NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 6:00 PM at 2045 Memory Lane in Silver City, New Mexico. The GCAS's next monthly IN-PERSON ONLY meeting features speaker geoarchaeologist Dave Rachal PhD of Tierra Vieja Consulting in Las Cruces NM. Doors open at 6:00 PM with light refreshments on offer. Socializing and a brief-to-nonexistent business meeting will immediately precede Dave's presentation of: How Did The Seeds Get There? Ruppia cirrhosa Ecology, Depositional Context and Accurate Radiocarbon Dating at White Sands: "The stratigraphic and geomorphic contexts, and ultimately the chronometric determinations, at White Sands Locality-2 (WHSA-2) are topics of controversy that stem from conflicting interpretations of the processes that deposited the Ruppia cirrhosa (Ruppia) seeds within the paleo-Lake Otero footprint site....[O]ur interpretation depicts the shoreline as an unstable, dynamic lake margin to which Ruppia seeds...were transported from deep-water, offshore growth beds during storm events and deposited on the lake shore in seed balls. These unusual aggregates, known to mix seeds of wide-ranging ages, were gradually broken apart by several cycles of wave action and erosion and redeposited in layers....[W]e will delve into both the ecology and the depositional context of Ruppia and discuss why the Ruppia seeds at paleo-Lake Otero are problematic materials for radiocarbon dating." Check out Dave's and Tierra Vieja Consulting's YouTube videos (links are on our Events page) and bring your questions for him!

NEXT FIELD TRIP: TBA - watch this space and your newsletters for details as they develop.

Next GCAS Meeting Features Speaker Lee Brown on Prehistoric Mining

The GCAS's next in-person meeting will be Wednesday, February 19, 2025, 6:00 PM at 2045 Memory Lane in Silver City, New Mexico. On this occasion we feature the GCAS's own Lee Brown, retired mining engineer, who will discuss evidence of Prehistoric Mining in North America with highlights from our own region. Doors open at 6:00 PM with light refreshments provided with a brief socialization period and business meeting, to be immediately followed by Lee's presentation.

GCAS member (and former GCAS treasurer) Lee Brown - formerly known as Gary Brown - was born and raised in New Mexico and has lived in towns as far-flung as Aztec, Mountainair, Socorro, Gallup, Rio Rancho, and now Silver City. He earned his B.S. in Mining Engineering from New Mexico School of Mines in Socorro and completed a 40 year career in the Mining and Steel Industry, mostly in the field of extractive metallurgy under "all sorts of funky engineer titles," as Lee puts it. He worked from bottom to top: laborer, operator, supervisor, underground miner, and operations superintendent. He retired as Chief Engineer for the Concentrator at the Chino Mine right here in Grant County. Lee has continued his lifelong interest in mineral collecting and mining history, enjoying collecting adventures in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Michigan, Montana, Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota and Georgia, in addition to his archaeological adventures throughout the southwest US, Peru, Yucatan, and Spain.

See you there!

/s/ webmaster


Jornada Research Institute Presentations

In addition to the Jornada Research Institute’s ongoing excavations at Creekside Village during the winter 2025 season, the JRI's series of in-person presentations includes:

Saturday, February 15, in El Paso: Archaeoastronomy Associations of the Great Kiva at Creekside Village by Dave Greenwald;

Tuesday, February 18, in Alamogordo: Archaeoastronomy Associations of the Great Kiva at Creekside Village by Dave Greenwald;

Tuesday, March 4, in Mountainair: Archaeoastronomy Associations of the Great Kiva at Creekside Village by Dave Greenwald;

Please contact Dave Greenwald at [email protected] or 575-430-8854 for details of times and locations for all presentations listed above.

Wednesday, March 19, in Albuquerque: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act one-day class by Jeffery Hanson; contact Jeffery directly at [email protected] or 817-658-5544 for registration fees and other details.

/s/ webmaster


Jornada Research Institute - Upcoming Events

In addition to the Jornada Research Institute’s ongoing excavations at Creekside Village during the winter 2025 season, the JRI is offering a series of in-person presentations including:

Tuesday, January 21, in Alamogordo: Gypsum Overlook – An Early Archaic Period Structural Site in Tularosa Basin by Matt Cuba;

Saturday, February 15, in El Paso: Archaeoastronomy Associations of the Great Kiva at Creekside Village by Dave Greenwald;

Tuesday, February 18, in Alamogordo: Archaeoastronomy Associations of the Great Kiva at Creekside Village by Dave Greenwald;

Tuesday, March 4, in Mountainair: Archaeoastronomy Associations of the Great Kiva at Creekside Village by Dave Greenwald;

Please contact Dave Greenwald at [email protected] or 575-430-8854 for details of times and locations for all presentations listed above.

Wednesday, March 19, in Albuquerque: Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act one-day class by Jeffery Hanson; contact Jeffery directly at [email protected] or 817-658-5544 for registration fees and other details.

