Saturday, April 19, 2025, 10:00AM-3:00PM at Gough Park in Silver City,NM: celebrate Earth Day, hosted by the Continental Divide Trail Days/Continental Divide Trail Coalition, at the GCAS educational booth. We're asking for 3 or more GCAS members to help set up, run, and/or close out our booth during this event. Volunteer for a couple hours or all day. No experience necessary to show the public what the GCAS does - we'll have plenty of brochures, games, and selected artifacts on display as well as used books for sale to support our GCAS library. Contact Marianne by email or telephone/text to 772-529-2627 to offer your help!

/s/ webmaster

Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 6:00 PM at 2045 Memory Lane in Silver City, New Mexico. The GCAS's next monthly IN-PERSON ONLY meeting features speaker geoarchaeologist Dave Rachal PhD of Tierra Vieja Consulting in Las Cruces NM. Dave has been involved in some YouTube interviews that discuss various aspects of geoarchaeology, site formation processes related to the formation of ancient footprints and megafauna tracks, and the peopling of the New World. This evening Dave will describe to us the issues surrounding the specific data sets that scientists are applying to the ancient human footprints recently found at White Sands National Park. Doors open at 6:00 PM with light refreshments on offer. Socializing and a brief-to-nonexistent business meeting will immediately precede Dave's presentation of: How Did The Seeds Get There? Ruppia cirrhosa Ecology, Depositional Context and Accurate Radiocarbon Dating at White Sands:

Fill your calendar with a number of adventures on offer by the Jornada Research Institute. Consider any or all of the following:

Tuesday, April 15, 2025: sponsored by the Jornada Research Institute, Joan E. Price, MFA and JRI Research Associate, presents her most recent studies, MONEY RUNS UPHILL:THE PRIVATIZATION OF A COMMONWEALTH IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. This presentation explores the cultural history of Tularosa, a Mexican American "acequia democracy" known for its equitable water irrigation and traditional settlement practices. It examines the ethnic conflicts and rapid cultural assimilation during the New Mexico Territorial Era (1848-1912), within the ambiguous relationship with the U.S. military presence and American capitalists who eventually gained control of the Rio Bonito, Rio Tularosa and the streams along the west slopes of the Sacramento Mountains. Contact Dave Greenwald for details.

Sunday, April 6, through Tuesday, April 8, 2025: the next GCAS field trip will be a long weekend exploring Hopi petroglyphs, two archaeological sites, and a regional museum in the Lyman Lake State Park/Springerville AZ area. Lyman Lake features an easy loop trail of about 1/2 mile to petroglyph panels encircling a small hill overlooking the lake; and a well-interpreted, easy-access archaeological site at Rattlesnake Point, a quick drive or bike ride from the main campground. We can arrange a get-together on Monday 4/7 to view these 2 sites if people prefer.

Wednesday thru Sunday, April 23-27, 2025, Denver, CO: it's the SAA's 90th annual meeting with forums and presentations galore, including topics like Avocational Archaeology in the Twenty-First Century: Volunteers as Lifelong Learners and Researchers scheduled for Thursday, April 24, 2025: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Plaza, FORUM- Governor's Sq. 12; and Continued Work on the Ray Robinson Collection: The Perishable Assemblages from Bonita Creek Cave Cache and Hackberry Ranch Sites in Southeastern Arizona (Session: Modern Methods in the American Southwest) scheduled for Saturday, April 26, 2025: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Tower, Tower Court B. All registration details, schedules, and updates are here. Denver is lovely in the spring!

/s/webmaster

In addition to the Jornada Research Institute’s ongoing excavations at Creekside Village during the winter 2025 season, the JRI's series of in-person presentations for March 2025 includes:

Tuesday, March 4, in Mountainair: Archaeoastronomy Associations of the Great Kiva at Creekside Village by Dave Greenwald; contact Dave at [email protected] or 575-430-8854 for details of times and specific location.

Wednesday, March 19, in Albuquerque: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act one-day class by Jeffery Hanson; contact Jeffery directly at [email protected] or 817-658-5544 for registration fees and other details.

/s/ webmaster

Friday, May 2, 2025, thru Sunday, May 4, 2025, in Albuquerque NM: it's the annual meeting of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico (ASNM). The theme for 2025 is Archaeology of the Greater Middle Rio Grande Area to include the Rio Grande region from Cochiti to Socorro, Cochiti Reservoir, a portion of the Galisteo Basin, as well as the Salinas Province. While much of the program will be devoted to the Greater Middle Rio Grande, at least one session will be open to papers on topics from every corner of the state.

Sunday, April 6, through Tuesday, April 8, 2025: this GCAS field trip will be a long weekend exploring Hopi petroglyphs, two archaeological sites, and a regional museum in the Lyman Lake State Park/Springerville AZ area. Lyman Lake features an easy loop trail of about 1/2 mile to petroglyph panels encircling a small hill overlooking the lake; and a well-interpreted, easy-access archaeological site at Rattlesnake Point, a quick drive or bike ride from the main campground. We can arrange a get-together on Monday 4/7 to view these 2 sites if people prefer.

The GCAS is thrilled to announce that the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) has awarded their 2025 Robert S. Peabody Institute of Archaeology Award for Archaeology and Education to the GCAS. The Peabody is a $1000 monetary award dedicated to support organizations' programs that educate the public about the importance of preserving and protecting our archaeological resources. The GCAS, a 501c3 public charity, will receive the contribution in mid-2025 after the SAA annual meeting. Hearty thanks go to the Imogen F. Wilson Education Foundation (IFWEF) for their nomination, and to both IFWEF and WNMU Director Danni Romero for their letters of support.

We will certainly put these funds to good use to further the GCAS mission. Thank you, SAA, Dr. Romero, and the GCAS supporters within IFWEF!

/s/ webmaster

Dave Rachal PhD of Tierra Vieja Consulting in Las Cruces New Mexico has linked us to his new 11-minute YouTube video discussion of the complexities surrounding the interpretation of the data collected from the prehistoric footprints found at White Sands National Monument. Dave will be the Featured Speaker at our April monthly meeting so this is a good way to familiarize ourselves with his research. Contact Tierra Vieja Consulting to learn more about geoarchaeology in our region and for links to even more YouTube presentations.

/s/ webmaster