People, WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please step up to fill one of the following upcoming vacancies so that the GCAS can keep moving forward with out programs and events. Email Marianne at [email protected] or call her at 772-529-2627 to get details of the activity you aim to take on. It doesn't even have to be one of the following; use your imagination for how you want to contribute to the oldest continuously operating archaeological club in New Mexico!

No experience necessary for any position – we will show you the ropes and provide you with the materials you need to make it work:

Reposting to support the work of our friends at Silver City's WNMU Museum:

Giving to the WNMU Museum will directly impact Western New Mexico University and our community. With your help, we will meet our $5,000 goal to purchase new exhibit cases!

https://donorbox.org/wnmumuseum23

#wnmumuseum

#GivingTuesdaycampaign

Please join GCAS members in helping the WNMU Museum meet their goal by donating at the donorbox link above. They've earned our support!

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David Greenwald of the Jornada Research Institute announces a recent publication of interest to the GCAS and describes the circumstances of its development:

Beginning in the Spring of 2020 (during early Covid), myself and John Groh (JRI Research Associate) were invited to participate in a symposium on communal and ritual locations in the Mogollon region of the Southwest. The impact of Covid on the symposium resulted in delays in submitting and presenting our contribution to the professional community, eventually presenting our contribution as a Zoom talk in the Fall of 2021. John and I prepared a paper on the function of the first documented great kiva in the Tularosa Basin that dates to approximate AD 650 to 725. The discovery of this great kiva is highly significant in itself, but our research also showed that the great kiva served functions beyond that of a community ritual structure, that being as an observatory from which celestial events were monitored (both solar and lunar positions and possibly Venus and bright stars).

Beginning November 25-26, 2023, and continuing into Spring 2024: David Greenwald of the Jornada Research Institute has announced that JRI's excavations will resume at Creekside Village in the Tularosa NM area. Contact Dave Greenwald beforehand to secure his approval to participate, then meet at the wye in Tularosa (junction of US 54/70: the abandoned gas station) at 9:00 AM on November 25 and/or November 26 to carpool to the site. The group plans to focus on the pithouse they have been working on to perhaps remove the last of the fill from the NE quarter of it during these two days in November.  They plan to continue work at Creekside Village until late April ’24 or early May ’24 over most weekends (Greenwald's schedule and weather permitting). Once you are properly vetted, bring a lunch, water layered clothing, gloves, hat, and dust cover. For more details, email Dave Greenwald directly.

Any GCAS members who participate in this opportunity, please let us know so we can follow your progress!

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Yesterday, November 15, 2023, was our annual meeting. Our main order of business was to tally the votes of the GCAS general membership for the five candidates who so kindly volunteered to fill vacancies among our nine-member Board of Directors. We were pleased to count not just in-person votes but also the votes that other members had previously submitted via text, email, and standard mail. We received a total of 18 votes, all approving each of the five candidates; there were no "nays" in the lot. Please congratulate and welcome each of these new board members, who will begin their terms on January 1, 2024:

Eduardo Arguello

Gary Barnett

Bill Hudson

Valerie McCaffrey

Dena Pinson

In order to introduce our newest board members to how the GCAS board functions, we will convene a short informal board meeting of about 15 minutes long, before the 6:00 PM start time of our holiday get-together on December 20. We'll see you there!

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Wednesday, 11/15/2023: Doors will open at 5PM for the GCAS general meeting at 2045 Memory Lane in Silver City. No potluck but light refreshments provided. The usual short business meeting will start at 5:30PM, to be followed immediately by our very own Kyle Meredith, who will present a history of 19^th-Century topographical engineer, cartographer, and explorer Lt. William H. Emory: EMORY IN SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO - If Emory didn't go over Emory Pass, which way did he go? And what was he doing here in Mexico, anyway?

And now, a message from your GCAS president: WE NEED YOUR HELP! Please step up to fill one of the following upcoming vacancies so that the GCAS can keep moving forward with out programs and events. Email Marianne at [email protected] or call her at 772-529-2627 for details of the activity you aim to take on. It doesn't even have to be one of the following; use your imagination for how you want to contribute to the oldest continuously operating archaeological club in New Mexico!

No experience necessary for any position – we will show you the ropes and provide you with the materials you need to make it work:

On November 3, 2023, one of our GCAS members alerted me to a disturbing article that has appeared at least twice in Rock & Gem magazine - most recently on October 30, 2023. The TL;dr is that the article encourages people to loot artifacts on public lands.

The GCAS was impelled to respond:

GOOD NEWS: Thanks to the Society for American Archaeology (SAA), all members of the Council of Allied Societies (CoAS) now have access to the CoAS eCommunity!

Months in the making, all CoAS Society members can now access the CoAS eCommunity on the SAA website. Start by signing up for a free SAA account to access and follow the CoAS media page for Societies and SAA members to post news, items of interest, articles, upcoming opportunities and events. Same ethics and courtesy rules that apply to the CoAS Facebook page will apply within the eCommunity. Join now and become part of the larger discussion and collaborate with SAA members worldwide.

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Members, we’re happy to announce that we have a full slate of candidates to fill the five vacancies we have on the GCAS board. Gary Barnett and Bill Hudson, both current board members whose terms expire at the end of this year, have offered to serve for another term, and Eduardo Arguello, Valerie McCaffrey, and Dena Pinson have each put up their names as candidates. These five good people represent the final slate for our members’ affirmation by the date of our next meeting on November 15, 2023, which is the annual meeting of our general membership.