/s/ webmaster


An Intriguing Zoom Presentation

Thursday, January 16, 2025: FREE online via Zoom, 7:00-8:30PM (ARIZONA/Mountain Standard Time): Old Pueblo Archaeology Center's “Third Thursday Food for Thought” program presents If the Shoe Fits: Subarctic-style Moccasins and the Apachean Journey from the Northern Dene Homeland to the Precontact Southwest by HDR Archaeologist Kevin P. Gilmore, PhD.

BSM Type 2(Bb) moccasin from Montezuma Castle, Arizona,
photo adapted from “If the Shoe Fits” article

by Kevin P. Gilmore, Edward A. Jolie, and John W. Ives
(2024, Journal of Arizona Archaeology 10(2):145-162)

Continue reading "An Intriguing Zoom Presentation" »


Southwest Symposium: Visit Paquime

Thursday-Saturday, January 16-18, 2025, in Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico: join the 19th Biennial Southwest Symposium coordinated by Michael Searcy and José Luis Punzo Díaz at the Hotel Hacienda, Av. Benito Juárez 2603, Centro, 31700 Nuevo Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico beginning 7:00PM on Thursday through 11:00AM Sunday GMT. $50-75.

A photo of Paquimé, located near the Southwest Symposium Conference location,
with tours planned for Sunday (photo from Wikimedia Commons).

 

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Archaeology Day in Tucson AZ

Consider an excursion to Tucson on Saturday, December 28, 2024, 8-11AM FREE (tho all gifts appreciated): Tucson's Archaeology Day offers FREE activities and demonstrations at Mission Garden, 946 W. Mission Lane,Tucson AZ. Every fourth Saturday of the month Old Pueblo Archaeology Center and Archaeology Southwest representatives come to Mission Garden to teach practical hands-on skills. Kids of all ages can try out fascinating ancient technologies such as etching shell, painting with natural pigments, throwing spears with atlatls, or making their own pinch pots, pendants, petroglyphs, and cordage. For more information visit www.tucsonsbirthplace.org or call 520-955-5200.

Photo of archaeologist Allen Denoyer courtesy of Friends of Mission Garden

/s/webmaster


On Vandalism

Following up on our previous post, here is one poet's view on such destructive expressions of privilege. Matthew Olzmann wrote:

Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America

- Southern Pines, NC

 

Tell me what it's like to live without

curiosity, without awe. To sail

on clear water, rolling your eyes

at the kelp reefs swaying

beneath you, ignoring the flicker

of mermaid scales in the mist,

looking at the world and feeling

only boredom. To stand

on the precipice of some wild valley,

the eagles circling, a herd of caribou

booming below, and to yawn

with indifference. To discover

something primordial and holy.

To have the smell of the earth

welcome you to everywhere.

To take it all in, and then,

to reach for your knife.

/s/ webmaster


Well, Fortunately That Was Quick

Perps2Update on the 11/23/2024 vandalism of a petroglyph panel on public land in Utah: law enforcement have identified both perps. The woman, Daniela Ganassim Erickson, was arrested 11/30 and now sits in jail on felony vandalism charges. While she awaits a visit from the Consequences Fairy, we'd like to remind everyone that it was involvement by the public in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management that led to such a quick result. Members of the public who care enough about ancient places to do something when they see acts of destruction, really do make a difference and help preserve our patrimony. Thank you!

/s/ webmaster


Anyone Seen These Two People?

Perps1The Kane County, Utah Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Land Management would like a word with them.

On November 23, 2024, the Kane County Sheriff's Office received a report with 4 photos of two people caught in the act of vandalizing a petroglyph panel near the Wire Pass trailhead in Kanab, Utah - a popular hiking area near Arizona's northern border. If anyone recognizes the people or the vehicle in these photos, please contact the Kane County Sheriff's Office on their Facebook page, or by telephone at 435-644-2668 or 436-644-4916.

 


Perps2 Perps3Perps4

 

 

Thank you for any help you can give to protect our public lands.

/s/ webmaster [all photos courtesy of Kane County Sheriff's Office]


Meet Tuesday Critz at the GCAS November 20 Annual Meeting!

Tuesday CritzWednesday, November 20, 2024, 6:00 PM: Please join the GCAS as we shift to our wintertime location - the clubhouse at 2045 Memory Lane in Silver City, New Mexico. Our November meeting is our GCAS annual meeting so bring your questions, opinions, and votes (!) as we elect two new members to our board of directors. No potluck during the winter months but some light refreshments will be on offer.

We will follow our typically brief business meeting with our Featured Speaker, NMSU graduate student in Anthropology, Tuesday Critz, who will discuss her ongoing research at Cottonwood Spring Pueblo (LA 175): Ceramic Exchange in a Multiethnic Community during the El Paso Phase (AD 1275/1300 – 1450). Tuesday indicates that this research is in its early stages so the GCAS is being treated to a sneak preview. Tuesday explains,

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