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NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, September 18, 2024, 6:00PM: the GCAS in-person monthly meeting begins with the last potluck of the summer at the Roundup Lodge in San Lorenzo (Mimbres Valley). As usual bring your own plates & utensils, and a dish for yourself or to share. A brief business meeting follows at about 6:45PM, after which we will welcome our Featured Speaker, Allen Denoyer, preservation archaeologist at Archaeology Southwest in Tucson, Arizona. Allen will use examples from his years of experimental archaeology projects to introduce us to the wonderful world of MUD, ranging from how mud is utilized in pithouse construction, to excavations of mud-built agricultural fields, to the amazing impressions that can be found in prehistoric mud. Join us!

NEXT FIELD TRIP: We defer a September field trip due to conflict with the Labor Day holiday. From Thursday, October 3 through Saturday, October 5, 2024, in lieu of the GCAS's typical monthly field trip we encourage GCAS members to attend the 22d annual Mogollon Conference in Silver City. The WNMU Museum at Fleming Hall will host a complimentary reception for attendees on the evening of October 3 before the two-day conference gets underway on Friday and Saturday at the Bessie Forward GRC on the WNMU campus. Registration for the conference is $45/person until September 19; thereafter $55/person. BUT: special offer to GCAS members! The Museum needs 3-4 volunteers to help with registration at the conference and would waive the registration fee for those folks! Contact Museum Director Danni Romero to volunteer; check the Mogollon Conference website for all other info including fees for the October 4 banquet and the Sunday, October 6 Mimbres Foundation reunion at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site in Mimbres NM from 10:00 AM-12:00PM noon. Join the alumni at the Mattocks Site where they spent four seasons of archaeological excavations in the mid-1970s. A tour of the archaeological site and the historic buildings is planned for the morning, with light refreshments on offer. Everyone is welcome to attend by reservation only with a contribution of $5 per person to offset expenses of refreshments and supplies. For preliminary details and to reserve a spot, Email the GCAS to sign up for the reunion only; or instead register for this reunion when signing up for the rest of the Mogollon Conference.

GCAS 2024 Field Trip To Treasure Hill
Last Call to Join an International Archaeological Tour

GCAS August 2024 Field Trip To Treasure Hill

08/05/2024

IMG_20240804_103935204_HDRcopy IMG_20240804_101346351_HDROn a very warm and sunny Sunday, August 4, 2024, twenty one members of the Grant County Archaeological Society (GCAS), coming from as far away as El Paso, Texas, gathered together to explore the Archaeological Conservancy’s Treasure Hill site located in our very own Arenas Valley. Archaeologists consider this Late Pithouse-to-Mimbres Classic site (roughly 550 CE – 1130 CE), comprising a total of 100 rooms in 6 room blocks plus an additional 24 outlying sites, to have been the largest Mimbres community in the middle Rio de Arenas/Whiskey Creek watershed. Unfortunately Treasure Hill, like so many other Mimbres sites, has suffered heavy looting from the late 19th Century to the present. A major road and residential development surround it and it has accumulated windblown trash as well as garbage carried in by unauthorized visitors.Consequently...

IMG_20240804_104931429copy IMG_20240804_103602216_HDR...the GCAS volunteered to combine their scheduled field trip to the site with a trash pick-up. Our group spent 1-1/2 hours exploring the prehistoric structures' remains and learning the more recent history of site ownership. Nevertheless everyone was all business the whole time and removed accumulated garbage as they walked from room block to room block.

Starting to gather the trash bags IMG_20240804_103931646_HDR

 Results: 21 volunteers x 1-1/2 hours = 30.5 volunteer hours on behalf of the Archaeological Conservancy. Our group filled 15 garbage bags with an estimated total of 150 pounds of garbage collected. The GCAS's own Gary Barnett trucked the trash to our local landfill - thank you, Gary!

After our combination field trip/work party, those of us still surviving the August temperatures descended on the nearby Whiskey Creek Zocalo for noontime hydration and nutrition. Good times were had at indoor tables and out under the shade trees. The Zocalo managed our large group with ease - thank you, Melanie and staff!

For this first combination field trip/work party, we combed Treasure Hill along its eastern perimeter. There are an additional 13 acres that need to be explored to update site information as well as garbage pick-up, so if you were unable to join us this time you will certainly have other opportunities. This site needs our tender loving care and the Archaeological Conservancy as well as the archaeologists who have studied Treasure Hill in past years would be grateful for our support.

Thank you to all participating GCAS members for your work under the hot sun on August 4 - you all did great!

/s/ webmaster

Posted at 06:15 PM in Archaeology, Art Trafficking-Looting-Vandalism, Current Affairs, Field Trips, Get Involved, Join Us, Mimbres-Mogollon | | Comments (0)

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