You coming to our big to-do?

Wednesday, October 19, 2022, starting 5:00PM: October's GCAS general meeting is an open house at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site! Come tour the Wood House and see the 5 fully rehabilitated rooms of the Mimbres Archaeological Research and Education Center (MAREC), a joint venture between the GCAS and the Imogen F. Wilson Education Foundation (IFWEF). This is a big deal that was for decades nothing more than a pipe dream. Now the dream's come true! The schedule:

5PM: Start with guide Marilyn Markel to tour the Mattocks archaeological site!
5:30PM: enjoy our customary summertime meeting's potluck meal!
6PM: follow your GCAS and IFWEF guides to view the MAREC facility our two groups offer to visiting archaeologists and students of all ages -- some of whom have already used our space to great success! (Plenty of fun projects for GCAS members*, too!)
                       * Sherds! Artifacts! Photos! Videos! And more!
6:30PM: check out the museum in the Gooch House!
7PM: settle in for a brief GCAS business meeting promptly followed by a feature presentation by John Welch of Southwest Archaeology!

Please note that 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.

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Set aside this date right now, people:

Wednesday, October 19, 2022, time TBD: the GCAS general meeting offers an open house at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site! Come tour the Wood House, now with 5 fully rehabilitated rooms for the Mimbres Archaeological Research and Education Center (MAREC), a joint venture between the GCAS and the Imogen F. Wilson Education Foundation (IFWEF). Come early to walk the trails of the Mattocks archaeological site and tour the museum located in the Gooch House, then follow your GCAS and IFWEF guides through the Wood House to inspect the latest action in the GCAS library and lab (plenty of fun projects for GCAS members*), and check out the rest of the MAREC facility our two groups offer to visiting archaeologists and students of all ages -- some of whom have already used our space to great success! If time allows, our monthly meeting will also have a Featured Speaker and/or a slide show. Stay tuned as time and other details coalesce.

* Sherds! Artifacts! Photos! Videos! And more!

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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!

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On 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

On 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

We members of the GCAS are a very lucky bunch indeed. Our two allotted rooms in the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site's historic Wood House are complete. We're ready to get to work on our educational programs and research collections that will form the backbone of the new Mimbres Archaeological Research and Education Center. Meet the dozens of generous folks who have given the GCAS their time, skills, hard-earned money, and valued library materials to our project. It is because of their unwavering support that we are able to start 2022 in just the right way. Thank you all for standing by us!

Christmas has come early to the GCAS! We are thrilled to announce to all of cyberspace that we have completed the rehabilitation and furnishing of the two ground floor rooms allotted to our group in the historic Wood House at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. Even better news: the GCAS came in juuuust under the budget that our $8000 in GCAS contributions allowed.

The GCAS library now sports a full-wall built-in bookcase and other shelving units that are filled with our group's books and research materials. We have two locking cabinets for files and fragile items. Our refinished work table brightens the space. The adjacent study lab is fully equipped. Our potsherd collections, now at home on heavy-duty shelves, are cross-referenced with our library materials to make our inventory as accessible to researchers as possible.

Thanks to the continued support of our 33 donors and 17 volunteers, the GCAS has at long last launched our Mimbres Archaeological Research and Education Center. Now that we have created a reliable work and study space, we are eagerly looking forward to expanding and improving the educational programs and archaeological resource materials the GCAS offers to students of all ages. We are so grateful, especially during this holiday season.

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Rehab work continues in IFWEF's two upstairs rooms; the walls have been painted and the floors refinished, with final touches underway. Downstairs, the GCAS library's built-in bookshelves are in place and awaiting their final finish coats. (See volunteer Steve Collie at work in the first two photos over there on the left.)

Meanwhile, our GCAS volunteers spent an exciting morning assembling the furniture for the MAREC lab in the adjacent room. Our lab's two-station work bench sports a tabletop ledge shelf and an electrical power strip for small power tools. Two rolling trolleys stowed underneath this work station offer additional storage opportunities for all participants. A freestanding locking cabinet will keep researchers' work product secure. Our refinished hutch provides an extra work surface as well as space for educational materials.

(Scroll down for more photos!)

The joint GCAS-IFWEF rehabilitation project continues. The plumbing for the lab’s utility sink is connected and fully functional, bringing water into a building that has not enjoyed any indoor plumbing in decades. IFWEF and GCAS volunteers have hung, re-trimmed, and painted a total of six interior and exterior doors. The exterior doors have new overhangs to help divert rain water and snow melt. We all agree that the doors' fresh coats of bright paint really help the Wood House come alive.

Marilyn Markel’s special storage closet under the lab’s stairway – christened by one of our GCAS members as the Education Bunker – is fully enclosed, illuminated, and secured, with raised mats on which to store materials for Marilyn’s archaeological educational programs. The Bunker’s door received its final coat of paint and is ready for service. (See green-and-white door below, on the right.)

Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 6:30 PM: GCAS general meeting at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site located at 12 Sage Drive in Mimbres, one block east of Highway 35 between Mile Markers 3 and 4 and just a bit north of the old Mimbres Valley Cafe.

We are thrilled to host Allen Denoyer of Archaeology Southwest who will offer us a 2 for 1 presentation. In the early part of the evening he will demonstrate flintknapping on the porch of the Gooch House. If you have never witnessed his skills, you will be amazed! Then, as it gets dark, he will present a slideshow on the Early Agricultural Time Period. Meet at 6:30 for snacks and chats, and we will briefly make any announcements that might arise before Allen's presentation starts at 7:00 PM sharp. Due to uncertain pandemic concerns, please have your masks handy, and we will see you there!

/s/ webmaster