Our GCAS members are not just a group of pretty faces. We have all kinds of skills. Exhibit A is the work of Marilyn Gendron, one of our group's accomplished artists.

At the 2019 annual meeting of the Archaeological Society of New Mexico just past, the GCAS presented our keynote speaker, Pat Gilman, PhD, with a gift in appreciation of her lifelong archaeological research of the Mimbres-Mogollon culture. She received a framed watercolor, "Rabbit Moon," painted by our own Marilyn Gendron. (That's Pat holding Marilyn's painting up over there.)

Marilyn has been a devoted GCAS member for well over a decade, so we've enjoyed her art and design work in many different media. Her painting has been featured on the front page of our community newspaper; her 3D art has appeared in our GCAS calendar; and many of us wear T-shirts bearing her Mimbreño designs. In painting "Rabbit Moon," Marilyn included an extra touch of authenticity to the night sky. Though it may not be visible in the photo here, she explains, "The constellations in that painting are as they were in 1054 when the supernova appeared below the moon near the constellation Taurus. It was 6 times brighter than Venus and was visible for 23 days. The remnants of that supernova I believe became the Crab Nebula....I was trying to picture the sky when that happened here in the valley with the Mimbreños."

Marilyn, thank you for letting us show off one example of your fine work. I imagine Pat has it hanging in a very special place now.

/s/ webmaster [Photo by Marilyn Markel.]

Archaeology Kid’s Camp at MCHS

June 24-25, 2019 - A 2-day overnight archaeology experience.

Kids will learn about archaeology from educators at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site (MCHS) and the Mattocks Ruin Archaeological Site (Day 1) and participate in an archaeology fieldwork project in Mimbres at the Cottonwood Site, Gila National Forest, directed by Dr. Barbara Roth from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (Day 2). Participants will camp overnight at MCHS and have dinner with the field crew. Click here for more details of each day's activities.

MCHS and the Grant County Archaeological Society (GCAS) will provide all meals, tents, sleeping bags, and other camping supplies, water bottles, and all materials and equipment to be used during the archaeology camp.

The camp is free to children of appropriate age and interest (4^th grade - middle school). Parents of project participants will be required to sign assumption of risk waivers, provide health insurance information, provide transportation to and from the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site, and student’s personal items (Bring a pillow, clothes, toothbrush, etc.)

For info and applications contact Marilyn Markel 575-536-9337  [email protected] You can also copy, paste and print the two Application pages by clicking here.

The MCHS Experiential Preservation Project is funded by a Grant County Community Foundation grant and a donation from the Grant County Archaeological Society. This is an MCHS project. Up to 10 students will participate in the Archaeology Kid’s Camp.  Applications must be received by June 7^th. You will be notified of acceptance by June 15^th.

Cobre Schools, Silver Schools, nor any other schools are participants in the archaeology camp project.

/s/ marilyn markel

Allow us a bit of self-congratulation: We of the GCAS were told by many attendees that our hosting of the 2019 ASNM Annual Meeting on April 26 through 28 was a success and that a fine time was had by all. One individual remarked, "...The venue, and papers were both above average by quite a lot. All of the papers were great!" Kudos, then, to all the presenters, and for the GCAS Program Committee for working so hard to gather together such a fine lineup!

The GCAS's very own Marilyn Markel is today's Guest Photographer, bringing us some images from April 28, 2019, when she and Bill Hudson guided ten or so attendees of the 2019 ASNM annual meeting on a field trip to the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site.

Marilyn has been a devoted member of the GCAS for over 18 years but her passion for archaeology has been lifelong. She has served our group in the capacities of Vice President, President, Board member, and more. She is the backbone of our educational outreach programs, introducing the general public but especially local grade school and high school students to the history and cultural heritage of their own home towns.

The 2019 Southwest Kiln Conference will be taking place during the weekend of October 4, 2019 - October 6, 2019 in Globe, Arizona, and everyone is invited. The organizers stress that "...attendance is free and open to the public so come up to Globe and learn about the exciting things being done in the fields of prehistoric pottery replication and experimental archaeology."

On April 27, 2019, the Archaeological Society of New Mexico (ASNM) formally presented four individuals, including the GCAS's favorite Field Trip Coordinator, Greg Conlin, with the Richard A. Bice Achievement Award. This annual award recognizes individuals who have made significant and sustained contributions to advance the purpose of their local archaeological society/organization and the ASNM's goals of documenting, preserving and protecting the archaeological heritage of New Mexico. Nominees do not have to be professional archaeologists, but their achievements and dedication certainly stand out.

In Greg's case, for many years he has been an active member, officer, and Board member of the GCAS. He currently plans and leads our monthly field trips; people may not realize that he actually takes two field trips for every one of ours. He performs reconnaissance of each site shortly before the field trip actually takes place, in order to confirm that our group receives accurate and current road and trail conditions. In addition to all those extra miles, Greg has devoted many years to the New Mexico SiteWatch program, monitoring multiple sites as a Site Steward. Greg joins at least nine other GCAS members who are past Bice Award recipients.

We are proud of you, Greg. Thank you for everything you've done for us!

/s/ webmaster [Photo courtesy of Marilyn Markel]

Torie Grass joins us today to share photos she took on a GCAS field trip to the Rock House Petroglyph Site on April 28, 2019. Torie has been a member and enthusiastic supporter of the GCAS for many years. Most recently, she volunteered her time to help make the April 2019 ASNM annual meeting in Silver City a success.

The Rock House Petroglyph Site is located on New Mexico State Trust Land near a state highway. It sits opposite the Rock House Pueblo Site which fell victim to bulldozers years ago. For years it was known locally as the “Bandito” site because of a large red stereotyped Mexican figure that a vandal had painted over a petroglyph panel. In 2015, the GCAS undertook remediation of the site and safely removed the red barn paint that had defaced the petroglyphs. Torie's photo on the left illustrates a portion of that restored panel. Her photo on the right shows a different area of petroglyphs. In both images, the group demonstrates the preferred Best Practice of taking pictures of ancient symbols without touching or walking on them. When visiting any archaeological site, be as cool as this group is.

Thank you for contributing these photos, Torie!

/s/ webmaster

This here website loves it when our GCAS members join in the blogging fun. Meet today's Guest Photographer, John Fitch.

John has been a member of GCAS for more than 10 years. He grew up in El Paso and worked for 30 years with the Federal Government in the Washington, DC, area before returning to the Southwest in 1995. He has helped with the Cañada Alamosa and other archaeological projects for Human Systems Research in Las Cruces as well as with the Black Mountain and Woodrow Ruin projects for Colorado University.

On Sunday, April 28, 2019, John was one of a group who took advantage of the weekend's ASNM Annual Meeting in Silver City to visit the Kipp Ruin near Deming, New Mexico. This site was first recorded by archaeologists in the early 1900s and is currently owned and managed by the Archaeological Conservancy. Kipp is located on the floodplain of the Mimbres River in Luna County at the eastern edge of the Mimbres region, the northern edge of the Casas Grandes region, and the western edge of the Jornada Mogollon region.

Kipp has pithouse structures that appear to date from 100 BCE to 1000 CE. We see an example of one such structure in John's photo above on the left. Kipp also has a post-1200 CE component that appears to have evidence of all three cultures - Mimbres, Casas Grandes, and Jornada Mogollon - that converged at this location. Evidence includes remnants of Salado polychrome pottery such as the potsherd shown in John's photo over here on the right.

Thank you, John, for sharing your photos with all of cyberspace!

/s/ webmaster

We at the GCAS encourage our readers to travel to Las Cruces some time between now and December 15, 2019, to visit some fine examples of Mimbres ceramics. It would make quite the day trip.

"Living in Sacred Continuum" is an assemblage of Mimbres pottery dating from 1000 CE to 1130 CE, and is now on display at the American Indian Student Center on the New Mexico State University campus in Las Cruces. The exhibit features interpretations of the pottery’s designs by five different Hopi artists with five different points of view. [Photo of the Hopi artists at work - by Atsunori Ito via NMSU. Dr. Arakawa is shown in center background.]