Nevada Pastwatch July 30, 2010 - How to Find Rock Art

Text
Volume 3 Issue 2
July 30, 2010
NEVADA PASTWATCH*
N E V A D A
A R C H A E O L O G I C A L
S I T E
S T E W A R D S H I P
P R O G R A M
Austin-Tonopah Ranger District Archaeological Site
Orientation
UPCOMMING
TRAININGS
By Carl Bjork, West Central Nevada Region Coordinator
Photo Documentation
Workshop—Sept. in Las
Vegas
Prehistoric Pottery of S.
NV—Nov. in Pahrump
Basic GPS—Spring 2011
place TBA
ARPA Workshop—March
2011 in Carson City/Reno
Historic Artifact ID—Spring
2011, in Winnemucca
Lithic II workshop—May
2011 in Fallon
Field Photography—Early
Summer 2011 in Carson
City/Reno
Photo documentation
Workshop—Summer 2011
in Carson City/Reno
I N S I D E TH I S
I S S U E :
Austin/Tonopah
Forest Initial Site visit
May 2010
2
Hidden canyon trails,
hidden rock shelters,
hidden Indian cemeteries, and hidden
Shoshone
paintings
assigned to site stewards for monitoring in
the
USFS
AustinTonopah Ranger District.
The Austin-Tonopah
RD covers 2.3 million
acres in the middle of
Nevada, an area also
known as Nevada’s
outback.
Seventeen site stewards from the Las Vegas area and the
Reno/Carson City area
met on May 25th &
26th for site orientation
and traveled to ten
S H P O
3
Introducing Rachel
Crew
3
SHPO Coordinators
Corner Continued
4
Carl Bjork storytelling at Toquima Cave
Photograph by Patricia Ellis, site steward
Mark Bodily, USFS Archaeologist for the AustinTonopah Ranger District
and Carl Bjork, West Central Nevada Region Coordinator, sixteen site stewards attended an orienta-
C o o r d i n a t o r s
S a l i
Report from Site
Stewards
sites in an area from
Tonopah north to Belmont
and on to Austin.
Under the direction of
As the Nevada Archaeological Site Stewardship
Program continues to
grow, the needs of the
program and the volunteers change. You may
have noticed that there
are more advanced workshops scheduled for the
future than basic trainings. This is because more
informed stewards be-
A .
tion meeting at the
Tonopah Ranger Station. Steve Williams,
District Ranger for the
Austin-Tonopah
RD
welcomed the stewards to the RD and
thanked the stewards
for their help and interest. Mr. Williams,
explained to the group
the need for site stewards because only one
archaeologist is assigned to visit, monitor
and report on 1,000’s
of sites, on 2.3 million
acres of Forest Service
lands in the ranger district.
Ten sites were selected because of their
Continued on Page 2
C o r n e r
U n d e r w o o d
come more active stewards. Retaining stewards
is just as important as
getting new volunteers
involved in the program.
The Nevada Archaeological Association has
received grants for the
past few years from the
Historic Preservation Fund
that support these workshops. Without this aide it
would be very difficult to
offer these informative
and fun classes. If you
have suggestions for a
class please let me
know.
The program has also
been growing in terms of
agency involvement. Recently the USFS Humboldt-Toiyabe Tonopah/
Austin Forest District has
*Title taken from Pastwatch: the redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card 1997; used by permission.
P a g e
2
N e v a d a
P a s t w a tc h
Austin-Tonopah Ranger District Archaeological Site Orientation Continued
town
(Belmont),
ancient rock shelter, ancient hunting traps, and cave
sites
were
assigned.
Additional
sites
have been selected and new
assignments will
Hiking to a site in Hunts Canyon
be given this
impact by visitors, huntsummer.
ers,
recreationalists,
The following is a
OHV riders, and ancient list of those who atrelic collectors. Rock art, tended and are now
cemeteries, an historic
certified to monitor on
the
Austin-Tonopah
Ranger District: Jon
Scott, Paul Scott, Cornelia Kallerud, Maury
Kallerud, Janice Hoffman, Wendy Michler,
Julie Michler, Douglas
Cardwell, Shirley Williams, Randall Williams, Rosann Turigillato, Paul Turigillato,
Johnnie
Williams,
Patricia Ellis, Glen
Hanson, Jane Bjork,
and Carl Bjork.
Thirteen site stewards
who were unable to attend the orientation on
May 25-26 will be
scheduled for training
this summer.
Site stewards that
would like information
regarding monitoring in
the Ranger District
should contact Carl
Bjork, WCN Region Coordinator.
Email:
[email protected]
USFS Austin/Tonopah Ranger District Site Steward Initial Site Visits of May 2010
by Mark Bodily Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest Central Zone Archaeologist
Nineteen Nevada Site
Stewards went on a
baseline tour to visit
nine Priority Heritage
Asset sites on the Austin/Tonopah
Ranger
District the last week of
May, 2010. The trip
was a success with the
following
prehistoric
and historic sites
visited: Hunts Canyon Camp, Bald
Mountain
Wash
Petroglyphs,
Belmont
Cemetery,
Belmont, Anderson
Cemetery, East Belmont, Barley Creek
Petroglyphs, Gatecliff Shelter, and
Toquima Cave. The
rock art sites as
well as portions of
the historic ghost
towns and cemeter-
ies provided excellent
photographic opportunities.
At Gatecliff shelter,
one of the site stewards’ truck would not
start. When attempts
at jumping the truck
failed, the site steward
regional
coordinator
took over the tour
group while the district
archaeologist gave the
volunteer a ride back to
Tonopah (an 1.5 hour
drive one way) to purchase a new battery.
Upon installation of the
new battery, the truck
started
right
up.
