WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Thirty years ago the four teams of the Roosevelt Archaeological Project, funded by the Bureau of Reclamation, used excavation and survey in the Tonto Basin of Arizona to examine platform mounds and the surrounding settlements as integrated communities. Focusing on the excavation of eight platform mounds and 147 associated sites, the projects documented the organization of platform mound community systems, the productive variability of the landscape, and the developmental history leading up to the platform mound era. Now members of the original teams from Arizona State University, Desert Archaeology, Statistical Research and SWCA join with other colleagues and tribal representatives to reconsider the question "Why Platform Mounds?" The papers are organized in two related sessions. Those in this session treat the chronology and development of platform mounds and present case studies examining function, social organization, beliefs, ecology and interaction.

Other Keywords
Hohokam • Cultural Resources and Heritage Management • Architecture • Platform Mounds • Ceramic Analysis • Settlement patterns • Monumentality • Material Culture and Technology • Chronology • Dating Techniques

Geographic Keywords
New Mexico (State / Territory) • Oklahoma (State / Territory) • Arizona (State / Territory) • Texas (State / Territory) • Sonora (State / Territory) • United States of America (Country) • Chihuahua (State / