Amerind Free Online Talk-Traceological Analysis of Turquoise Objects from Mesoamerica, Northern Mexico, and the American Southwest: Technological Styles and Interactions with Dr. Emiliano Ricardo Melgar Tísoc.

Amerind Free Online Talk

Thursday, December 4, 2025

12- 1 pm (AZ time)

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline12042025Tisoc

Traceological Analysis of Turquoise Objects from Mesoamerica, Northern Mexico, and the American Southwest: Technological Styles and Interactions with Dr. Emiliano Ricardo Melgar Tísoc.

There are thousands of turquoise objects found in different archaeological sites of Mesoamerica, Northern Mexico, and the American Southwest. Unfortunately, most of the researches about them had been focused on the symbolic meaning, its morphology, trade and use, but very few study their manufacturing traces. In this lecture, I will present a traceological approach to analyze and characterize their manufacturing techniques through the employment of Experimental Archaeology and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The comparison of the turquoise assemblages from more than fifty sites located in these regions showed specific patterns related with lapidary traditions and technological styles. With this new data of the geography of the manufacturing techniques, it is possible to appreciate new nodes of interactions and trends of circulation of the turquoise pieces (raw materials, blanks, and finished objects) among the sourcing areas, the workshops, and the final consumers.

Dr. Emiliano Ricardo Melgar Tísoc earned a BA in Archaeology from the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH) in Mexico and an MA and Ph.D. in Anthropology from National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Since 2004 he has been a full-time researcher at the Templo Mayor Museum. Dr Melgar’ research has been awarded the 2010 Alfonso Caso Award for best bachelor thesis in archaeology, the 2011 Teotihuacan Award for best essay on the materials of that city, and the 2019 Award of the Mexican Academy of Sciences for the best young researcher in the Mexican Humanities. He has written five books and more than 80 articles for domestic and foreign publications. His latest book, “Lapidary Objects from the Great Temple: Styles and Technological Traditions”, received the Honorable Mention in the 2024 INAH Prize for the best archaeological research in Mexico.

We hope you will spend your lunch with us learning about the incredible work of Dr. Melgar Tísoc!

*Unsure if you will be able to watch live? Register using an email and you will be sent a recording of the talk later that evening.

Online Artist Talk with Santiago Romero

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk

Thursday, November 20, 2025

12:00 pm (AZ time)

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline11202025Romero

Please join us on Thursday, November 20, 2025 at 12:00 pm (AZ time) for an online artist talk, with painter and potter Santiago Romero (Cochiti/Taos/Santa Ana Pueblos).

Santiago Romero was born in Santa Fe, NM but grew up between New Mexico and the heart of Los Angeles. After graduating High school, he attended Dartmouth College and received a degree in environmental science. He returned to Santa Fe, where he was working as a ceramic sculptor and painter, as well as actively participating culturally in four separate Pueblo communities. He is currently working on his Master’s degree in Texas and continues to work on his art.

Santiago comes from a legacy of artists; his dad, Diego Romero, is a renowned potter from whom he learned traditional polishing and linework. His uncle, painter Mateo Romero, taught him about layout and gestural technique in painting. His artistic influences are many, but he believes the true force behind his artwork lies within his great-grandmother, Teresita Romero. As an artist of many forms herself, he has found himself guided by her work and spirit.

He strives to integrate his background, education, and experience into all his work by incorporating different techniques, both traditional and contemporary, reflecting who he is and where he comes from.

Santiago has won many awards for his work, including, most recently, the coveted “Best of classification in Painting, Photography, drawing, and photography” at this year’s Indian Market. His work can be found in top collections and galleries. In early 2025, Santiago completed an artist-in-residence at the Amerind, where he spent a month painting and honing his artistic skills. Please note the smaller painting in the photo above was painted here on the Amerind grounds, during his residency!

We hope you will join us to learn more about this fascinating young artist.

*Unsure if you will be able to join us live, register using an email and the talk will be sent to all registrants later that evening.