Group photo at Bald Mountain Wash Petroglyphs
Please remember that
lots of different things
can happen while you
are out in the wilds of
Central Nevada, so it
is always best to be
prepared for the worst
case scenario.
Another
baseline
tour for the northern portions of the
district is being
planned for late
summer/early fall.
I express my thanks
to the site stewards
that participated in
this baseline tour.
You all are great
and I really enjoyed
your company.
I
look forward to
continually working
with you.
V o l u m e
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I s s u e
2
P a g e
R e p o r t
Metal can with lid
f r o m
S i t e
3
S t e w a r d s
The Overland Stage Station
(west of Austin on Hwy 50)
had a lot of trash in the
shrubs. Also, the pedestrian
gate was open and we went
inside the fence and walked
around the historic site. We
saw a metal box with hinged
lid on in the southeast corner
of site. Photo attached (my
finger is in the photo for
scale).
Nicole Zaborsky
Jason Catalano
WC Site Stewards with Carl
Bjork
This email report was forwarded onto the
agency to investigate—thank you Nicole and
Jason!
I n t r o d u c i n g R a c h e l C r e w s , B L M
A r c h a e o l o g i s t f o r t h e C a r s o n
C i t y D i s t r i c t
Hello,
My name is Rachel Crews
and I’m one of the new
archaeologists at the BLM
Sierra Front Field Office in
Carson City. I came to
BLM in February of this
year, but I have worked as
an archaeologist in Nevada
for the last seven years. I
love the Great Basin and
its archaeology, as well as
the unique plants, animals,
and amazing landscapes
that make living here a
blessing.
For the site stewardship
program, I’ll be managing
sites in the Ruhenstroth
area and the Pine Nut
Paleontologist Josh Bonde
Mountains in general.
The Pine Nut Mountains
are a special place for
the Washoe tribe, and
tribal members still use
the area for many traditional activities, such as
gathering pine nuts and
other plant materials.
Along with cultural resources, we also manage
paleontological
resources. For those of
you unfamiliar with the
area, Ruhenstroth is
home to the fossil remains of many types of
animals from voles to
mastodons.
This summer, we had
a small paleontological
excavation in Ruhenstroth by Josh Bonde, a
Ph.D. student from
UNLV.
He’ll be back
next summer for another
field season, so I hope
folks will get a chance to
meet him. Those of you
familiar with Ruhenstroth
will know that it is not
without
challenges,
as recreational use
comes into conflict
with resource protection. We have had
some indications that
people may be attempting to illegally
excavate fossils in
Archaeologist Rachel Crew
Ruhenstroth.
the most at-risk areas
I know we have some in order to protect
dedicated site stewards them and document
in this area already, and the need for ACEC
I look forward to meet- designation.
ing you. I also would
Recently BLM and
like to ask for additional site stewards at Dry
stewards to help us Lakes ACEC had a
monitor and protect the very successful cleancultural and paleon- up day, and I would
tological resources in like to do the same for
this area.
Until the Ruhenstroth in the
area is formally desig- hopes that it will ennated an Area of Critical courage visitors use
Environmental Concern the area respectfully.
(ACEC), our best measThanks to the site
ure for protection of stewards for all your
these fragile resources work and your love of
is good monitoring and these special places. I
site stewardship. With look forward to workregular attention, I ing with you!
hope we can identify
VISIT US ON THE WEB!
HTTP://NEVADACULTURE.ORG/
N
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P
E V A
R C H
I T E
T E W
R O G
D A
A E O L O G I C A L
A R D S H I P
R A M
Nevada Site Stewardship Program
State Historic Preservation Office
700 Twin Lakes Dr.
Las Vegas, NV 89107
Phone: 702-486-5011
Fax:
702-486-5172
E-mail: [email protected]
S T A T E M E N T
O F
P U R P O S E
In recognition of the fact that prehistoric and
historic archaeological resources are irreplaceable national resources, the volunteer site stewards participating in this Program work towards
the following goals:
1. To help preserve prehistoric and historic archaeological sites. 2. To increase public awareness. 3. To discourage site vandalism and theft.
4. To promote understanding and partnerships
between land managing agencies, Native Americans and concerned citizens and to encourage
Protecting Nevada’s Heritage
S H P O
C o o r d i n a t o r s
respect and conservation of traditional lands and
archaeological resources.
C o r n e r
C o n t i n u e d
come up with 30 sites that The Bureau of Reclamation for Washoe County Parks, and Neneed monitoring and they have the Lahontan Basin area near vada State Parks for the Tule
had great success in getting Fallon; the Fish and Wildlife Still- Spring State Park in Las Vegas .
stewards out to sites thanks to water and Desert Refuges; BLMWhen the agencies have sites
the dedication of the West
identified and site informaCentral Regional Coordination kits available there will
tor Carl Bjork and the much
be an announcement that
valued enthusiasm of FS
stewards are needed in
archaeologist Mark Bodily.
these areas. If we need new
These two have worked
stewards a basic training
tirelessly to get stewards
class will be held.
coordinated and assigned
So, if you wanted a site
sites.
closer to home, or further
This effort seems to have
away in the wilds of beautiful
created a snowball effect. I
Nevada, whether archaeohave recently been conlogical, historic or paleontacted by the Battle Moun- USFS Archaeologist Mark Bodily orients steward tological, we have a site for
tain BLM Tonopah Field Ofyou! We need to hear from
during the May 2010 Initial Site Visits
fice requesting site stewyou if you want more or less
ards. Agencies that have ex- Carson City for the Ruhenstroth sites, or different sites. But we
pressed an interest in placing ACEC area near Gardnerville and do require that you turn in a resite stewards at sites include: beyond; Inyo National Forest, port ion a regular basis! Thank
you all for your hard work!
*Special Thanks to Crystal Van Dee for editing this issue.