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desertarch.bsky.social
Desert Archaeology
@desertarch.bsky.social
150 followers 55 following 51 posts
The leading CRM archaeology outfit in the US Southwest. Section 106 compliance, innovative research, and public outreach since 1982. Native plant and wildlife refuge at the end of Tucson Boulevard. Industry happy hours. We do it all.
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desertarch.bsky.social
What
July 19, 2025 at 9:45 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
NYT crossword is broken this morning, “backhoe” has way more than three letters
The clue for 70 Across in today’s NYT crossword is “Alternative to a trowel for an archaeologist,” three letters
June 2, 2025 at 2:24 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
Justin, Connie, and Lindsay repped us at the SRPMIC Earth Day fest over the weekend with shell-etching demos and a build-a-pithouse set Connie fabricated. Great fun for everyone!
Kids building a model pithouse, or maybe a ramada in a pit, complete with tiny posts, reeds, ceramic vessels, and mats. An inspector from the Arizona Herpetological Society examines the model pithouse (the inspector is a tortoise). No word on whether bites were taken out of the roofing materials.
April 14, 2025 at 11:53 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
Your regular reminder that we really like old things around here. And dirt. And waiting for some electrolyte product to hit us up with a major sponsorship
A Marshalltown™️ trowel is clenched in a fist against an orange background, circled by text reading get dirty | protect the past | hydrate. The text at the bottom of the image yells DESERT ARCHAEOLOGY in a jaunty all-caps font.
April 11, 2025 at 2:50 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
Don’t miss the chance to hang out with fellow scruffy Southwestern archaeologists this Friday as we celebrate an unexpected extension of Tucson Patio Weather™️
April 2, 2025 at 6:22 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
Anybody want to hang out and be happy for two hours? Yowl archaeologically, or sit and watch the trains go by, we can facilitate either one. April 4 at Borderlands in downtown Tucson. 👷➡️😀
March 13, 2025 at 7:29 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
If not lithic analysis, why lithic analysis shaped
A panel from a very old Star Trek comic book depicts a dead Starfleet person (rank indeterminate) in a gold uniform shirt (if not redshirt, why redshirt shaped?) covered with blood (tar?). Mr. Spock stands in the background, examining a spear tipped with a huge blood (tar?)-covered stone point. He says: "This blade is remarkably similar to that of a Folsom point, characteristic of a Stone Age Earth culture located in the area formerly known as North America. A crude design, but efficient." We have no Vulcan ancestry, so who are we to say, really, but: Folsom points exhibited a sophisticated design and required excellent knapping skills. They were also maybe a quarter of the size depicted here. And shaped nothing like the overgrown Gypsum point drawn on the end of the spear.; maybe this is why he was rejected from the Vulcan Science Academy. Other than that, no notes.
March 10, 2025 at 4:54 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
Roses are red
We all do our part
The social media intern
Offers you this art
Two rusty trowels slightly overlap to form a heart shape with their blades. They are on a scabrous pink background. White vintage Corona typewriter text reads i dig you. The intern spent entire minutes on this five years ago, please enjoy.
February 14, 2025 at 7:06 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
Welcome to the public domain, Popeye. Happy New Year to everyone else!
Cartoon Popeye the Sailor (now in the public domain) gets a job as a field tech. He’s going to need to extinguish that pipe first, though, and put on a lot of sunscreen. Long sleeves would be another good idea.
January 1, 2025 at 1:59 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
We are honoring John Douglass next month at his favorite brewery. Please join us for stories, memories, and community as we celebrate our much-loved and missed friend.

Friday, January 17
5-7 pm
Moto Sonora Brewing
1015 S. Park, Tucson
Look for us outside
The late John Douglass appears as we remember him, with a baseball cap and a laugh.
December 21, 2024 at 2:43 AM
desertarch.bsky.social
It’s fun when the company holiday party swag reminds us why we come to work here and then usually stick around forever
#wecandothat
December 12, 2024 at 10:17 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
Accurate

blueskyroast.com
Squad check from blueskyroast.com: we are the Archaeological Ambassador with random facts and awkward jokes.
December 4, 2024 at 1:19 PM
desertarch.bsky.social
Need a spot of oh wow? Might we recommend some Hohokam etched shell? Our Chris Lange explains how artisans created elaborate relief images on shells brought from the Pacific coast to the Phoenix and Tucson areas 1000 years ago. Neat!

desert.com/etched-shell/
A shell fragment has a jagged relief pattern etched onto it with acid. It was made by a Hohokam artisan sometime in the CE 850-1150 range north of Tucson, Arizona. It is about 5.5 cm long and cream colored.
November 20, 2024 at 2:36 PM