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.

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Our Next Monthly Meeting Features the GCAS's Own Jeff Banfield

Jeff-BanfieldWednesday, September 20, 2023: Join us at our regular monthly meeting as we return to the Roundup Lodge in San Lorenzo (Mimbres Valley) near the junction of Highways 152 and 35 for the last time this year. Potluck starts at 5PM with your own plates/utensils/beverage & a dish for yourself or to share. Brief general meeting will begin at 5:40PM, then at 6PM sharp we welcome our Featured Speaker, GCAS member Jeff Banfield, who will present Hunting for Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloan) Sites in Canyon of the Ancients National Monument. Jeff arrived in the Canyon of the Ancients in an unconventional way: after retiring from the Math Department at Montana State University in 2012, Jeff and Lisa Banfield moved to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) where Lisa taught at an international school. Since returning to the US they have lived in Tucson, Cortez, and now Silver City. Jeff tells us:

In Santo Domingo I learned to never buy bananas from the street vendors because they always give you your change in bananas. In Tucson I volunteered as a naturalist in Sabino Canyon where I got to see a tarantula and a tarantula hawk battle it out (the wasp won). In Cortez I volunteered at the Anasazi Heritage Center and was able to spend four years wandering through Canyons of the Ancients National Monument looking for Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloan) sites. Now that we live in Silver City, I volunteer at City of Rocks State Park on Mondays and I spend the rest of the week trying to persuade something besides goatheads to grow in the caliche that makes up most of our yard.

We'll see you at the Roundup for a fine meal and to learn from Jeff about Ancestral Puebloan sites in Colorado!

/s/ webmaster


Save These Dates!

People, archaeologically-flavored events are being scheduled all over the place. In our corner of the Southwest, the action is ramping up during September and gets fast and furious during October. Set aside the following dates and check back to our Events page and to this here blog for details as they develop:

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Our Next Monthly Meeting Features Allen Dart, RPA Via Zoom

Wednesday, August 16, 2023, VIA ZOOM: The GCAS will begin at 5:30PM Mountain Daylight (New Mexico) Time/4:30PM Mountain Standard (Arizona) Time with a very short business meeting. At or shortly before 5:45PM New Mexico/4:45PM Arizona time, we will welcome our Featured Speaker, archaeologist Allen Dart of Old Pueblo Archaeology Center, who will describe The Antiquity of Irrigation in the Southwest:

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HummerFest 2023 Is Here!

Hummerfest2023It's the time of year to visit the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site for their annual Hummingbird Festival, this coming weekend on Saturday, July 29 and Sunday, July 30. It starts tomorrow, people, so get ready now! Gas up the car, load the family, and drive eastbound from Silver City out Highway 152 to the Mimbres Valley. Turn left (north) onto Highway 35 and continue past mile marker 3; a few yards past the defunct Mimbres Valley Cafe turn right where you see the brown sign pointing you to the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. Join the action from 8AM to 3PM both days for all kinds of big fun as we all learn about archaeology, ornithology, and much, much more. The GCAS will have an educational booth on site, and our GCAS library will offer a used book sale with titles to suit all tastes. Check out the HummerFest flyer over here on the left. For details, click to enlarge!

/s/ webmaster


Well, That Was Fun

Wnmu-fndrsr-07192023-i Wnmu-fndrsr-07192023-iiOur July 19, 2023, general meeting and fundraiser for the WNMU Museum featured US Forest Service archaeologist Chris Adams who presented Mimbres Pottery - Feather Imagery." An in-person audience of 48 enjoyed Chris's presentation in air-conditioned splendor, surrounded by the Museum's exhibits of Mimbres artifacts.  Over 36 others had signed up online via Zoom. We were thrilled with the crowd's enthusiasm for Chris's talk and their generous support of the Museum during this fundraiser. The Museum wrote:

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Last Call For June Volunteers

Josh and Kyle leading yucca trainingThe GCAS's education coordinator, Marilyn Markel, closes out her intensive June schedule with an archaeological workshop for the Silver City Watershed Keepers that she is offering on Wednesday, June 28, 2023. She needs the help of volunteers to make this workshop, you know, work. Please sign up to help her guide young students at various workshop stations, no experience necessary, just the desire to have fun and to work with young students, many of whom have never before experienced hands-on archaeological activities.

Please to help these kids. Telephone Marilyn Markel at 575-536-9337 ASAP for details and to sign up, or email [email protected]!

Thank you for your help in supporting our community's young people!

/s/ webmaster


Two Volunteer Opportunities Left in June!

Hurley kids at riverThe GCAS's education coordinator, Marilyn Markel, maintains her typical action-packed schedule of the archaeological workshops she offers each year to students from local schools. And this is just what's happening in June! She needs the help of volunteers to make these programs work. Please help her guide students at various stations during these outdoor experiential workshops located at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. No experience is necessary, just the desire to have fun and to work with young students, many of whom have never before experienced hands-on archaeological activities.

Please mark your calendar for one or both of the following June dates to help these kids have a good experience. Telephone Marilyn Markel at 575-536-9337 ASAP for all details and to sign up, or email [email protected]!

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More Volunteers, Please!

ALCS Archaeolgy Crew students and Hurley 5th gradersThe GCAS's education coordinator, Marilyn Markel, maintains her typical action-packed schedule of the archaeological workshops she offers each year to students from local schools. She needs the help of volunteers to make the programs perfect. Please help her guide students at various stations during these outdoor experiential workshops located at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. No experience is necessary, just the desire to have fun and to work with young students, many of whom have never before experienced hands-on archaeological activities.

Please mark your calendar for one or more of the following dates to help these kids have a great day in the Mimbres Valley! Telephone Marilyn Markel at 575-536-9337 ASAP for all details and to sign up, or email [email protected]!

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June 21, 2023: GCAS Monthly Meeting Presents Marilyn Markel

IMG_5506Everyone is welcome to attend the GCAS's monthly in-person meeting on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at the Mimbres Valley's Roundup Lodge, 91 Acklin Hill Road in San Lorenzo, New Mexico, when we welcome our Featured Speaker, the GCAS's own archaeologist Marilyn Markel. Doors open at 5PM for a potluck dinner so bring a dish for yourself or to share. Brief GCAS business meeting begins at 5:45 PM followed immediately by Marilyn's presentation, Ridge Ruin: an Extraordinary Sinagua Site and a Story of Repatriation.

In order to offer our members a safe and comfortable experience at our in-person meetings 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.

Read on to learn more about Marilyn and the work she loves:

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Volunteers Still Needed For Help With Local School Groups!

ALCS  student demonstrating the atlatlThe GCAS's education coordinator, Marilyn Markel, is continuing with an action-packed schedule of the archaeological workshops she offers each year to students from local schools. She needs the help of volunteers to guide students at various stations during these outdoor experiential workshops located at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. No experience is necessary at all; just an enthusiasm to work with young students, many of whom have never before experienced hands-on archaeological activities.

Please mark your calendar for one or more of the following dates to help these kids have a great day in the Mimbres Valley! Telephone Marilyn Markel at 575-536-9337 ASAP for all details and to sign up, or email [email protected]!

Continue reading "Volunteers Still Needed For Help With Local School Groups!" »