Set aside time this weekend to visit the annual Hummingbird Festival hosted by the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. The event is free and open to the public from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM on both Saturday, July 30 and Sunday, July 31. Get there early to watch how - and why - ornithologists band the wee hummingbirds; or mosey in at any other time to browse the vendors, and dine on all kinds of goodies. Directions, contact info and other details are here on the MCHS website.

Bonus: the GCAS will have a variety of gently-used archaeology- and anthropology-related books and periodicals for sale in the GCAS library in the ground floor of the historic Wood House. All proceeds go toward replacing books that have been damaged or gone missing from the GCAS library in past years. Please come and help improve our research library while you enjoy the rest of the Festival!

/s/ webmaster

Saturday, July 23, 2022, 11:00AM at downtown Silver City's Silco Theater, 311 Bullard Street - free to the public: it's The Meaning of Things, this month's installment of the Community Conversation program cosponsored by the Silver City Museum and the Western Institute for Lifelong Learning. Featured speaker Dani Romero, Director of the WNMU Museum, will describe the history of Mimbreño pottery and its cultural connotations to Southwest New Mexico. Afterwards audience members are invited to join a Community Conversation on how objects can be expressions of cultural identity. Attendees are encouraged to bring objects from home that have personal relevance to them and to share their stories in “The Meaning of Things.”

Born and raised in Southern California, Danielle spent the last 11 years in Nevada managing archaeological collections and working for the State Historic Preservation Office. A PhD candidate at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas focusing on Mimbres pottery and how it informs prehistoric interaction, Dani spent most of her summers for the past 9 years in the Mimbres Valley/Silver City working on various field projects before accepting the directorship of Silver City's WNMU Museum. The WNMU Museum is home to the NAN Ranch Collection: the largest and most complete collection of Mimbres materials in existence from a single prehistoric Mimbres site, and the largest and most comprehensive permanent interpretative exhibition of Mimbres pottery and artifacts in the world.

Wednesday, July 20, 2022, 7:00PM: The GCAS monthly in-person general meeting congregates at the Roundup Lodge in San Lorenzo (Mimbres Valley). Start at 6PM with your own plates/utensils/beverage & a dish for yourself or to share. Brief general meeting at 6:45 PM. At 7:00 PM sharp we welcome the GCAS's friend Dr. Bob Stokes, chair of ENMU's Archaeology Department, who will present his team's Preliminary Results from ENMU's 2021 Summer Field School at the Mares Rockshelter, a Jornada Mogollon Site along the Lower Rio Grande near Radium Springs.

Big News! Friday, October 7 through Sunday, October 9, 2022, marks the 2022 Southwest Kiln Conference in Silver City, sponsored by the Western New Mexico University Museum under the leadership of museum director Danni Romero. The public is welcome and the conference is free. WNMU will provide outdoor space for firing up of the kilns and the museum will host conference room space for presentations. Attendees will also want to visit the WNMU museum itself, which includes the largest and most complete collection of Mimbres materials in existence from a single prehistoric Mimbres site, and the largest and most comprehensive permanent interpretative exhibition of Mimbres pottery and artifacts in the world. Read on for more details:

"The Southwest Kiln Conference attracts a diverse group of people with a shared interest in better understanding prehistoric southwestern pottery. Expect to meet potters who work in a variety of ceramic traditions, making replicas of Anasazi, Hohokam and Mogollon pottery. The conference will offer glimpses of the entire process from collecting raw clay, to forming pots and of course firing. All are welcome and the conference is free and open to the public."