The University of Arizona Press
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2026
Time: 12 p.m., MST
Where: online, register here
of Mimbres Far from the Heartland, will give an Amerind online talk, “Life on the Edge of the Mimbres Region: Powers Ranch as a Mimbres Site.” Registration can be found here. The talk will discuss what it means to be Mimbres at the Powers Ranch site, a small settlement at the western edge of the Mimbres region. When people think of Mimbres archaeology, they picture beautiful black-on-white pottery with paintings of people and animals and large pueblo sites in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. However, there were Mimbres sites beyond the Mimbres Valley, but they were different from those in the valley.
Patricia Gilman has done archaeological research in the Mimbres region for more than 50 years, retiring from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. One of her research foci has been Mimbres beyond the Mimbres Valley. Mary Whisenhunt received her anthropology doctorate in 2020, conducting her field work in southeast Arizona. Her research focused on the social resilience of precontact Indigenous people on the western boundary of the Mimbres region.
About the book:
This new work offers a unique investigation into the complexities of Mimbres identity and social dynamics beyond the traditional Mimbres Valley heartland. Situated at the western edge of the Mimbres region, the Powers Ranch site represents the only professionally excavated Classic period settlement in Arizona’s Gila River Valley. Through excavation and analysis of architecture and a rich array of artifacts, including ceramic sherds, projectile points, and shell artifacts, the authors provide a detailed look at the lives of Mimbres people on the periphery.
This work compares findings from Powers Ranch with those from neighboring sites in the Gila River Valley and further east in the Mimbres Valley, unraveling patterns of identity and affiliation that challenge previous understandings.
