NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, May 21, 2025, CANCELLED NOTE THE 5:00 PM START TIME at the WNMU Museum: This special monthly GCAS meeting is the GCAS's annual fundraiser for the WNMU Museum, with which we are so closely allied. Dr. Patricia (Pat) Gilman will be our honored presenter explaining, What Are Tropical Macaws Doing in Mimbres Sites? Watch this space for the date and topic of our next meeting.

NEXT FIELD TRIP: Sunday, June 1, 2025. The GCAS’s next field trip – WEATHER PERMITTING - will visit the Twin Pines site in the upper Mimbres Valley where we will have the opportunity to see directing archaeologist Fumi Arakawa and his crew’s work. This is Gila National Forest land with Mimbres habitations built on top of pithouses and a great kiva. Some petroglyphs are nearby. Access is slow going along rocky roads but high-clearance or 4WD vehicles are not required. However, the trip to Twin Pines takes about 2.5-3 hours from Silver City driving up the Mimbres Valley and into the west side of the Black Range; or about 2.5 hours driving from Truth or Consequences through the east side of the Black Range on an easier road. Overnight camping (boondocking, no amenities) may be available near the Beaverhead Work Center. GCAS members will meet at the Beaverhead Work Center on NM Hwy 59 at 11:00 AM on June 1. To protect this sensitive site, interested GCAS members should contact Marianne at [email protected] for more specific directions.

Site Preservation 101
GCAS Field Trip to San Diego Mountain: the Three-Fish Site

Interactive Digs for the Armchair Archaeologist

Memoskull melisa frenchSometimes we avocational archaeologists are keen to participate in an official archaeological excavation but cannot afford the fees nor tolerate a month's tent-camping in hot, pestiferous conditions. Or possess the gear and the nerves of steel to scuba dive in a pitch black cenote. [Photo by Melisa French via Archaeology Magazine.]

Well, look no further than the Interwebs for the solution! The Archaeological Institute of America and Archaeology Magazine come out of cyberspace to bring you Interactive Digs - a place where, from the climate-controlled splendor of your own Internet connection you can - as the AIA describes:

Follow an excavation project as it happens. Interactive Digs are an opportunity to see an excavation unfold in real time. Archaeologists post regular updates from the field, answer questions, and describe life on a dig.

Current excavations (or those recently completed) have investigated sites in Crete, Ireland, Italy, Ohio, and Suriname. Closer to our own region, past excavations included sites in Arizona, Belize, Veracruz, Mexico, and cenote diving in Yucatan, Mexico (see above). Follow your favorite archaeologist's team online in the off season when local volunteer opportunities are scarce!

/s/ webmaster

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