Fill your calendar by scrolling down through all these upcoming events. Plan ahead but be mindful that any of the following events may be postponed or cancelled on very short notice as we emerge from the coronavirus pandemic.
Watch this Events Page to learn when conditions allow our GCAS general meetings to resume in-person. In the meantime please enjoy our online meetings via Zoom.
Please join our current supporters and contribute to the GCAS's ongoing priority project, the Mimbres Archaeological Research and Education Center (MAREC) in the historic Wood House at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. The GCAS has completed our portion of the structure's rehabilitation and we are now working in our newly-furnished library and lab/workroom. We welcome donations in any amount so that we may continue expanding and improving our resource materials and educational programs. Learn about the beginnings of our project here, and make your donations either online or by standard mail here. [Photo: Mattocks Site/Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. Wood House, center. © Mitchell Clinton, Mitchell Clinton Photography. All Rights Reserved.]
2022: Start the New Year right by joining the GCAS or renewing your membership! GCAS 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!
2022 and continuing: Ron Barber, creator of the Stone Calendar Project, has been studying rock art sites throughout the Southwest and Northern Mexico identifying glyphs that mark specific times of the year using unique light and shadow interactions. He has some survey predictions for glyphs along the Gila Narrows and other southern sites and is looking for volunteers to help in further research. Anyone who is interested in spending time in the field recording/filming calendar sun light interactions in the region, please contact Ron directly at barbers6@aol.com . Click here for more of Ron's background.
February 1, 2022, 6:00PM MST: “The Importance of Birds in Chaco Canyon” presented by Katelyn Bishop (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). FREE online via Zoom and the folks at Archaeology Southwest. More info and registration here.
February 5, 2022, 11:30 AM (Arizona/Mountain Standard Time), FREE via Zoom: 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 presentation is 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!
Friday, February 5, 2022 at 6:30PM via Zoom: Dave Greenwald of the nonprofit Jornada Research Institute reprises his January talk to the GCAS regarding his and his team's latest research regarding the Archaeoastronomy of the Great Kivas in Tularosa Canyon. As before, Dave will 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. Q&A follows the talk.THIS EVENT IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR JRI MEMBERS BUT IT'S EASY TO JOIN AND SUPPORT THIS IMPORTANT ORGANIZATION. Membership is good for one year from the time of receipt of payment. As an alternative to the JRI membership form, individuals may use the JRI website's Donate page to either donate or pay membership dues [or perhaps both - gcas webmaster]. JRI membership perks include newsletters, periodic updates from Dave Greenwald himself, and a new Zoom format for lectures by JRI researchers as well as by invited speakers from around the globe and from various fields of study.
Wednesday, February 16, 2022, 6:45/7:00PM via Zoom: It's the GCAS's regularly scheduled monthly general meeting, featuring Cody Dalpra M.A., R.P.A., District Archaeologist for the Las Cruces District Office of the Bureau of Land Management. Cody will discuss Landscapes of the Past American Southwest: Cultural Meaning from Ethnographic Viewshed Analysis. Cody describes,
"The importance of landscapes archaeologically is a frequently discussed, yet often overlooked line of evidence. The natural landscapes that surround us assist in the formation of individual worldviews and become integral to group cosmologies. Humans tend to attach strong social meanings to visually prominent landforms. The American Southwest is a region where landscape focused research can involve both natural and cultural aspects due to the vast ethnographic record and collaboration with modern Native American Puebloan populations. This is amplified in combination with the variable striking landscape containing mesas, canyons, deserts, and mountains. This presentation will present research completed on Ancestral Puebloan sites at Petrified Forest National Park in northeast Arizona, in addition to a discussion of the importance of the prominent landforms in southern New Mexico for settlement and mobility patterns prior to the completion of the railroad in A.D. 1881."
Cody Dalpra M.A., R.P.A. is a District Archaeologist for the Las Cruces District Office of the Bureau of Land Management. Experienced in academic, contract, and federal archaeology, Cody has worked across the West since 2005. Originally from northern Colorado, landscapes have greatly influenced his life contributing to this research. Other archaeological research interests include lithic stone tool analysis in addition to settlement and mobility. Outside of archaeology Cody enjoys hiking with his dog and generally enjoying the outdoors.
Please look for your email with your Zoom link to the GCAS meeting about a week before Cody's presentation. On the day of the meeting hop online about 6:45 PM to get settled; Cody will begin his presentation at 7PM sharp. Come join us to learn about different ways to see the landscapes around us!
March 1, 2022, 6:00PM MST: “Birds, Feathers, and Ancient Pueblo Pottery” featuring Kelley Hays-Gilpin (Northern Arizona University and Museum of Northern Arizona). FREE online via Zoom and Archaeology Southwest. More info and registration here.
April 5, 2022, 6:00PM MST: “A Rafter of Burials: Sapa’owingeh Turkey Interments” offered by Rachel Burger (Southern Methodist University). FREE online via Zoom and Archaeology Southwest. More info and registration here.
May 3, 2022, 6:00PM MST: Archaeology Southwest closes their Avian Archaeology season with "Birds of the Sun: Macaws, Parrots, and People" - presented by Christopher W. Schwartz (Arizona State University), Patricia A. Gilman (University of Oklahoma) and Stephen Plog (Professor Emeritus, University of Virginia). FREE online via Zoom. More info and registration here.
Through August 4, 2022: "Woven Through Time: American Treasures of Native Basketry and Fiber Art" at the Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson. Details here.
There are even more online and in-person events happening all over the place. Make it a regular habit to check out what the following organizations offer the avocational archaeologist:
American Rock art Research Association (ARARA)
The Amerind Museum
Archaeological Society of New Mexico
Archaeology Southwest: Things To Do, and More Things To Do
As a member of the Council of Allied Societies, the GCAS receives the CoAS monthly newsletter. The most recent CoAS newsletters are available by scrolling down to the bottom-most right-hand sidebar entitled "Council of Allied Societies Newsletter Archives" on this page. For further CoAS doings, visit their Facebook page and check out their directory of links to member organizations' newsletters and publications.
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center: Programs, Research, and Education
El Paso Museum of Archaeology
Jornada Research Institute
Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project: Events, Mesa Talks Lecture Series, Chats with the Archaeologist, and Tours
Considering a visit to the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site? Check for events; to confirm tours and museum access telephone the MCHS directly at 575.536.3092 or 307.640.3012.
Old Pueblo Archaeology Center: Events and Programs
Southwest Kiln Conference
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