Twenty-two people participated in this month’s GCAS field trip on April 1, 2018, the Holiday Trifecta of Easter Sunday + April Fool’s Day + one special GCAS member’s birthday. Destination: the Mule Creek area located on public land, hard by the NM-AZ state line, famous for not just a certain few surface-room pueblo sites, but especially for an extensive and culturally significant deposit of obsidian. Archaeologists have traced Mule Creek obsidian to other prehistoric sites hundreds of miles away, indicating that this obsidian was a valuable trade item across the Southwest beginning in about the early 1200s.
Access to the archaeological sites required 4WD and good driving skills, but all agreed it was worth the trip. Pebble-size obsidian samples were collected; and nearby habitation areas were inspected for evidence of flintknapping (check); potsherds (check); room walls (check); and mortar holes (check.) Also discovered at the base of a rocky outcrop was a unique rock shelter shaped like a horizontal cylinder, with a small mortar/cup-hole at its entrance. To some it appeared to be a water-catchment system, and to others it appeared to be a symbolic portal to the underworld. Perhaps they were all correct!