Amerind Free Online Talk: O’Odham Pottery: Prehistoric, Historic, and Contemporary Native American Ceramic Production in the Phoenix Basin of Southern Arizona with Linda Morgan, M.A., (Akimel O’Odham, Dinè), and Katrina Soke, (Akimel O’Odham)

Amerind Free Online Talk

O’Odham Pottery: Prehistoric, Historic, and Contemporary Native American Ceramic Production in the Phoenix Basin of Southern Arizona

with Linda Morgan, M.A., (Akimel O’Odham, Dinè), and Katrina Soke, (Akimel O’Odham)

Thursday, October 30, 2025

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm (AZ time)

Within the last three decades, Native communities in the United States have taken on the management of their own archaeological resources, including the establishment of Cultural Resource Management Departments.  These developments have resulted in increased interactions between archaeologists and Native people, which has led to a better understanding of indigenous material culture, especially more recent remains, which for obvious reasons are more concentrated within extant Native American reservations, such as the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC).  This presentation discusses research by the GRIC Cultural Resource Management Program (GRIC-CRMP), focusing on their recent contributions to the indigenous ceramic analysis process.

Linda Morgan, M.A., (Akimel O’Odham, Dinè), is from Blackwater, AZ. and a member of the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC). She has worked for the GRIC’s Cultural Resource Management Program (CRMP) since 1994 and is currently Director of the CRMP. She has been a ceramic analyst for the department since 1994 specializing in the analysis of prehistoric Hohokam and Historic O’Odham indigenous ceramics. She has a BA in Anthropology and a Master’s Degree in Museum Studies from Arizona State University.

Katrina Soke, (Akimel O’Odham), is from Gila Crossing, AZ. She is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC), where she was born and raised. She has worked for the GRIC’s Cultural Resource Management Program (CRMP) since 2016 as a Laboratory Technician.  She is a ceramic analyst with extensive experience studying prehistoric and historic Indigenous ceramics.

Please note our day and time change- Hoping you can grab your lunch and join us for lunchtime learning at the Amerind!

If you are not able to join us live, register using an email and the recording of the talk will be sent to you later that evening and available to watch on our You Tube Channel: Amerind Foundation at your leisure.

 

Amerind Free Online Talk-One Sherd at a Time: Seriating Ceramics from Paloparado, an Important Precolonial Site Near the Arizona/Sonora Border with Hunter Claypatch, PhD

Amerind Free Online Talk

Saturday, September 27, 2025

11:00 am (AZ time)

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline09272025Claypatch

Join us on Saturday, September 27, 2025 at 11:00 am (AZ time) for an online talk One Sherd at a Time: Seriating Ceramics from Paloparado, an Important Precolonial Site Near the Arizona-Sonora Border with Scholar Hunter Claypatch, PhD

The archaeological site of Paloparado is located within present-day Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It was excavated in the 1950s by Charles Di Peso and the Amerind Foundation. Although fundamental for reconstructing the occupational history of the Arizona-Sonora borderlands, the excavation was conducted with little prior knowledge of regional ceramics and many of Di Peso’s original interpretations have long been refuted. Through Amerind’s Emerging Scholar Residency, Claypatch applied ceramic insights that were unknown in the 1950s to conducted a systematic reanalysis of Paloparado’s pottery. Coupled with previously unpublished site data, this research reconstructs the occupational history of Paloparado and demonstrates the presence of largely unmixed Pre-Classic (pre-1150 CE) house deposits.

Hunter M. Claypatch received his Ph.D. from Binghamton University in 2022. He is a ceramicist who has worked extensively with precolonial pottery on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico international border. He specializes in Trincheras tradition of northern Sonora and the precolonial inhabitants of present-day Santa Cruz County, Arizona. His research applies traditional seriations, practice theory, and models for cultural connectivity to reconstruct Indigenous lifeways. He currently serves as president-elect for the Arizona Archaeological Council and as a professor at Pima Community College, in Tucson, Arizona.

We hope you will join us!

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk with Ishkoten Dougi

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk with Ishkoten Dougi (Jicarilla Apache/Diné)

Saturday, August 2, 2025

11:00 am (AZ time)

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Online08022025Dougi

Please take this opportunity to join us on Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 11:00 am (AZ time) for an online artist talk with contemporary artist Ishkoten Dougi (Jicarilla Apache/Diné).
as he discusses his art, creative process, experience and more.

Ishkoten Dougi is a contemporary artist working in painting, stone sculpture, and mixed media. He grew up in Dulce, New Mexico, and attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM. He also attended the Al Collins Graphic Design School in Tempe, AZ.

