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.

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July 2021

June 2021

MAREC Progress Report - Phase V

MAREC volunteersThis latest installment of our MAREC project finds our volunteers (that's some of them over there on the right) completing smaller, more compartmentalized jobs in between visits by IFWEF’s contractor. He and his crew carried out our request to coat the flat, smooth sheetrock on the lab and library’s ceilings, fireplace encapsulation, and electrical panel with an orange-peel texture so that those surfaces would harmonize with the walls' coarser stucco. We were not disappointed. The results are superb.

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A Couple Quick Virtual Tours of Petroglyphs

MpppThe Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project in Velarde, New Mexico, recently added to their website two short virtual tours of some select petroglyphs under their protection. If you cannot travel to tour Mesa Prieta in person, these virtual tours give you a taste of how unique the site with its 100,000+ petroglyphs truly is. Descriptive text accompanies these virtual images, which can be rotated in 3D for enhanced viewing pleasure. Check out their Heraldic Lions Tour or their Shields and Shield Bearers Tour, then follow the link to their Sketchfab page to have fun with even more 3D petroglyph images!

/s/ webmaster [photo via Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project]


Set the Date: El Paso Museum of Archaeology Reopens June 24!

EPMuseumArchThe El Paso Museum of Archaeology reopens on June 24, 2021, with a new schedule. Anyone can visit from Thursdays through Saturdays, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and admission is free.

The Museum announces that their regular galleries will be open as well as their special exhibition, “From the Edge of Center: The Chacoan Outliers.” Visitors to the special exhibit will enjoy artifacts from the Museum's permanent collection as well as items from the Salmon Ruins near Farmington, New Mexico, on loan from the San Juan County Museum Association.

For more information contact Jeff Romney at 915-755-4332 or [email protected].

Perhaps a GCAS field trip to El Paso is in order?

/s/ webmaster


June 16, 2021: A Momentous Occasion

18 - 2d floor  securedMark your calendars for 6:30 PM on Wednesday, June 16, 2021, to attend the GCAS's first post-pandemic in-person general meeting! Meet at the Roundup Lodge at 91 Acklin Hill Road in Mimbres, New Mexico.  Due to ongoing renovations at the Roundup we must defer our traditional summertime potluck dinner in favor of FINGER FOOD SNACKS ONLY for yourself or to share. Your beverages must be in recyclable containers and there is no cleanup available except for what you can take home yourself or put in the trash.

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In Search Of: Past GCAS Newsletters

View to W GCAS LibraryThe GCAS began in 1928 but we never had a reliable location to shelve our growing Library and Archives. Instead, our group's materials remained in assorted boxes and bins and traveled amongst various GCAS members who stored them at their homes. Thanks to the Imogen F. Wilson Education Foundation (IFWEF), the GCAS Library and Archives finally found a stable home of their own at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site in 2016. Now in 2021, IFWEF and the GCAS are rehabilitating two ground floor rooms of the Heritage Site's Wood House; once the rehab is complete the GCAS will box and bin their materials once again and relocate into those two rooms. There, our Library and Archives will become more accessible and our educational programs will have space for our annual research and experiential workshops.

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