After a significant amount of dedication to archaeological studies and research in southeast Utah, Tom Windes will discuss how turbulent times affected the area’s 13th century settlement and depopulation.
According to a news release, the Hisatsinom Chapter of the Colorado Archaeological Society will present the award-winning archaeologist to discuss the “Hard Times and Mobility in 13th Century Bears Ears National Monument, SE Utah: A Chronometric Climatic Study and More” on Nov. 7 at Cortez’s Methodist Church.
He will talk about his dedicated work and discoveries through his research working in southeast Utah and his focus on how climate should be considered a significant factor during the turbulent times, especially throughout the final years for inhabitants in the late 1200s. Windes claims that “it was not just the drought.”
Archaeologist Dave Dove, with the Hisatsinom Chapter and has worked with Windes, said that the out migration was very complex that caused a lot of different factors.
“It was a time when there was a lot of tumult and people left over a 15 year span,” Dove said. “Drought affects the relationships with everyone around you too, not just the crops.”
Windes has dedicated 40-plus years to archaeological work in the desert Southwest and he’s volunteered as an archaeologist for the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service from 2006 to now, especially in the Bears Ears area.
He’s also worked for NPS at the Chaco Cultural National Historical Park between 1972 and 2006 and the Aztec Ruins from 1972 to currently. Previously, he worked for the BLM in Monticello and Albuquerque.
On top of that, he volunteered and worked as a contract archaeologist for the past 25 years on structural wood documentation and tree-ring sampling.
Throughout his career he published over 120 journal articles and earned many awards for his archaeological work.
The free, public talk will be held at the First United Methodist Church located at 515 Park St., Cortez, CO on Tues., Nov. 7, 2023 at 7 p.m.
