What's New:

Due to Covid, we will not be having our regular monthly chapter meetings.  Our meeting place at Payson Senior Center is still closed and not planning on opening anytime soon.  The Rim Country Chapter (RCC) the San Tan Chapter (STC) have partnered to provide members with activities during this difficult time. The STC has specifically invited RCC Members to attend Zoom presentations with a variety of interesting and informative speakers. The RCC has been organizing day field trips specifically inviting the STC Members to participate. Due to conditions and host site requirements, the number of participants on field trips is limited and sometimes broken into two groups.  Some field trips are being repeated due to interest.  Announcements of field trip sign-ups and of Zoom meeting sign-ins are sent out by both chapter presidents to members.

May 12^th  7:00 pm San Tan Chapter Zoom Meeting:  Richard Lange, author of the AAS publication Down Along Paayu: The History of Homol’ovi II Pueblo, Number 43 of The Arizona Archaeologist, will present on that very topic Homol'ov | Arizona Archaeologist #43.

Homol’ovi II (H2) is one of the two largest ancestral Hopi villages just outside of Winslow in northeastern Arizona. HRP worked there in 1983‐84, from 1991‐1995, and finally in 2013 and 2014. H2, along with 6 other prehistoric villages, clustered along the Little Colorado River for water and intensive cotton production in the late 1200s through the 1300s. H2 was founded about 1360, and like the other villages, was closed as the populations moved to the Hopi Mesas about 1400. The talk will discuss the general history of the Homol’ovi area, what was there before and after the Homol’ovi villages, the founding and evolution of H2 village, and some details about the creation and exchange of Hopi yellow ware pottery that was found in abundance at the Homol’ovi sites.

Rich Lange got his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois in 1974 and his MA from the University of Arizona in 1977. Upon completion of the MA degree, he walked across the street and was employed on a contract project for Arizona State Museum. Rich continued working there on other projects, doing state land surveys, and then becoming the Associate Director for ASM’s Homol’ovi Research Program (HRP). For the HRP, Rich directed surveys in the main park area and at Rock Art Ranch to the southeast, participated in excavations at the major Homol’ovi pueblos, and sometimes directed the excavations, such as at Homol’ovi I in the park (Homolovi State Park) and at the Multi‐Kiva Site south of Rock Art Ranch. He has recently completed the report for work done by the HRP at Homol’ovi II.  

San Tan Chapter President Marie Britton will send out an email containing the link for the Zoom meeting and it will be forwarded to Rim Country Chapter Members.  If members of other chapters would like to attend, let Marie know by email at mbrit@cox.net  and she will send the Zoom Link for the presentation when it is available.

June 3 & 4 Homolovi and Rock Art Ranch Field Trip:   Archaeologist Rich Lange will lead this Field Trip near Winslow, Arizona, following on his Zoom Presentation on May12^th.  The Thursday tour of Homolovi State park will begin with a brief survey of the pithouse village near the Visitor Center, then go over to Homol’ovi III.  This will be followed by visits to Homol’ovi II and Homol’ovi I.  If time, wind, and heat permit the tour will continue to the hilltop site Homol’ovi IV and perhaps some rock art on the west side of the river.  The Friday tour of Rock Art Ranch will visit some of the sites there with the climax being a visit to the deep canyon rock art panels.  Follow-up options may include  drive-bys at either Chevelon Pueblo or the old Mormon fort at Obed.  You must be a member to attend.

May 21^st Risser Ruin, Rim Country Museum, and Zane Grey Cabin Field Trip:  Jim Britton will guide a tour of Risser Ruin in Payson.  Jim participated in the excavation and stabilization of this site.  Risser Ruin artifacts are on display in the Rim Country Museum, which owns the site., as are many local historical artifacts.  The adjacent Zane Grey Cabin is a faithful replica of the original cabin furnished with actual Zane Grey artifacts, equivalent contemporary items, or replicas, all set up to match historic photographs.  You must be a member to attend.

Fun Things to do During the Pandemic:

A group of geologists, archaeologists, and AAS members created the below guide for people who would like to enjoy the outdoors on Agua Fria  National Monument during this pandemic.  It's a 12 page, illustrated guide to a incredible area with a river at the end.

Geology, Archaeology, and History Guide to Badger Springs Trail

More on Agua Fria National Monument

Ruins to Work at:  Goat Camp Ruin

Archaeological Sites to Visit (hours may vary due to Covid):

Shoofly Ruin  Tonto National Monument (big file)  Agua Fria National Monument

Sears-Kay Ruin  Besh ba Gowah Ruin  Verde Valley Sites  Arizona Archaeological Sites

Youtubes: Drone Videos of Ruins in Tonto Basin  Rim County Museum 

Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)   Heard Museum  Sharlot Hall Museum  SAR 

Pueblo Grande Museum  Verde Valley Archaeology Center  Arizona State Museum  AAHS  

                                            Archaeology Southwest  Amerind  Crow Canyon  Grand Canyon NPS  Museum of Northern Arizona

Archaeology Zoom Presentations:  Lectures by AIA chapters from all over the world

About our Chapter:

The Rim Country Chapter of AAS is located in Payson, AZ, at the base of

the Mogollon Rim.  Meetings generally include a guest speaker presenting

Meeting Time and Place:

Membership:

2021 Speakers:

2021 Chapter Officers:

Past Activities:

April 23, 2021:  Rim country Chapter and San Tan Chapter sponsored a field trip to Several historic and prehistoric sites in Globe and Miami, Arizona.  Here is a field trip summary.

