Nevadans for Cultural Preservation

May 2022

NVFCP Executive Director, Rayette Martin and four volunteers joined with Howard Hughes Corp, Tribal monitors from the Las Vegas Band of Paiutes, representatives from Logan Simpson and crew members from Knight and Levitt to "remove" some stubborn old graffiti at petroglyph and pictograph sites outside Las Vegas. We put our muscles, sweat, and hearts into the removal process. NVFCP hopes to do more graffiti restoration projects in the future. 

NVFCP and volunteers provided 80 hours of labor over a three day weekend!

May 2022

Fire Archaeologists: An Introduction to the fire and the role of fire trained archaeologist.

Margaret Hangan, Project Archaeologist, Tonto National Forest

This presentation provided an overview of the need for and the role of fire trained archaeologists on major wildfires.

To watch a recording of this Zoom Webinar click here.

April 2022

NVFCP held a social Meet and Greet at Cheba Hut across from UNLV. We had a great gathering of folks interested in preserving Nevada's heritage. The crowd was about 50/50 archaeologists/non-archaeologists. This was our first in-person social since COVID restrictions started.  

Cheba Hut has provided NVFCP opportunities for fundraising so it was nice to give back to them by enjoying their food and drinks. 

April 2022

NVFCP was invited by the Howard Hughes Corporation to host a booth on April 22 and 23 at the Happy Earth Day Festival in Downtown Summerlin. This event was attended by thousands of people, many of whom did not know that historic trash is protected. We explained how archaeologists use the trash from the past to piece together history. NVFCP created a brochure that included information on how, with population growth and single use items, we need people to reduce, reuse, and recycle. As a way to encourage reuse, we handed out wild sunflower seeds for people to grow in used glass containers. The brochure can be found here. We had a great time speaking with the public and other vendors and educators at the event.

Many thanks to the Howard Hughes Corporation for providing the booth space, printing the handouts, and covering the cost of the sunflower seed packets for this event!

April 2022

Executive Director, Rayette Martin and Volunteer, Brooke Weyandt removed scratched graffiti from an archaeological site at the request of the Bureau of Land Management. The scratched human-like figure was near a number of pictographs (rock painting). The site is seen from the highway so it gets hit with vandalism fairly regularly. NVFCP even made a video of spray paint graffiti removal at the sites in 2021. The video can be seen on NVFCP's YouTube Channel here.

It is important that the public does not try to remove graffiti. Oftentimes well intentioned individuals make the graffiti more difficult to remove and they may not be able to see faded pictographs or petroglyphs (rock pecking). Please report any graffiti at archaeological sites on public lands to the Nevada Site Stewardship Program's online reporting page here.

April 2022

Harry Konwin, Archaeologist, Bureau of Land Management Caliente Field Office

A Brief History of Lincoln County, Nevada.

Folks have been trudging around Lincoln County, Nevada for at least 12,000 years. They have left evidence of their presence from the valleys to the mountains in the high desert terrain. They came here as nomads and some stayed as pioneers. The artifacts range from the stone tools and art of the prehistoric inhabitants to cabins in the woods and ghost towns built by European settlers. In this brief presentation we'll see the span of human subsistence in this still rural landscape.

To watch a recording of this Zoom Webinar click here. 

April 2022

NVFCP, Nevada Site Stewards, and members of the OHV community, worked together to survey and plan for a proposed fence to keep vehicles from accidentally driving over unmarked graves in the Pine Grove Cemetery. Pedestrian access will be encouraged and informational signs will be placed on the fence.

March 2022

Dr. Kevin Rafferty, Professor Emeritus, College of Southern Nevada

Rock art is a resource that has experienced a burst of interest by researchers in the last 30 years. The rock art record of southern Nevada is a rich and varied one, with the experiences and symbolism of multiple cultures and time periods (Archaic, Virgin Anasazi, Patayan, Paiute, etc.) being expressed in numerous locations throughout our local region. This talk will attempt to do four things: 1) present a brief history of rock art research from the 19^th century to the present day; 2) discuss approaches to rock art recording and dating; 3) demonstrate and present the varieties of rock art styles in southern Nevada; and 4) discuss rock art in the context of prehistoric subsistence. 

A recording of this presentation is posted on NVFCP's YouTube Channel. Click here to see the video.

February 2022

Mark Q. Sutton, University of San Diego

It is commonly assumed that people lived in the Mojave Desert full-time over most of the Holocene, apart from the time between 5,000 and 4,000 BP when it is believed that the desert was largely abandoned. Research into Late Holocene adaptations in the Mojave Desert invariably model settlement and subsistence systems to include the presence of permanent or semi-permanent villages or base camps, even though such sites have never been definitively identified.

An examination of the Mojave Desert data unencumbered by the premise of permanent villages suggests that none were present; that during the Late Holocene, the bulk of the Mojave Desert was effectively a large common pool resource zone wherein a large number of resource patches were utilized by a number of upland- or river-oriented groups living along the edges of the desert.

Video link.

January 2022

NVFCP participated in Archaeology Day at the Lost City Museum in Overton. 102 guest to the museum were treated to a variety of hands on activities from a mock excavation to ceramic refitting. There were 40 individuals who volunteered to assist with the booth activities including federal agency archaeologists, advocational archaeology and preservation groups, and university students. NVFCP focused on historic artifacts with a speed dating activity that taught participants about historic vs modern cans. Each year new items make it on the historic artifact list.