*****************REMINDER*******************
A Special meeting for all members has been called for
April 12, 2010 at 6:00 PM
This meeting will be held at the Kit Carson Electric office - 118 Cruz Alta Rd., Taos,
[prior to our regular speakers meeting]
The only action taken at this Special Meeting is a discussion and vote on the following options:
1. TAS becoming a 501c3.
2. TAS staying as it is now.
3. TAS staying as it is now and researching other options for fund raising to support activities and programs.
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Our Regularly scheduled Speakers meeting start at 7:00 PM
Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Location: Kit Carson Electric, 118 Cruz Alta Rd,
Taos
Title: Way Down South: A Review of Evidence
Pertaining to Early Agriculture in Mexico
and Beyond
Speaker: John Roney, Archaeological Consultant
In the past several years there have been important developments in our understanding of the origins and spread of agriculture in the New World. These developments have been driven largely by new methods such as AMS radiocarbon dating, genetics and molecular biology, and microbiological approaches including studies of prehistoric starch grains and phytoliths, as well as pollen. The results of these studies raise the possibility that PaleoIndians were actually the earliest farmers in the New World, and that horticulture was widespread in the tropical lowlands of Central America much earlier than we once thought. The spread of maize agriculture northwards out of Mesoamerica into what is now the Southwestern United States seems to have occurred very rapidly, and may correspond to a similar expansion southwards into South America at the same time.
John is an archeological consultant based in Albuquerque. A graduate of Artesia High School, he has a Bacheolor’s degree from Carleton College and a Master’s degree from Eastern New Mexico University. Much of his career was with the Bureau of Land Management in Albuquerque as well as Winnemucca, Nevada. John has published several papers about the Pueblo III period in northwestern New Mexico, and has worked extensively with historic and prehistoric transportation systems such as the Applegate-Lassen Emmigrant Trail in Nevada, the Camino Real in New Mexico and Chihuahua, and the prehistoric Chacoan Roads of the San Juan Basin. Since 1994 he and his colleagues have been investigating prehistoric developments related to the initial spread of agriculture into the Southwest. Their discovery of 3000 year old fortified hilltop villages in northwestern Chihuahua has radically changed perceptions of this critical period in Southwestern prehistory. Currently he and his collaborators are seeking evidence of early maize agriculture in southern Chihuahua, a zone that is intermediate between Mesoamerica and the Southwestern United States.
To accommodate the 6PM Special Meeting, join other TAS members and our speaker for dinner prior to the meeting at 4:00 PM at The Trading Post, 4179 State Road 68, Ranchos de Taos.
Please RSVP to Dorothy by Friday, April 8th if you plan to join us for dinner.
Dorothy_Wells@me.com or 751-3265
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