Tara Beresh (M.A., 2019) is a Registered Public Archaeologist and Curator and Collections Manager for the Moab Museum in Moab, Utah. She specializes in the archaeology of the northern American Southwest/Colorado Plateau and prehispanic perishables of the Jornada Mogollon region of southern New Mexico. She interned previously for excavations at Chaco Culture National Historic Park and analyzed hundreds of materials from Feather Cave at the Maxwell Museum of Anthropology in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Central to her current role is engaging in active consultation with regional Native American tribes and developing institutional standards which prioritize primary source storytelling. She is a member of the Utah Collections Preservation Team, assisting rural museums in elevating their standards for collection care in the state of Utah. She serves on the Utah State Historic Preservation Board, the Grand County Historic Preservation Commission, and the Utah Professional Archaeological Council's Tribal Relations Committee.
“Small Museum, Big Stories” is the adopted brand for the Moab Museum, a recently remodeled and ... more “Small Museum, Big Stories” is the adopted brand for the Moab Museum, a recently remodeled and revitalized rural, non-profit institution nestled in the southeastern Utah town of Moab. In 2018, the Moab Museum shifted to a new strategy for engaging with the public through in-depth and authentic storytelling, rather than prioritizing the quantity of objects exhibited over contextual information. Its succinct mission statement to “share stories” requires that within the building staff are busy developing programming and interpretive aspects to carry out this goal. Needless to say, it demands substantial resources to support a non-profit organization with the humble vision to “change how we see the world around us, from here to beyond, for everyone who calls here home or is just passing through, building pride, compassion and humility along the way” (Moab Museum, 2021). This paper highlights the challenges rural museums face using the Moab Museum as a case study. Rural museums, like the Moab Museum, house some of the most valuable and irreplaceable historic objects of our nation’s history, many of which trusting community donors and founding families provided, but they often lack the necessary resources to care for these collections in a manner consistent with the best practices required by accredited museum standards. Additionally, rural museums lack the professionals experienced in tribal consultation and community outreach principles, a gap that can easily result in damage to an institution’s reputation beyond its ability to preserve material collections. These practices, among others, require trained and educated staff and contractors, archival quality materials, and controlled storage environments, as well as the maintenance of a consistent revenue stream from their audiences and sustaining donors. Given that rural museums contain many rare objects from the nation’s history, they have the potential to preserve, protect, and share American history as well as to educate and inspire the public in a greater capacity when key stakeholders value and support them.
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SANDALS FROM FEATHER CAVE AND SIMILAR SITES IN SOUTH-CENTRAL NEW MEXICO, 2020
Perishable materials (artifacts manufactured from animal and plant fibers) associated with prehis... more Perishable materials (artifacts manufactured from animal and plant fibers) associated with prehistoric habitation in the North American Southwest are an invaluable resource for archaeological research (Hyland 1997:1). In particular, sandals constructed from plant fibers may contribute to an understanding of cultural group origins, migration patterns and social interaction/band cultural transmission (Geib 2000:509). Numerous caves and rockshelter sites across the North American Southwest have yielded a variety of sandal types, their dry spaces providing the arid climate necessary to preserve plant and animal-based artifacts. In this paper, I examine the possibility of association between prehistoric cultural groups by analyzing the presence of fishtail and scuffer-toe type footwear from caves in the Upper Gila and Jornada Mogollon areas in New Mexico and Texas. Sandals have been defined as "fiber-based interworked footgear generally fabricated via plaiting or twining techniques" (Hyland, 2003:176). Data collected from sandals such as stylistic attributes and "type" suggest differing group identity, geographical themes, and/or sandal/site usage for temporary and permanent inhabitants of Feather Cave and others.
Along the Frontier of La Jornada: Proceedings from the 22nd Jornada Mogollon Conference, 2023
An extensive archaeological and ethnographic record provides considerable evidence for the profou... more An extensive archaeological and ethnographic record provides considerable evidence for the profound role of caves and the underworld in the cosmovision of Indigenous peoples in the United States Southwest and northwest Mexico and some adjacent areas. Although researchers have identified dozens of caves and earth openings across the American Southwest/Mexican Northwest as shrines, the two sites that arguably best define this pattern belong to the adjacent Jornada Mogollon and Sierra Blanca regions: Ceremonial Cave near El Paso, Texas, and Feather Cave near Lincoln, New Mexico. Publications by the Cosgroves on the former (1947) and Ellis and Hammack on the latter (1968) defined a paradigm of ritual cave use related to ancestors and chthonic deities that operated throughout much of the Americas. In this, they largely anticipated the more recent conclusions of Mesoamerican Cave Archaeology, which has become a thriving subdiscipline over the last generation. The ongoing study of Jornada Mogollon cave shrines, including important rock art sites such as Surratt Cave, Picture Cave, and Centipede Cave; of legacy collections; and of speleothems (cave minerals) recovered from surface sites has the potential to provide valuable insights not only into prehistoric cosmovision, but also into perishable technologies and settlement patterns over a large region and a period spanning at least four millennia.
