NEXT MEETING: Wednesday, January 15, 2024, 6:00 PM New Mexico time - ONLINE VIA ZOOM: The GCAS kicks off 2025 with a brief business meeting to be immediately followed by our Featured Speaker, Rhianna Cooke, senior anthropology undergraduate at Indiana University/Bloomington. Rhianna will discuss Clay in the Kiva: Possible Uses for Natural Clay Beneath Twin Pines Village. Twin Pines Village is a site located in the upper Mimbres Valley area in the Gila National Forest. It has been the subject of years of study under the direction of Dr. Fumi Arakawa, and Rhianna performed fieldwork there during the summer of 2024. She will describe that during their 2024 excavation, Dr. Arakawa’s crew discovered a large natural deposit of clay beneath the site. Later, it became clear that the clay had been manipulated/used in some fashion in the great kiva at the site, although Dr. Arakawa, Rhianna, and other researchers are still questioning the exact purpose that this "clay pit" may have served. Join us on Zoom starting at about 5:45 to get situated and socialize before the official meeting begins at 6:00 PM sharp. A Q&A session will follow Rhianna’s talk. Members, check your email inbox for your Zoom invitation about one week before the presentation (roughly 1/8/2025). Nonmembers, email the GCAS for the Zoom link about a week prior (1/8/2025).