April 14, 2021:  Summary of San Tan Chapter Zoom Presentation by Dr  Niccole Cerveny Mesa Community College on the topic "Rock Art Conservation: Lessons from the American Southwest and the Jordanian Holy Lands."  It was an interesting account of how Rock Art degrades due to weathering and other causes along with a cost effective method to evaluate the current status and likely future path of individual panels.  Dr Cerveny illustrated her talk with a variety of photographs of Arizona and also Middle East panels.

February 10, 2021:  Zoom presentation by Dr Michelle Turner about the findings of some excavations at the Aztec North Ruin in northwest New Mexico.

February 5, 2021:  Rim Country Chapter and San Tan Chapter jointly sponsored a Field Trip Day Hike to San Tan Regional Park.  Here is a photo summary of the hike that includes some supplementary information about what we saw there.

January 16, 2021:  Rim Country Chapter joined with San Tan Chapter for a field trip to Hieroglyphic Canyon.

December 19, 2020:  Rim had a field trip to Dixie Mine near Fountain Hills.  Besides the mine, there were numerous petroglyphs in the area and some remains of former ranching operations.  A second Field Trip was held to accommodate more members who wanted to go.

November 21, 2020:  The Rim Country Chapter and San Tan Chapter jointly sponsored a field trip to Tuzigoot National Monument with National Park Service Archaeologist Matt Gruebard as Guide and Speaker.  The Field Trip continued with a visit to the Verde Valley Archaeology Center Museum in Camp Verde.  Here are additional photos and a text summary of the outing.

October 17, 2020:  Field trip held at Montezuma Castle National Monument led by Matt Guebard, National Park Service Archeologist.  Matt Guebard gave a presentation and short walking tour highlighting recent research at Montezuma Castle National Monument. This included the discovery of colored wall decorations indicating rooms with special community functions as well as the use of cutting edge scientific techniques to evaluate the age of rooms at Montezuma Castle and the nearby Castle A site.

Two papers by Matt Guebard:

Two to Four Inches of Lime Dirt:  Public Archaeology and the Development of Old and New Interpretations at the Castle Site, Montezuma Castle National Monument

During the Migration Time:  Oral History, Violence, and Identity in the Prehistoric Verde Valley

On March 7, 2020, Janine Hernbrode presented  Patterns in Petroglyphs: Hints of the Hohokam Cosmology on the Landscape. Fifteen years of rock art recording on four major petroglyph sites in Southern Arizona has enabled the assembly of motif details, drawings and photographs of more than 16,000 glyphs located in landscapes with similar characteristics. This collection of images records the belief systems of its creators. There were no scenes of everyday life, of grinding corn, or plans for constructing pit houses. The images recording their belief system are interwoven into lines and circles and more complex images carefully placed on the landscape. By applying the scientific method to the patterns observed, by working with ethnographic accounts and linguistic analysis by others, and by consulting with indigenous people, we have gained some understanding of, and identified threads of continuity between, Native American belief systems and rock art motifs.

The Rim Chapter's February 1, 2020 speaker was Ralph Burrillo.  His presentation was titled, The Anthropology of Paleontology: A Quick Look at Native American Depictions of the North American Fossil Record.  The study of how Indigenous people articulate with the fossil record can offer researchers a tremendous wealth of insights about those cultures and their relationships with the land, as well as offer opportunities for further scientific and cross-cultural collaboration.  Yet this topic remains woefully overlooked by anthropologists.  A quick look at the archaeology of Native American depictions and interpretations of the North American fossil record reveals just how intricate, exciting, and sophisticated Indigenous paleontology can be. 

The Rim Chapter's January 4, 2020 speaker was Jim Krehbiel, Chair and Professor of Fine Arts at Ohio Wesleyan University.  His presentation, Site Lines and Sight Lines, Recent Discoveries in Southeast Utah, was about astronomical research at Ancestral Pueblo sites in southeast Utah.  It was a lesson in astronomy and a tour of remarkable sites in the Bears Ears Cedar Mesa area.  Photos of structures including intact kiva roofs were amazing.  When we see a ruin around here, well, it is a ruin.  Jim described a different approach to Archaeology, looking out rather than looking in, looking at the landscape instead of at the mortar, looking at the horizon instead of at the petroglyph.  Much Archaeoastronomy is indirect, looking at where sunlight slivers or shadows fall on rocks, glyphs, and niches.  Direct Archaeoastronomy involves viewing from such markers outward to the celestial bodies themselves.  Jim Krehbiel illustrated this approach with photos of horizons viewed from isolated structures, kivas, and petroglyph panels towards peaks, notches, prominent boulders, and cliff faces on the horizon.  Then he overlaid sight lines showing the points of rising and setting sun, moon, and certain stars and constellations at the times of various astronomical events such as solstices, equinoxes, cross quarters, lunistices, and major & minor lunar standstills.  Especially impressive were time lapse photo sequences of sunsets on these points at the times of solstices, leaving no doubt that the viewing point was chosen for this reason.