Ishkoten has developed a personalized style combining abstract imagery, creating narratives that stem from both modern and historical reflections on his roots and history. It’s celebrations as well as reminders of historical traumas that Native American communities have endured. Engaging the viewer with a visual dialogue in aims of connection and understanding.

“Whether it’s stone, mixed media or digital my creations are narratives of all that stems from my roots and history-my celebrations as well as the reminders of individuals massacred by manifest destiny or our bureaucratic standing at the time of culture clashing pitted in the timelines of countless land grabs which transformed what was dreamed for us in the beginning.”

Ishkoten is currently a full-time artist residing in Albuquerque, NM. He is widely collected and has been in numerous museum and gallery shows throughout the US.

We hope you will join us to learn about this colorful and fascinating artist!

Unsure if you will be able to watch live? Register using an email and we will send a recording of the talk later that evening.

 

Amerind Free Online Talk: Indians and Energy Transition: Green New Deal to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill!’ with Scholar Andrew Curley, PhD (Diné).

Free Online Talk

Saturday, July 26, 2025 

11:00 am (AZ time)

Indians and Energy Transition: Green New Deal to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill!’ with Scholar Andrew Curley, PhD (Diné).
To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline07262025Curley

Please take this opportunity to join us on Saturday, July 26, 2025 at 11:00 am (AZ time) for an online talk Indians and Energy Transition: Green New Deal to ‘Drill, Baby, Drill!’ with scholar Andrew Curley, PhD (Diné) as he discusses his research on the implications of energy transitions on Indigenous nations.

Energy in the United States is a topic of extreme importance. It is foundational to the U.S. economy, infrastructure, development in local communities, and accelerating processes of climate change. In political rhetoric, energy conversations oscillate between broad ideas of clean energy technology to opening more and more protected spaces for oil and gas drilling. Tribal communities are often caught in the middle of these political movements. Native leaders, planners, and workers must anticipate energy headwinds while shoring up their sources of development and revenue while at the same time thinking through the politics of climate change and the negative environmental impacts of energy projects, such as new kinds of contamination, threatening limited water sources or climate change. In this presentation, I will offer new research focused on the perspectives of Diné, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, and Jicarilla Apache community members in places with long histories of fossil fuel production, primarily oil & gas as well as coal and uranium.

Andrew Curley (Diné) is an Associate Professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment at the University of Arizona. He is the author of Carbon Sovereignty: Coal, Development, and Energy Transition in the Navajo Nation (2023), UofA Press.

Not sure you can watch live on Saturday? Register using an email and a recording of the talk will be sent to you to watch at your leisure.

We hope you will join us!

Free Online Artist Talk with Max Early (Laguna Pueblo)

Images: Left: Ears of Corn: Listen, publication by Max Early, Traditional style ceramic pot by Max Early.

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk
Ears of Corn: Listen & New Works,
with artist Max Early 
Saturday, June 28, 2025
11:00 am (AZ time)

Please join us on Saturday, June 28, 2025 at 11:00 am (AZ time) for an online artist talk, Ears of Corn: Listen & New Works, Poetry & Art of Max Early.
Meet poet and potter Max Early from the Pueblo of Laguna; he will be reading his most recent work of poetry and from his first book, Ears of Corn: Listen, and discussing his pottery.
Along with his writing, Max is an accomplished and innovative potter who sometimes combines the written word with traditional motifs in his pottery. He is close to releasing his second publication of writings. We hope you will join us to see and hear what Max has been working on.

Max Early (Pueblo of Laguna) is an Indigenous Nations Poets IN-NA-PO Inaugural Fellow. He obtained his MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts and his BA in English from the University of New Mexico. His recent poems are published in Inkwell Journal, Poetry Northwest, Poetry Magazine, Green Linden Press, Poetry Foundation, and several others. Early’s first published book is “Ears of Corn: Listen,” and his second manuscript will proceed to publication this summer. His clans are Tsina Hanu (Turkey People) and Kwa-ya Washch’ee (child of the Bear). Also, Early is an accomplished Laguna Pueblo potter and lives in the village of Paguate, New Mexico.

 

*Not sure if you can watch live on Saturday, June 28? Register using an email and a recording of the talk will be sent to you later that evening, to watch at your leisure.

Register at: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline06282025Early

We hope you will join us!

