The GCAS is pleased to introduce Jonah Jankovik of the Eastern New Mexico University at Portales as one of our two recipients of the GCAS's 2021 Nancy Coinman Grant Awards. Jonah is working toward her Master's degree majoring in Anthropology, expecting to present her Master's thesis in May 2022. Following is Jonah's description of her research and her proposal for applying her Coinman Grant Award in furtherance of that research:

"I am proposing to conduct research work in the Sapillo Valley in the Gila National Forest of southwestern New Mexico. This initial stage of my master’s thesis project at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU) is to sample the side drainages along much of the creek to create a petrofacies model of alluvial sands in the Sapillo Valley. Sampling will be done during a week in June 2021, following procedures developed by Beth Miksa for research she has conducted and implemented in Arizona.  Similar sampling has been done in parts of the nearby Mimbres River, but such knowledge is lacking for the Sapillo and would be far more spatially comprehensive.
The petrographic data gathered from the Sapillo drainages will be used in conjunction with a sampled sherd analysis I am undertaking of painted Mimbres pottery collected from the Lake Roberts Vista (LRV) site in the valley. I will analyze the temper material present in a 10 percent sample of sherds from various LRV excavation contexts using a digital microscope then comparing the results to the raw material samples. Differentiation and identification of sherd temper materials will be based on proportion of different rock types present and the presence of unique minerals present in specific drainages in the collected sand samples.
The anticipated results will allow me to track where pottery was made in the valley and where exchange was occurring, i.e. if the larger sites were supplying ceramic containers to the smaller sites using the LRV site as a proxy. My overarching goal of this thesis project is to expand our understanding of ceramic production and exchange in the Mimbres uplands outside of the culture’s main riverine systems by focusing on localized production and the extent of distribution in this area.

The entire cost of the project would be $978.21, this is separated between travel and supply expenses. I would use the award to assist in the travel side of the budget—specifically the accommodations for myself and an assistant at the Lake Roberts Motel and Cabins during the week we will be collecting the sand samples, and to help pay for gas for travel to and from Portales and while in the valley—an amount of $663.83. I have attached the full itemized budget for the sampling project.

As mentioned above, this project is the data collection phase of my Master’s Thesis work. The whole of which endeavors to identify the acquisition locus of raw temper material associated with the Mimbres painted pottery collected from the Lake Roberts Vista site in the early 1990s, from all phases of the Late Pithouse to Classic Period. The valley may have had its own pottery production groups at the larger sites, like LRV, based on limited Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis (INAA) study results, the goal is to confirm this. I intend to finish the analysis and write up of my thesis by May of 2022, the end of that summer at latest.

Permission has been obtained from the Gila National Forest to gather the sand samples. No permits are necessary as the project does not involve any work on an archaeological site. The samples gathered will be stored and analyzed in the ENMU Anthropology Department ceramics lab."

The GCAS is happy to support Jonah's work and we look forward to hear about her progress. Congratulations, Jonah!

/s/ webmaster