Our Latest Acquisition

NEXT MEETING: 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. 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: "The stratigraphic and geomorphic contexts, and ultimately the chronometric determinations, at White Sands Locality-2 (WHSA-2) are topics of controversy that stem from conflicting interpretations of the processes that deposited the Ruppia cirrhosa (Ruppia) seeds within the paleo-Lake Otero footprint site....[O]ur interpretation depicts the shoreline as an unstable, dynamic lake margin to which Ruppia seeds...were transported from deep-water, offshore growth beds during storm events and deposited on the lake shore in seed balls. These unusual aggregates, known to mix seeds of wide-ranging ages, were gradually broken apart by several cycles of wave action and erosion and redeposited in layers....[W]e will delve into both the ecology and the depositional context of Ruppia and discuss why the Ruppia seeds at paleo-Lake Otero are problematic materials for radiocarbon dating." Check out Dave's and Tierra Vieja Consulting's YouTube videos (links are on our Events page) and bring your questions for him!

NEXT FIELD TRIP: TBA - watch this space and your newsletters for details as they develop.

Papas Nativas: Native Potatoes

GCAS Membership Dues Increase Imminent

Our Latest Acquisition

05/25/2020

A few months ago in the pre-COVID-19 days when the world was young, a majority of the GCAS general membership approved the pre-publication purchase of a special volume for the GCAS Library. We are thrilled to now add to our research library, The Vidal Site: An Isolated Great Kiva in Heaton Canyon Near Gallup, New Mexico.

Published by the Archaeological Society of New Mexico and edited by Frances Joan Mathien, this compelling book (ASNM Special Publication Series No. 7) comprises reports of the surveys, excavations, and materials analyses directed by Richard A. Bice and Phyllis S. Davis at the Vidal Site from 1979 through 1993.

The book explains that the Vidal Site was located within an agricultural community who farmed the Heaton Canyon area during the Pueblo I period (about 750CE-900CE) through the Early Pueblo III period (about 1150CE). The most prominent feature of the Vidal Site may be its isolated great kiva (shown on the photo of the book's cover), determined to have been constructed during the early 1100s. Many structures at the site, including the great kiva itself, were built upon and superimposed on earlier structures. Throughout the greater area of Heaton Canyon, archaeologists have found evidence of at least 83 other sites associated with Vidal's great kiva, ranging from one-room habitations to 28-room pueblos.

For the avocational archaeologist who cannot wait for pandemic restrictions to pass before learning more about the Vidal Site via the GCAS Library, visit ASNM's Publications page - scroll down a bit and get a copy for yourself. You'll be glad you did.

/s/ webmaster [photo by M.Smith]

Posted at 06:00 AM in Archaeology, Current Affairs, Education, Puebloan Culture, US Southwest | Permalink | Comments (0)

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