iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Are you keeping up with our company news flashes on our shiny new website? We highly recommend! New lab director! Publications! Recognition! Your source for all things Desert, right here: desert.com/about/compan...

desert.com

Company News

Desert Archaeology, Inc., is a woman-owned Arizona small business offering cultural resources compliance, research, and consulting services. We have been leaders in Southwestern cultural resources man...

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Have you explored our new website? It is sharp and slick and even has an entire section devoted to stories that distill our work into fun-sized bites (sips?). Check the news flashes on the front page to keep up with how busy we are. Sleep? Pfft. desert.com, here for you and you and YOU.

desert.com

Leaders in Southwestern cultural resources management since 1982

We creatively integrate scientific research, public outreach, and legal compliance, and have established a record of work that is timely, cost effective, and of...

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

We work in southern Arizona. We’re never NOT hot at work. Also OSHA would not be happy with the obvious evidence of insufficient sun protection

A feature story in the Guardian asks if you have to be hot at work. The photo is an anonymous person in a hard hat with their face obscured by red (hot?) scribbling.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Re-upping for the morning shift: we’re hiring survey field techs to join us for several months of work on Fort Bliss, TX. 10-day sessions with overtime pay to see the scenic El Paso area in the fall while accruing great field experience, win-win. Go to desert.com/open-positions right now!

desert.com

Open Positions

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Desert.com/open-positions is the most exciting link you can click these days. Hear me out: tanks, Texas, ten-day survey sessions. We’re starting many months of work at Ft Bliss next week and need sturdy crew. Hit the link for details on this listing and more! 🐂

desert.com

Open Positions

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Innovative ceramic analysis is one of our hallmarks, and we’re looking for someone to help carry that legacy forward. Are you a ceramicist who wants to work with the best? Check the listing and get in touch. We’ll save some temper just for you. desert.com/about/open-p...

desert.com

Open Positions

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

🚨EXCITING OPPORTUNITY ALERT🚨 Interested in Phoenix Basin Hohokam archaeology? We need field crew and crew chiefs right now. Crew chiefs need experience but we'll train field techs, so this is a great chance to learn on the job from the best. Hit the link for details. desert.com/open-positio...

desert.com

Open Positions – Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources Management

Successful applicants will have the opportunity to gain extensive excavation experience over the course of the next 7 to 8 months.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Whatever, people in what is now called Arizona have been looksmaxxing faces (of chert cores) with hammer(stone)s since basically forever

A pile of chert flakes created by someone living along the Mogollon Rim ~1000 years ago repeatedly hitting the faces of a core with a hammerstone. The heaps of debitage from this site frame mogged anything we’ve encountered before or since and we’re still not over it.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

We have SO MUCH going on in southern and central AZ in 2026 and would love you, the experienced archaeological field technician, to help us on our mission of documenting and protecting the past. Sound fun? Check the crew/supervisor job postings at desert.com/open-positio... and hit us up.

desert.com

Open Positions – Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources Management

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

We had a joke about flaked stone artifacts, but we’re too tired (we need to knap).

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Del Bac has been making a habit of hosting great speakers from the worlds of Sonoran Desert history, anthropology, and ecology, so let's support them. Half the proceeds of this one go to the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson trust.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Historical archaeologist Homer Thiel will be talking about his new book, Saloons of Tucson, at the Whiskey Del Bac distillery on October 21. Homer is THE go-to guy for stories of historic Tucson, and this will be a treat. Details at the link. whiskeydelbac.com/event/octobe...

whiskeydelbac.com

October 21st – Saloons of Tucson – Book Discussion w/ author Homer Thiel – Whiskey Del Bac

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

The 250th anniversary of Hugo O'Conor saying build it HERE is coming up this week. Pls enjoy this excellent story about the 1775 founding of the Tucson Presidio and everything Desert's work has added to its history, featuring our own Homer Thiel.

tucson.com

Tucson at 250: Presidio past lurks just under surface for those willing to dig for it

The founding of the Tucson Presidio on Aug. 20, 1775, is widely heralded as the start of what has become Arizona's second largest city. But the journey wasn't an easy

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

One like = 10,000 pieces of debitage

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Desert Archaeology bioarchaeologist Rachael Byrd and lithic analyst RJ Sliva contributed to a new American Antiquity paper on how early agriculturalist groups moved around in what is now the borderlands region of the Sonoran Desert. Fascinating (really)! Free access here: doi.org/10.1017/aaq....

doi.org

Small-Scale Migrations among Early Farmers in the Sonoran Desert | American Antiquity | Cambridge Core

Small-Scale Migrations among Early Farmers in the Sonoran Desert

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

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

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Former brick-makers who did the hard, hot work in the kilns will be there with their families too. To learn about these guys and what the Tucson Pressed Brick Co meant for their lives, check this Field Journal post by Dr. Mike Diehl: desert.com/brickyard/

desert.com

Remembering Quintus Monier and Brickyard Workers – Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources ManagementBlueskyEmail

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Monier family descendants will be in attendance, including, possibly, Quintus' 90-yr-old grandson. Raise a glass and a taco!

