All our monthly meetings and presentations are free and open to the public. Our next meeting will be held in person and on Zoom on Wednesday, September 10th, at 7:00 p.m. in the lyceum at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College. After a brief business meeting, Dr. Laurie Webster will present “Did Ancestral Puebloan People Raise White Woolly Dogs for Their Hair?” A reception will start things off at 6:30 p.m. in the CSWS foyer.
Laurie D. Webster (Ph.D. University of Arizona, 1997) is an independent researcher with institutional affiliations at the University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University, the American Museum of Natural History, and Crow Canyon. Laurie is a leading expert on Ancestral Pueblo perishable materials, especially woven objects and textiles, and she consults with Crow Canyon on the perishable materials encountered during the Center’s excavations.
Laurie is also a scholar of post-contact and contemporary Pueblo and Navajo weaving. Her research interests include craft production and innovation, technological change, cultural affiliation, and the documentation and interpretation of older museum collections. She has served as a consultant and technical expert about Southwestern textiles and perishable artifacts for museums, federal agencies, tribal entities, and cultural resource management firms. In 2011 she initiated the Cedar Mesa Perishables Project to document the large collections of perishable artifacts recovered from southeastern Utah during the 1890s. She lives in Mancos, Colorado.
Link to Join Webinar
https://fortlewis.zoom.us/j/97612418790
Meeting ID: 976 1241 8790
Special Presentation – Old-school Archaeological Mapping of Mesa Verde – September 24
On Wednesday, September 24th, at 7:00 p.m. in the lyceum at the Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, Alfred Berry will present “Old-school Archaeological Mapping of Mesa Verde.”
Alfred Berry (Alf) is a third-generation land surveyor with a rich survey and mapping history. His family has been involved with projects as small as defining property lines between neighbors who don’t get along up to National Geographic maps of Mount Everest. The GPS technology that we all use to get to a coffee shop was due to a family member in the room.
His grandfather, Ralph W. Berry, led the first team to map Mesa Verde National Park in 1910. The park was created in 1906 but there were few maps of the area. Ralph and his team of eight and a cook undertook the extremely difficult task of mapping the mesa with the technology of that time. This was archeological mapping at its best.
Alf has been the benefactor of having a grandfather, two uncles, and two brothers involved in mapping, either at a local or global scale. His personal archaeological projects include mapping Mayan sites in Belize and the Yucatan as well as Shoshone sites in Wyoming.
His understanding of the technological changes since 1910, and how mapping is done in our current world are light years ahead of the technology of the time. His grandfather spent an entire summer with a crew of eight mapping the mesa. Today’s technology could give the same level of detail in about two hours.
Pecos Conference 2025
Field Trip Report
SJBAS Newsletter – Moki Messenger
Moki – July – August 2025
SJBAS Zoom Presentations on YouTube
Zoom Presentation Archives
CyArk Tapestry Virtual Tours
Tapestry is a web-based storytelling platform that brings places to life, connecting users with the history, culture, and emotions that shape each location. CyArk is launching a fifth virtual tour of Bears Ears, created in collaboration with Indigenous partners. This is part of a new series that was funded by the BLM and focusing on landscapes of Comb Ridge and includes experiences produced by the Pueblo of Zuni, the Pueblo of Acoma, and the Hopi. Follow these links for virtual tours of River House, Butler Wash Developed Site, and Monarch Cave, all in Bears Ears National Monument.
River House – Ancestral Home connected to Pueblo of Zuni
Butler Wash Developed Site – Ancestral Home of Hopi Ancestors
The San Juan Basin Archaeological Society (SJBAS) is a Colorado Nonprofit Corporation. SJBAS consists of people who are interested in the archaeology, culture, and early history of the Four Corners region. We have members of all ages and backgrounds, some with extensive training in archaeology and others with more limited knowledge, but a strong desire to learn.
Our mission is to advocate for and promote public awareness and preservation of archaeological, cultural, and historical resources, primarily of the Four Corners region of the American Southwest.
Members are eligible to participate in SJBAS field trips and they receive a monthly newsletter, the Moki Messenger, with information about current SJBAS activities and other matters of archaeological and historical interest.
We support and endow the John W. Sanders Internship and Education Fund. This fund provides ongoing internships for Fort Lewis College students at the Center of Southwest Studies. Donations are welcome to these 501(C)(3) funds: Donate.