Grant County Archaeological Society

Next Meeting

Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 6:00 PM: A short business meeting and snacks (no potluck) will be followed by a presentation on the final results from the Mares Rock Shelter given by Dr. Robert Stokes. The meeting will be held at the Grant County Rolling Stones Gem and Mineral Society building at 2045 Memory Lane , Silver City, NM.

Dr. Stokes has 38 years of archaeological experience, including academic field schools and research projects, as well as cultural resource management positions with private firms and State and Federal agencies. He earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Pittsburgh in 1990, his Master’s degree at Eastern New Mexico University in 1995, and his Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 2002. His primary research interest is the southern Southwest, focusing on social and cultural adaptations to arid environments and the development of land tenure systems as coping mechanisms for cyclical scarcity and resource control. From 2018 to 2022, he was a full-time faculty member in the Anthropology Department of Eastern New Mexico University. In 2023, he returned to New Mexico State Parks in Santa Fe as its Program Support Bureau Chief, overseeing all cultural and environmental compliance work at the 35 state parks.

In the summer of 2021, Eastern New Mexico University conducted a field school at the Mares Rockshelter along the Rio Grande in Selden Canyon north of Radium Springs. The site was newly documented by New Mexico State Parks and appeared to be badly damaged from vandalism. The Parks then reached out to ENMU to conduct a damage assessment study. The project presented a rare opportunity to conduct modern research at a rockshelter site, particularly in an area directly along the Rio Grande that contains evidence of Archaic, Mimbres, Jornada Mogollon, and Apache occupations spanning thousands of years. Although the site was found to be badly damaged, as surface indications suggested, the research nonetheless yielded interesting results that provide insights into how the Mogollon and later groups used this small site and the surrounding environment.

Next Field Trip

TBD