NEXT MEETING: Saturday, October 21, 2023, at 6:00PM: The GCAS’s general meeting IS RESCHEDULED from the usual third Wednesday of the month to the following Saturday, October 21, 2023, beginning at 6:00PM, for a special meeting and potluck dinner at 2045 Memory Lane in Silver City to welcome visiting members of the GCAS's friends and generous supporters of our MAREC project, the Albuquerque Archaeological Society. GCAS members, please bring your finest potluck dishes to share with about 15 members of AAS who would love to meet you. As we get to know one another, there will be a slideshow presentation of either the Rock House Petroglyph Site, the Dragonfly Petroglyph Site, or both. Join us on Saturday! (In order to offer our members a safe and comfortable experience the GCAS follows CDC and New Mexico Department of Health guidelines for indoor gatherings including masking, distancing, and vaccinations. We recommend all attendees follow the same.

NEXT FIELD TRIP: Sunday, October 22, 2023, at 10:00 AM: Due to lack of a selected destination for the usual field trip on the first Sunday of the month, October's field trip is rescheduled to October 22 when members of the Albuquerque Archaeological Society visit our area. Destination will be either Rock House Petroglyph Site in lower Mimbres Valley (pending permit approval) or Dragonfly Petroglyph Site in Arenas Valley. Watch this space as details develop.

Previous month:
December 2021
Next month:
February 2022

January 2022

Membership Renewal Time Is Here

GoggieIt's 2022 and a terrific time to join the GCAS or renew your membership!

Membership runs from January through December of the current year. Our individual membership is $20 and our family membership is $30. Click through to this page to either renew online via our PayPal link, or to download, print, fill out our Membership form, and send it with a check by mail to: Grant County Archaeological Society, PO Box 1713, Silver City, NM 88062.

Thank you for joining us!

/s/ webmaster


Re-Post: Special Zoom Event on February 5, 2022

Marilyn Markel with Pat GilmanOn February 5, 2022, at 11:30 AM (Arizona/Mountain Standard Time), the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society will present a very special virtual field trip of the Mattocks Site located in Mimbres, New Mexico, at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. This Zoom presentation is free and open to the public but one must pre-register by visiting this page for more info and to follow the link there.

The GCAS's very own Marilyn Markel and Professor Emerita Pat Gilman, the supervising archaeologist for the 1970s Mattocks Site excavation, will lead the virtual tour through the site itself and the adjacent museum, while discussing the site's history and the future opportunities it offers for local educational programs and archaeological research facilities.

Register now, and we will see you there!

/s/ webmaster


Avian Archaeology via Archaeology Southwest's Free Zoom Series

Chaco entradaOur friends at Archaeology Southwest continue with their lineup of FREE online Zoom presentations for their Avian Archaeology season. Set some dates and register soon for one or more of the following:

February 1, 2022, 6:00PM MST: “The Importance of Birds in Chaco Canyon” presented by Katelyn Bishop (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). More info and registration here.

Continue reading "Avian Archaeology via Archaeology Southwest's Free Zoom Series" »


Special Zoom Event on February 5, 2022!

Marilyn Markel with Pat GilmanOn February 5, 2022, at 11:30 AM (Arizona/Mountain Standard Time), the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society will present a very special virtual field trip of the Mattocks Site located in Mimbres, New Mexico, at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. This Zoom presentation is free and open to the public but one must pre-register by visiting this page for more info and to follow the link there.

The GCAS's very own Marilyn Markel and Professor Emerita Pat Gilman, the supervising archaeologist for the 1970s Mattocks Site excavation, will lead the virtual tour through the site itself and the adjacent museum, while discussing the site's history and the future opportunities it offers for local educational programs and archaeological research facilities.

Register early, and we will see you there!

/s/ webmaster


Online Via Zoom: Our January 19, 2022, Featured Speaker, David Greenwald

DGreenwaldWednesday, January 19, 2022, 7:00 PM via Zoom: GCAS general meeting features speaker David Greenwald of the nonprofit Jornada Research Institute. Dave will present Archaeoastronomy of the Great Kivas in Tularosa Canyon and describe how his and John Groh's recent studies - most comprehensively at Creekside Village but also at the Great, Great Kiva Site and the Twin Kivas Site - show that great kivas in Tularosa Canyon were used as celestial observatories tied to landmarks and horizon features to monitor the annual cycle of the sun, lunar cycles, and possibly cycles of other celestial objects.

David Greenwald has been an archaeologist for over 45 years. He has spent most of his career conducting cultural resource management projects in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and West Texas. Beginning his career at the Museum at Texas Tech University, he later joined the Archaeology Department at Arizona State University to work on various Hohokam sites in the Phoenix Basin. For several years during the 1980s he worked on Anasazi, Mogollon and Hohokam excavation projects while at the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff and continuing his graduate work at Northern Arizona University. Dave served for three years on the Dolores Archaeological Program for the University of Colorado in the Mesa Verde area on what became the largest archaeological excavation project in the United States. In 2001 he and his wife, Dawn, started Four Corners Research, a consulting firm headquartered in Tularosa, New Mexico. Living along the Rio Tularosa, Dave's interest in the area's archaeological richness led to his founding of the Jornada Research Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to ongoing research of our cultural and natural resources while engaging the public to appreciate the significance of archaeological sites. Dave serves as the President of the Jornada Research Institute and Director of the Rio Tularosa Research Program.

Look for the Zoom link in your email a few days before the Zoom meeting, then join us online at about 6:45 PM to get settled. Dave will begin his talk at 7:00 PM sharp. We'll see you there!

 

/s/ webmaster


Our 2022 Officers and Board of Trustees

LecturingAnnouncing our current slate of GCAS officers! You will see a couple of open positions this year, so please consider stepping up to maintain the strong bullpen we've had!

  • President:                            OPEN
  • Vice President:                     Marilyn Gendron
  • Treasurer:                            Lee Brown
  • Secretary:                            William Hudson
  • Program Chair:                     Marilyn Gendron
  • Field Trip Coordinator:         OPEN
  • Newsletter:                           Bill Dixon (editor), Kyle Meredith (distribution)
  • Membership:                         Lee Brown, Kyle Meredith

Our current Board of Trustees:

Continue reading "Our 2022 Officers and Board of Trustees" »


Happy 2022 To All!

CheersThe Grant County Archaeological Society wishes everyone a Happy and Most Auspicious New Year - and what better way to start 2022 right, than by renewing your GCAS membership?

Membership runs from January through December of the current year. Our individual membership is $20 and our family membership is $30. Click through to this page to either renew online via our PayPal link, or to download, print, fill out our Membership form, and send it with a check by mail to: Grant County Archaeological Society, PO Box 1713, Silver City, NM 88062.

Thank you for joining us in 2022!

/s/ webmaster