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Creating Vya: The Dream of Dry Farming

Molly · August 24, 2015 ·

Creating Vya: The Dream of Dry Farming in Long Valley, Nevada describes the rise and fall of the community of Vya with additional information on Northern Paiute lifeways, early explorers, cattle ranching, and the failed Long Valley Water Project. The book includes numerous photographs by John L. Henry.

Flip through the interactive booklet below, or view this booklet and others on our Public Outreach Projects page!

By Erich Obermayr Historic Insight with Sharon A. Waechter Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.

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“Most Inspirational” Film AND Telly Award

Molly · August 4, 2015 ·

The Archaeology Channel film jury voted Far Western’s “Breaking New Ground: Native Americans in Archaeology“ the winner of the “Most Inspirational” award at the TAC International Video and Film Festival held in Eugene, Oregon.

Also, our new Silver Telly Award for the film arrived this month!

Designed by the same firm that makes the Oscar^® and Emmy^®, the statuette is nearly 12 inches tall and weighs more than 4 1/2 pounds. Founded in 1979, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding videos and films.

The films are judged by a panel of over 650 industry professionals, each a past winner. Fewer than 10% of the nearly 12,000 entries, from all 50 states and numerous countries, were chosen as Winners of a Silver Telly, the highest honor.

Thank you to the Native Americans who shared their experiences and stories for this film,
including Two Bears, to whom the film is dedicated.

Capture6

Congratulations to all who worked on the film
and to Cinnabar Video!

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Now Available Online! “Life on the River” by Hildebrandt and Darcangelo

dcraig · July 24, 2015 ·

Instructors often request Life on the River – The Archaeology of an Early Native American Culture for use in their classrooms only to find out that it is now out of print.

With permission from Heyday Books, Life on the River, by Far Western authors William Hildebrandt and Michael Darcangelo, is now available online for instructors, students, and others curious about Sacramento Valley archaeology.

The book describes archaeological techniques and discoveries found at a Shasta County site, located on the Upper Sacramento River. It details Wintu lifeways just before and during the arrival of Europeans.

Click HERE to open the PDF!

You can also find the book under our Public Outreach and Interpretation page, along with other Far Western outreach projects, PDFs, and videos.

Read the first page…

Chapter I: Introduction

During the summer of 2005, thirty-six acres along the Sacramento River were subdivided into six residential lots. The land lies in Shasta County, about six miles south of Redding, California, within the original homeland of the Wintu Indians. One of the prime lots contained an archaeological site officially registered as CA-SHA-1043 and subsequently given the Wintu name “Kum Bay Xerel” (Shady Oak Village; Figure 1). After several failed attempts to develop construction plans that could avoid the site, the landowner decided that the project should move forward, but only after an archaeological excavation. The excavations were carried out by the authors of this publication and other members of the Far Western Anthropological Research Group, with help from several Wintu tribal members and professional volunteers from throughout northern California…read more!

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Far Western Grad Examines How Accessibility Impacts Population Growth

Molly · July 15, 2015 ·

Far Western’s Ruth Zipfel, one of our GIS specialists, successfully defended her Master’s thesis on waterway-to-rail and rail-to-roadway transportation, entitled “Network Accessibility and Population Change: Historical Analysis of Transportation in Tennessee, 1830–2010.”

She used GIS and statistical linear regression models to analyze factors contributing to population changes spanning 180 years. She focused primarily on transport networks, and she also included additional potential contributing variables, such as population share and mean geodesic distances to large cities.

Congratulations, Ruth, on graduating with your
Master’s of Science in Geographic Information Science and Technology from USC!

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Archaeology and Prehistoric Ecology of Putah Creek Lecture

Molly · June 29, 2015 ·

Join Putah Creek Council’s third CreekSpeak talk of 2015 on July 2, 2015, by Far Western’s Adrian Whitaker.

Thursday, July 2, 2015, 7:00 PM
Davis Veterans Memorial Theatre Club Room
203 E. 14th Street
Davis, California

CreekSpeak is Putah Creek Council’s six-month series of community talks about the nature, culture, and history of the Davis region.

Press release from the Putah Creek Council:
Have you ever wondered who used to live along Putah Creek? Humans have lived along the shores of Putah Creek and other tributaries of the Sacramento River for thousands of years and the physical remains of their activities are preserved in a rich archaeological record. Join us as we learn about the earliest human settlers around Putah Creek, the resources they relied on, and what the archaeological record can tell us about the past ecology of the creek and watershed. We will also explore the need and process of preserving archaeological resources as part of our shared cultural heritage.

Adie Whitaker is a California Archaeologist who has worked throughout the state. He received his PhD from UC Davis in 2008 and has worked since that time at Far Western, an archaeological consulting firm in Davis. He has published research focused on the ecological interactions between prehistoric humans and their environments in California. In his former career as a camp counselor he worked at Camp Putah in Davis, where he was known as “Monkey.”

CreekSpeak talks are free to Putah Creek Council members and open to the public. A $5 donation is requested from those who have not yet joined the Council.

https://www.putahcreekcouncil.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=591

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Creating Vya: The Dream of Dry Farming

“Most Inspirational” Film AND Telly Award

Now Available Online! “Life on the River” by Hildebrandt and Darcangelo

Read the first page…

Far Western Grad Examines How Accessibility Impacts Population Growth

Archaeology and Prehistoric Ecology of Putah Creek Lecture

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