Creativity. Something we all admire. Something that makes us sparkle. The ah-ha moment. The inspired awe. … » Read more »
A Creative Spirit: Michael Kabotie, 1942-2009
Ancient Calendar
Chuck Adams with ASM archaeologist Rich Lange
Today’s blog is written by ASM archaeologist Dr. E. Charles Adams. Dr. Adams runs the Homol’ovi Research Program.
My favorite object story begins on a typical summer day in northeastern Arizona at the ancient Hopi village of Homol’ovi II, just outside Winslow. Homol’ovi is the Hopi word used to describe the Winslow area and means place of small hills or buttes. The ASM archaeology crew had been working at Homol’ovi II for three years … » Read more »
Life as Expressed in Death
Today’s blog is written by ASM’s bioarchaeologist Dr. James Watson.
I was recently asked by archaeologists at the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia Sonora (INAH: National Institute of Anthropology and History) to come to Hermosillo to analyze several prehistoric human skeletons that had been recently recovered from several archaeological investigations throughout the state. Skeletal analysis is an important part of my job as a bioarchaeologist because it can tell us a great deal about the lives of past people.
We effectively ‘read’ the variation present in the human skeleton to estimate things like … » Read more »
Museum Jobs
It’s a busy time again at the University and at the Arizona State Museum. Students are back on campus, classes are underway, and fall events are being planned. Everyone is doing multiple tasks at once. At the museum one program we are working on is an Open House for students in the Anthropology Department.
At a student meeting last spring one of my colleagues was asked, “What does one do with an Anthro degree?” She mentioned museum work and quickly realized that many of these students had not only never … » Read more »
Contemporary Issues
What makes a museum relevant? What role should a museum play in its community? Which communities should a museum serve? How and why? How do you define culture? Is it important? Those are some of the questions being discussed by ASM staff these days.
Why do you visit museums? What do you expect to see or experience when you are at a museum? Is a museum visit meaningful to you? In what ways? Often museums inspire appreciation of beauty, or enrich one’s understanding of the past or of science. Sometimes museum exhibits or programs make us think about where we live today, helping us understand different perspectives on that reality, and hopefully cause us to … » Read more »
Archaic Origami
The amazing thing about museum collections is that their objects represent people, real people. Someone once made or used the objects and they hint at lives lived and stories to tell. This past weekend I was at the Grand Canyon. At the Visitor’s Center in Tusayan, a National Geographic IMAX film shows a scene with an archaeologist finding a split-twig figurine in a deer-like shape. A child’s toy, one surmises, dating back 3,000 years. So a very long time before I … » Read more »
Making Connections
“Its interesting. I’ve never seen a picture of him before,” pondered Chental Spencer my student employee, after catching sight of her great grandfather John Willie, Jr. in ASM’s newest exhibition on Navajo Code Talkers. She also saw a picture of another of her great grandfathers, Richard Thomas. Chental recalled when he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously. Her grandmother didn’t want to go to the ceremony to accept it because who would look after her sheep while she was away? Chental was a just … » Read more »
Relatives of Sid the Ground Sloth (Ice Age)
Sid the ground sloth
in the Ice Age movies is adorable, a pain in the neck with his shenanigans, but pretty appealing as a character, specially with the mothering instincts exhibited in Ice Age 3. Arizona is no stranger to this Pleistocene animal. The Shasta Ground Sloth was widespread in the Western United States up until about 10,000 years ago. He found caves appealing places … » Read more »
Riding Our Faith
Hard economic times make me depressed, make everyone depressed as we struggle to figure out what to cut, how to cope. But there is always hope, a word that keeps jumping out at me. Hope that the legislature and our governor will create a budget that supports education and the arts. Hope that the K-12 schools will have enough resources to bring their students on fieldtrips to experience the museum. Hope that we offer exhibits and programs that you … » Read more »
Ancient life in the driest desert in the world: a report from the field
ASM Bioarchaeologist Dr. James Watson
Today’s blog is a report from the field by Dr. James Watson who has been in Chile teaching and researching supported by a Fulbright award.
When I arrived in Arica, Chile to start four months of research on the dental health of some of the world’s oldest skeletons I had no idea how barren a desert could be. Those of us who live in and love the Sonoran Desert appreciate its rich flora and fauna–even if it pricks us once in a while. But here in the Atacama Desert, there isn’t a single plant for miles unless a human has irrigated it.
Steep sandy hills and narrow valleys run to a precipitous … » Read more »
This icon indicates link opens in a new window.
Share this Page
