January 12, 12 pm to 1 pm in the Silver City Museum Annex at 302 W. Broadway

Co-sponsored by the Western Institute for Lifelong Learning, this talk is the first in a three part series of programs in support of the Silver City Museum's exhibition Stories of Southwestern New Mexico Women.

One of the most standard questions about the lives of prehistoric Mimbres women is: were they like us? Other questions include: what did they do on a daily basis, how hard was life back in prehistory, how long did they live, and what did they die from? We are fortunate that so much of Mimbres daily life was depicted by potters in Mimbres pottery, but there are meaningful gaps in this pictorial history. To fully understand and develop a fairly complete picture of Mimbres women's daily lives, and answer the questions posed, this lecture will examine, present, and weave together many lines of evidence, including archaeological, ethnohistoric, ethnographic, and biological.

Dr. Cynthia Ann Bettison has been a professional archaeologist for 36 years and director & archaeologist of Western new Mexico University Museum for 25+ years. She has an eduring interest in prehistoric Mimbres Mogollon archaeology and pottery, and prehistoric pottery of the Southwest. Bettison has a BA in Anthropology/Biology, an MA in Anthropology with specialization in Southwest Archaeology and Geo-archaeology; a PhD in Anthropology with specialization in the Archaeology of Arid Environments, and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist.

The Silver City Museum creates opportunities for residents and visitors to explore, understand, and celebrate the rich and diverse cultural heritage of southwestern New Mexico by collecting, preserving, researching, and interpreting the region's unique history. For more information, please contact the museum at (575) 538-5921, education@silvercitymuseum.org, or go to the museum's website. www.silvercitymuseum.org.