November Speaker Matt Barbour

Matthew J. Barbour holds BA (2002) and MA (2010) degrees in Anthropology from the University of New Mexico and has worked for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs since 2002. Currently, Mr. Barbour is the Regional Manager of Coronado and Jemez Historic Sites. Throughout his eighteen year career, he has published over 200 nonfiction articles and monographs. In 2012, and again in 2014, Mr. Barbour was awarded the City of Santa Fe Heritage Preservation Award for Excellence in Archaeology. In 2018, under Mr. Barbour’s management, Coronado Historic Site received an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History. Then in 2019, Jemez Historic Site received the Archaeology Heritage Preservation from New Mexico Historic Preservation Division.​

Mining Camps of Cookes Peak

The mountain northeast of Deming, known as Cookes Peak, was once a flourishing industrial center. Miners in the late 1800s established three major camps in the area: Cooks Town, Hadley Town, and Jose Town. These communities expanded and contracted with the price of silver until the area was largely abandoned in the mid-twentieth century. Traces of the camps are evident on the mountainside today and their legacy remains an important part of history to the City of Deming and the people of Luna County.

Corn & Cotton: Archaic Life along the Mimbres River

In 2011, the Office of Archaeological Studies conducted data recovery on an archaeological site along the Mimbres River, just north of Deming, New Mexico. These efforts resulted in the documentation of 25 features and the collection of 2,091 artifacts and samples. Analytical results suggest that principal occupation of the site occurred during the Late Archaic/Early Agricultural Period with an emphasis on corn and cotton production. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the archaeological investigations while substantiating and improving upon our knowledge of early human habitation in the Mimbres Basin.