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Do you love going to the Mercado San Agustin like we do? Yes! Have you ever wondered why the very handsome Monier Building is named that? Probably! Come to a celebration this Fri (5/23) to eat, drink, and hear Homer Thiel talk about the people who made the bricks that built modern Tucson!

mercadodistrict.com

Honoring Quintus Monier and The Tucson Brick Company Brick-makers – Mercado District

Join us to honor Quintus Monier and The Tucson Brick Company brick-makers who made the bricks that built this city! Friday, May 23rd at 6pm Monier Courtyard, 160 S. Avenida del Convento Remarks b

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Who knew the xkcd guy was a lithic analyst

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

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.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

We're looking for a records specialist to assist the Gila River Indian Community in Sacaton, AZ. You don't have to be an archaeologist for this position, just an organized records keeper who can put up with archaeologists 20-40 hrs/wk. See desert.com/open-positions for the listing.

desert.com

Open Positions – Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources Management

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

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.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

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™️

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

What is the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson, you ask? Sit back and get ready to open nine million tabs for all the fascinating things we have learned about life in 18th + 19th c Spanish, Mexican, and Territorial Tucson. Homer Thiel tells you all the stories here.

desert.com

Search Results for “Presidio” – Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources ManagementBlueskyEmail

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

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. 👷➡️😀

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

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.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Looking for part-time or seasonal cultural resources management work in Arizona? Check desert.com/open-positio... for listings and come work with the best port in any storm.

desert.com

Open Positions – Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources Management

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

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.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Trying to find an archaeology angle here and failing, other than science is: fun (look at figure [d])

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Waiting patiently for @pattmeeples.bsky.social to invite us over to play because helloooooooooooooo

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Not obsidian, but super neat. Not a thing we encounter in Arizona.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Thanks to everyone who came out to celebrate John Douglass. We’re freshly resolved to live our lives such that when we go, 50-odd people come stand in the cold to tell stories and raise a glass in love one last time. See you next time around, friends.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Please join us and Statistical Research Inc this evening at MotoSonora Brewing as we remember John Douglass. We have a corner of the beer garden reserved (with heaters!) and would love for you to come help us celebrate the memory of our friend and colleague. 1015 S. Park, Tucson, 5-7 pm

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Here’s a fun thing for next week: Jim Watson will talk about the earliest farmers in the Tucson Basin, which our work has helped bring to light. Our corner of the desert has been kicking it for 4,000 years, Jim’s a great scientist AND a great presenter, go listen! whiskeydelbac.com/event/8843/

whiskeydelbac.com

Armchair Anthropology – Dr. James T. Watson. – Whiskey Del Bac

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

Thread re: NPS lifting filming restrictions in parks, with a mini-thread on how Navajo mgmt in Canyon de Chelly might help.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

We're here (Tucson), we're there (Tempe), we're every... where (Prescott). Find the mailing address on the website and celebrate our groundbreaking THIRD office by sending our mappers a postcard if you like. desert.com

desert.com

Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources Management – Leading the way in Southwestern cultural resources management since 1982BlueskyEmailFacebookInstagram

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

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.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 21/12/2024

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.

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

AI is not a great choice for rendering images of archaeological best practices or anything really (the unit walls are a mess and the excavators suspiciously clean). Why pay for artificial dreck when you could have quality human-created art? We can do that. desert.com/archaeologic...

desert.com

Archaeological Illustration with Rob Ciaccio: Bringing the Past to Life – Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources ManagementBlueskyEmailFacebookInstagram

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Reposted by Desert Archaeology

Sensory Ecology Lab @sensoryecology.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

“Kids, meanwhile, were apparently shooed off to their own corner of the cave. There, on a flat stretch of wall at toddler’s eye level, children seem to have etched a series of doodles that wouldn’t be out of place in a modern kindergarten class” #scicomm #art www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

science.org

‘Enigmatic’ cave art was made by ice age children

Charcoal doodling appears 14,000 years ago, as adults drew more proficiently nearby

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 12/12/2024

It’s fun when the company holiday party swag reminds us why we come to work here and then usually stick around forever #wecandothat

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 05/12/2024

Isotope analysis used to characterize a Clovis toddler’s mother’s diet ➡️ similar to a scimitar cat (!) ➡️ mammoth all day. 🦣🦣🦣

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 04/12/2024

Welcome new followers and refugees from the other place! You can learn about what we do at desert.com. Be sure to click on the Field & Lab Journal tab to read bite-sized stories about our work in the greater US Southwest, from the oldest field system in N. America to 19th-C intrigue.

desert.com

Desert Archaeology, Inc. | Full-service Cultural Resources Management – Leading the way in Southwestern cultural resources management since 1982BlueskyEmailFacebookInstagram

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Desert Archaeology @desertarch.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Historical archaeology is a big part of what we do, and decades of work under the asphalt in downtown Tucson gave Homer Thiel plenty of material for his new book: Saloons of Tucson, Arizona Territory. Stand in the empty lot across from the train depot and imagine how your night out might have gone.

tucson.com

New book digs deep into saloon history of territorial Tucson

Buy a round for local historical archaeologist Homer Theil, who just published the definitive history of Tucson saloons during the territorial period.

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