“Small Museum, Big Stories” is the adopted brand for the Moab Museum, a recently remodeled and ... more “Small Museum, Big Stories” is the adopted brand for the Moab Museum, a recently remodeled and revitalized rural, non-profit institution nestled in the southeastern Utah town of Moab. In 2018, the Moab Museum shifted to a new strategy for engaging with the public through in-depth and authentic storytelling, rather than prioritizing the quantity of objects exhibited over contextual information. Its succinct mission statement to “share stories” requires that within the building staff are busy developing programming and interpretive aspects to carry out this goal. Needless to say, it demands substantial resources to support a non-profit organization with the humble vision to “change how we see the world around us, from here to beyond, for everyone who calls here home or is just passing through, building pride, compassion and humility along the way” (Moab Museum, 2021). This paper highlights the challenges rural museums face using the Moab Museum as a case study. Rural museums, like the Moab Museum, house some of the most valuable and irreplaceable historic objects of our nation’s history, many of which trusting community donors and founding families provided, but they often lack the necessary resources to care for these collections in a manner consistent with the best practices required by accredited museum standards. Additionally, rural museums lack the professionals experienced in tribal consultation and community outreach principles, a gap that can easily result in damage to an institution’s reputation beyond its ability to preserve material collections. These practices, among others, require trained and educated staff and contractors, archival quality materials, and controlled storage environments, as well as the maintenance of a consistent revenue stream from their audiences and sustaining donors. Given that rural museums contain many rare objects from the nation’s history, they have the potential to preserve, protect, and share American history as well as to educate and inspire the public in a greater capacity when key stakeholders value and support them.
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF SANDALS FROM FEATHER CAVE AND SIMILAR SITES IN SOUTH-CENTRAL NEW MEXICO, 2020
Perishable materials (artifacts manufactured from animal and plant fibers) associated with prehis... more Perishable materials (artifacts manufactured from animal and plant fibers) associated with prehistoric habitation in the North American Southwest are an invaluable resource for archaeological research (Hyland 1997:1). In particular, sandals constructed from plant fibers may contribute to an understanding of cultural group origins, migration patterns and social interaction/band cultural transmission (Geib 2000:509). Numerous caves and rockshelter sites across the North American Southwest have yielded a variety of sandal types, their dry spaces providing the arid climate necessary to preserve plant and animal-based artifacts. In this paper, I examine the possibility of association between prehistoric cultural groups by analyzing the presence of fishtail and scuffer-toe type footwear from caves in the Upper Gila and Jornada Mogollon areas in New Mexico and Texas. Sandals have been defined as "fiber-based interworked footgear generally fabricated via plaiting or twining techniques" (Hyland, 2003:176). Data collected from sandals such as stylistic attributes and "type" suggest differing group identity, geographical themes, and/or sandal/site usage for temporary and permanent inhabitants of Feather Cave and others.
Along the Frontier of La Jornada: Proceedings from the 22nd Jornada Mogollon Conference, 2023
An extensive archaeological and ethnographic record provides considerable evidence for the profou... more An extensive archaeological and ethnographic record provides considerable evidence for the profound role of caves and the underworld in the cosmovision of Indigenous peoples in the United States Southwest and northwest Mexico and some adjacent areas. Although researchers have identified dozens of caves and earth openings across the American Southwest/Mexican Northwest as shrines, the two sites that arguably best define this pattern belong to the adjacent Jornada Mogollon and Sierra Blanca regions: Ceremonial Cave near El Paso, Texas, and Feather Cave near Lincoln, New Mexico. Publications by the Cosgroves on the former (1947) and Ellis and Hammack on the latter (1968) defined a paradigm of ritual cave use related to ancestors and chthonic deities that operated throughout much of the Americas. In this, they largely anticipated the more recent conclusions of Mesoamerican Cave Archaeology, which has become a thriving subdiscipline over the last generation. The ongoing study of Jornada Mogollon cave shrines, including important rock art sites such as Surratt Cave, Picture Cave, and Centipede Cave; of legacy collections; and of speleothems (cave minerals) recovered from surface sites has the potential to provide valuable insights not only into prehistoric cosmovision, but also into perishable technologies and settlement patterns over a large region and a period spanning at least four millennia.
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