By unanimous vote of the GCAS general membership, on July 1, 2020, our annual dues will increase from $15 (individual) and $25 (household) to $20 (individual) and $30 (household). This is the first time we have increased our dues since 2002 and we are now more in line with the membership fees of our affiliate organizations.

/s/ webmaster

The Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project in Velarde, New Mexico, has adapted their monthly lecture schedule to fit the vagaries of our COVID-19 pandemic. Where appropriate they plan to livestream their lectures so even those of us interested folks down here in the territories can enjoy them. Please remember to double-check all the following dates directly with the MPPP to stay on top of any sudden or last-minute changes. The MPPP announces:

The GCAS is saddened to report that our group's friend and one of our past Featured Speakers, Warren DeBoer, passed away at age 74 on May 24, 2020, in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Our hearts go out to his wife Sara Stinson, his sister Ainsley, and the rest of his family. His family remembers:

"Professor Warren DeBoer joined the Department of Anthropology at Queens College in 1972 and retired in 2012. Universally loved by students, Dr. DeBoer taught Introduction to Archaeology, Peoples of North America, and Archaeology of North America, foundational courses for our anthropology majors, for 40 years.

Samantha Bomkamp, one of only two 2018-2019 Coinman Grant Awards recipients, completed her thesis for her Master's of Science in Anthropology degree at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in May 2020. She kindly sent us a copy of her thesis, entitled "Typological and Iconographic Analyses of Casas Grandes Pottery at the Milwaukee Public Museum," to share with our membership. Click here to read her thesis: Download Bomkamp-Thesis-Casas-Grandes-Pottery-MPM-2020.pdf (15666.2K)

During these uncertain times, we of the GCAS may be unable to gather together for a monthly meeting or field trip but scientific research goes on and it offers us abundant presentations and webinars online to suit the preferences of every avocational archaeologist. Time and space permitting, we list a selection of upcoming online opportunities on our Events page, so please check there from time to time for what's happening now.

Meanwhile, we have some information and a few websites listed below, to get you in the mood for surfing the archaeological waves of the Internet and having some social-distancing fun.

Some minor dusting and cleaning was in order for the photo archives on our GCAS website.

The Gallery page: We've added to the scrolling gallery a couple dozen more photos of GCAS field trips, excavations, and special events. You can enjoy all 58 of them in two different ways: (1) use the arrows on the narrow scroll bar just underneath the string of photos to go back and forth looking at the photos in smaller size. Hovering your cursor over each photo will reveal a short caption; or (2) click on any photo to open it to full-screen size, then hover your cursor over the right-hand or left-hand portion of the photo to reveal a large white triangle/arrow that will take you to the next (or previous) photo in the lineup. Click the tiny black "X" in the far upper right corner of any enlarged photo to return to the Gallery page.

Photo Albums: We included more photos to each of our 7 existing albums. Thanks go to all our GCAS members who have generously contributed their photos of area events, GCAS field trips, and meetings. Please continue! And most recently...

This year's Mogollon Conference is set for Friday, October 23, 2020 thru Saturday, October 24, 2020, in the Student Union building on the University of Arizona campus in Tucson, Arizona. The organizers announce that "This year features some changes, including a no-charge conference dinner hosted by Archaeology Southwest on the evening of October 23 (Friday). We felt that a broadly welcoming approach would allow students a better opportunity to attend the dinner and mix with faculty and the rest of the professional community."

All potential presenters please note that Saturday, August 1, 2020, is the last day to submit an abstract of a paper to the conference coordinators. Click here for submission details, registration info, and more, and consult the announcement and Call for Papers itself: Download 2020 MogCof Call for Papers. Finally, please re-check the Conference website for periodic updates. We'll see you in Tucson!

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The GCAS's very own President, Kyle Meredith, shared some photos of the Springtime Southwestern desert in our May 2020 GCAS newsletter. His photos of his and his companions' trip to the Gila Box in Arizona - at all times mindful of proper pandemic protocols -  are reprised here in case anyone missed them or would enjoy seeing them again. Looking at Kyle's photos, we can smell the exquisite floral scent that we locals know only happens for a few short days when the desert is in full bloom.

The Natives who built that cache in the small overhang in Kyle's photo (far left) must have enjoyed the desert's fleeting Springtime bloom too. We have experiences in common with those who have come before.

Thank you, Kyle, for leading all of the GCAS along on your field trip!

/s/ webmaster [all photos, Kyle Meredith]

On June 3, 2020, the GCAS Board of Trustees submitted a formal comment in opposition to the US Bureau of Reclamation's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which proposes a diversion of the Gila River in the general area of Virden, New Mexico. All of the Bureau of Reclamation's proposed alternatives for river diversion and construction appear certain to damage or destroy a large number of historic and archaeological sites throughout the proposed project area which spans both New Mexico and Arizona.

Our May 2020 GCAS newsletter included a report submitted by one of our friends in the archaeological community, Dave Greenwald, President of the Jornada Research Institute in Tularosa, New Mexico. For those who may have missed it, we re-post it here as a PDF:

Download Tularosa Canyon update 4-2020.