Wednesday, May 15, 2024, 6:00PM: the GCAS monthly meeting shifts to the Roundup Lodge in San Lorenzo (Mimbres Valley) for the summer months. Doors open at 6PM for a potluck dinner so bring your own plates, utensils, and a dish for yourself or to share with the group. Brief GCAS business meeting begins at 6:30 PM followed immediately by our evening's Featured Speaker, Preservation Anthropologist Aaron Wright PhD, who will present Indigenous Rock Imagery of the Sonoran Desert. He explains,

The Gila Wilderness holds a special place in the hearts of us out here in the territories. It was the world's first designated wilderness and it's right here in our own back yard. Find out about centennial events throughout 2024 here on the US Forest Service Wilderness Ranger District's web pages. Learn more about the Gila Wilderness's history and culture here.

Save a very special date: Saturday, June 1, 2024, 12:00PM noon-4:00PM, to visit Gough Park in Silver City: join the fun as the GCAS shifts our usual "first Sunday of the month" field trip one day earlier to the first Saturday of June to celebrate the main event of the 2024 centennial of the Gila Wilderness. The US Forest Service Wilderness Ranger District is our host, commemorating the vital partnerships throughout the community that have contributed to the preservation of the Gila Wilderness over the past century. The GCAS is one among many such community organizations that will have a booth in Gough Park to showcase how we local people working together have preserved the Gila Wilderness for us all to love and enjoy.

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The Jornada Research Institute is offering two remaining archaeologically-flavored international tours during 2024. In late July, a tour of ancient sites in Scotland begins. In October, enjoy an 11-day tour of Greece and Ephesus, Turkey. Sign up early for one tour (or both!) while space is still available.

OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO GCAS MEMBERS, the JRI can donate to other nonprofit organizations whose member participates in one or more of their Overseas Journeys Programs. So, for example, JRI will donate $125.00 to the Grant County Archaeological Society for each tour participant who specifies that the GCAS should receive JRI's donation. Join a JRI tour, and you can support two nonprofits at once!

The JRI's President, Dave Greenwald, further describes the tours:

Wednesday, April 17, 2024, 6:00PM (New Mexico - Mountain Daylight Time) online via Zoom: The GCAS monthly meeting begins with the usual brief-to-nonexistent business meeting, immediately followed by our Featured Speaker, Kristin Corl, who will introduce us to Investigating Plant and Animal Resources at the Harris Site: An Exercise in Ecosystem Engineering. Kristin explains,

Thursday, October 3 through Saturday, October 5, 2024, Silver City NM: It's the 22d annual Mogollon Conference, hosted by WNMU and the Museum at Fleming Hall.

The Museum 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 sessions 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 developing info including fees for the October 4 banquet and the Sunday, October 6 Mimbres Foundation reunion:

We at the GCAS thank our members and all our new friends who attended our March 20, 2024 special charity event on behalf of the WNMU Museum. Total online and in-person participants numbered almost 50 and folks mentioned how much they enjoyed Carolyn O'Bagy Davis's presentation on the culture surrounding Hopi quilts. Because of everyone's generosity we helped the Museum get closer to their project goals. Cheers to you all!

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The Gila Wilderness holds a special place in the hearts of us out here in the territories. It was the world's first designated wilderness and it's right here in our own back yard. Find out about centennial events throughout 2024 here on the US Forest Service Wilderness Ranger District's web pages. Learn more about the Gila Wilderness's history and culture here.

Save a very special date: Saturday, June 1, 2024, 12:00PM noon-4:00PM, to visit Gough Park in Silver City: join the fun as the GCAS shifts our usual "first Sunday of the month" field trip one day earlier to the first Saturday of June to celebrate the main event of the 2024 centennial of the Gila Wilderness. The US Forest Service Wilderness Ranger District is our host, commemorating the vital partnerships throughout the community that have contributed to the preservation of the Gila Wilderness over the past century. The GCAS is one among many such community organizations that will have a booth in Gough Park to showcase how we local people working together have preserved the Gila Wilderness for us all to love and enjoy.

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Our friends to the east at the Jornada Research Institute have sent us an update on their archaeological activities and invite interested folks to join in the fun. JRI president Dave Greenwald reports that their work continues at Creekside Village including in the great kiva area. During March into April, volunteers will help complete one 2 m by 5 m area within the great kiva. Dave describes JRI’s further investigations:

Thursday, October 3 through Saturday, October 5, 2024, Silver City NM: It's the 22d annual Mogollon Conference, hosted by WNMU and the Museum at Fleming Hall.

The Museum 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 sessions 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 developing info including fees for the October 4 banquet and the Sunday, October 6 Mimbres Foundation reunion:

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 5:00PM (Mountain Daylight Saving Time, 4:00PM Arizona Time): the GCAS transforms our regular monthly meeting into a special hybrid in-person and online Zoom event to be held at the Western New Mexico University Museum at Fleming Hall in support of their curation of the Museum's historic documents and photo archives.

Our Featured Speaker is historian, award-winning author, and GCAS member Carolyn O’Bagy Davis. Carolyn, a fourth-generation descendant of Utah pioneers, has written 16 books on topics ranging from the history of archaeology to Southwestern history to quilting. Her book Hopi Summer was selected as OneBookArizona for 2011, and Desert Trader: The Life and Quilts of Goldie Tracy Richmond, was named one of the Best Books of the Southwest 2012. Carolyn is an inducted member of the Arizona Quilters Hall of Fame and the Society of Women Geographers; she was the founding president of the Tucson Quilters Guild and Old Pueblo Archaeology Center. An accomplished public speaker, she has appeared on HGTV, PBS, and Lifetime programs, and has curated many traveling museum exhibits including the current show: Willard Page: Artist on the Southwest Road, at the Fred Harvey Museum in Belen, New Mexico. Please join us as Carolyn introduces us to Hopi Quilts and Textiles as Cultural Artforms: