Grant County Archaeological Society
Photo: Disert collection, 2024.5.29, WNMU Museum
Next Meeting
Wednesday, June 17, 2026, 6:00 PM*: the GCAS meets at the Roundup Lodge at 91 Acklin Hill Road in the Mimbres Valley for a potluck meal and socializing, followed by a short business meeting. Thereafter we will welcome the Gila National Forest’s District archaeologist, Chris Adams, who will share his, Charles Haecker’s, and Fumi Arakawa’s research of the Seco Creek High-Altitude Shrine Site in Southwest New Mexico. Like all GCAS meetings, this presentation is open to the public. The 2026 field school participants are also invited, so bring your best potluck dish to share with the starving graduate students who are working in our area this summer!
*The GCAS Board of Directors will meet at the Roundup starting at 5:00 PM to discuss current issues. All GCAS members are welcome to come early to observe the BOD in action and ask questions (although only the BOD members will be voting). We hope to see you there!
Next Field Trip
Sunday, June 7, 2026: the June GCAS field trip is a very special one: Dr. Fumi Arakawa (Indiana University at Bloomington), Dr. Danni Romero (Director, WNMU Museum) and the 2026 field school crew will lead the GCAS to Agape Acres, located on private land in the southern Mimbres Valley. Meet at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site at 10:00 AM sharp to caravan with Drs. Arakawa and Romero to the archaeological site. Carpooling encouraged, and please bring the usual sun protection, water, and (if desired) a brown-bag lunch. (For those unfamiliar with the Heritage Site, it’s about a 45-minute drive from downtown Silver City. Take Hwy-180 eastbound and in Santa Clara turn left onto Hwy-152 eastbound for about 30 miles into the Mimbres Valley. Turn left off of Hwy-152 onto Hwy-35 and follow 35 northbound as it winds around the San Lorenzo Elementary School. Continue on 35 for about 3-1/2 miles. When the speed limit drops to 50 mph and just past the OLUV restaurant on your right, turn right at the brown sign designating the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site and follow the short driveway to the T-intersection and a large parking area in front of the Heritage Site’s historic buildings.)
News & Events
May 14-15, 2026, field trip to Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project
Eight enthusiastic GCAS members traveled to Velarde, New Mexico, in the upper Rio Grande Valley for guided tours of the Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Project on two successive days. The MPPP has recorded over 80,000 petroglyph images along a 12-mile mesa th…
The Lizard’s Taking Shape
The joint GCAS-IFWEF Back to the Earth garden project moves ahead. Intrepid students from the Mimbres Valley’s San Lorenzo Elementary School visited the work site with their teachers to learn about the project’s purpose and inspect the ad…
February 22, 2026: Potsherd Sorting
Eleven GCAS members and a guest had a grand time on February 22 sorting through FIVE bins of orphan sherds in the GCAS’s library and adjacent lab/workroom at the Mimbres Culture Heritage Site. We are contributing these unprovenienced items to t…
February 1, 2026, GCAS Field Trip to Picture Rocks Site
The GCAS’s first field trip of 2026 to an Arenas Valley petroglyph site was an ideal way for folks to stretch their legs and enjoy a clear, cool, sunny day outdoors. Sixteen members and guests carpooled to an informal trailhead which led about …
December 7, 2025, Field Trip to Old Town
The GCAS could not have asked for better weather on our last field trip of 2025. The day was cool, crisp, clear, and sunny for 15 members and their guests to explore the archaeological site of Old Town in the southern Mimbres Valley watershed. Site S…
Meet the GCAS Board of Directors
The GCAS’s annual meeting on November 19, 2025, resulted in the election of 4 new members to our GCAS Board of Directors, each of whom will serve a 3-year term! GCAS members voted with unanimous approval to maintain a full 9-member board plus o…