Amerind Free Online Talk- Human Governing and Well-being: a global investigation with the coalition for Archaeological Synthesis with Dr. Gary Feinman

Amerind Free Online Talk

Saturday, August 23, 2025

11:00 am (AZ time)

Join us on Saturday, August 23, 2025 at 11:00 am (AZ time) for an online talk, “Human Governing and Well-being: a global investigation with the coalition for Archaeological Synthesis” with Dr. Gary Feinman (Field Museum of Natural History).

How can we learn from our ancestors to make a better world for tomorrow? Dr. Gary Feinman and an international team of social scientists with the Coalition of Archaeological Synthesis are examining dozens of ancient societies on several continents. Their goal is to better understand how the governing systems humans create affect the practices and well-being of their people. From these insights, they hope to draw lessons that can help create governing systems that allow people to thrive. Amerind’s community has helped support their convenings.

Dr. Feinman is the MacArthur Curator of Mesoamerican, Central American, and East Asian Anthropology at the Field Museum of Natural History. Feinman presently co-directs two international archaeological field projects in Mesoamerica and China. Earlier in his career, Feinman had leadership roles in the Valley of Oaxaca and the Ejutla Valley Settlement Pattern Projects and supervised residential excavations at four sites in the region. For 30 field seasons, he has been co-directing fieldwork in China’s eastern Shandong Province.

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline08232025Feinman

Not sure you can watch live, register with an email and you will be sent the recording of the talk to watch at your leisure after the talk.

 

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk with Matthew Bahe

Amerind Free Online Artist Talk

with Matthew Bahe 

Saturday, May 3, 2025

11:00 am (AZ time)

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline05032025Bahe

Please take this opportunity to join us as Matthew discusses his work, journey, and inspiration behind his incredible creations.

Matthew Bahe (Diné) is a contemporary multidisciplinary artist whose work includes painting, ceramics, and mixed media. He is originally from Hogback, New Mexico, and is currently attending the esteemed Institute of American Indian Arts master’s program in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He earned his bachelor’s degree with a concentration in ceramics from Jacksonville Private University in Florida. Prior to attending IAIA  he was an adjunct Fine Art Professor at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico.

His work has garnered much attention at events such as Santa Fe’s Indian Market and the Heard Museum Fair.

He spent his childhood creating art and being interested in artwork, which provided a mental diversion from living on the Diné reservation. “What began as a hobby has turned into a lifestyle, and I am grateful to continue living it today.”

See more of his work at: Facebook: Matthew Bahe or Instagram: Matthewbahe

We hope you will join us to learn about this talented young artist!

 

 

Amerind Free Online Talk: Navajo Traditional Stories and the Science of Geology with Henry Haven

Yaalnii Neé Yani (Navajo Creator) blowing air into the small earth: image by Henry Haven
photo: Spider Rock in Canyon de Chelly

Amerind Free Online Talk

Saturday, February 15, 2025

11:00 am (AZ time)

Navajo Traditional Stories and the Science of Geology, with Henry Haven 

To register, visit: https://bit.ly/Amerindonline02152025Haven

Join us on Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 11:00 am (AZ time) for an online talk with Geologist Henry Haven (Diné).

Henry will be giving a talk on his knowledge of traditional Navajo stories and oral history and the connection to the history and science of geology. Henry compares the four geological eras and geological events in the Four Corners region and lands of the (Diné Biknéyah) to traditional oral stories of the four worlds, four sacred elements, and other cultural concepts, where appropriate. They are not based on science as we know it but reflect an awareness of past geological events. Henry also draws on his education and experience as a geologist. This talk is based on his book entitled “Navajo Traditional Stories and the Science of Geology”, which he co-authored with J. Dale Nations, PhD, Geologist, and Max Goldtooth, Sr., a Navajo Medicine Man. (Innovative Ink Publishing, 2023).

Henry Haven is a geologist from the Navajo Nation. He received his master’s in Geology from Northern Arizona University. He retired after many years from the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency. Previously, he worked for the Oil and Gas industry in Texas and the Four Corners area, exploring for oil and gas. Henry continues to consult for the Navajo Nation EPA, helping value and care for the land and water.

If you are unsure if you will be able to watch live at 11 on February 15th, register with an email, and you will be sent the recording of the talk after the talk.