BYU. I think this news is worth its own post due to the fact that Scott's "Joining the Fray" post is down at the bottom of the page.

Congrats Scott, if only you knew what you were getting into...just kidding.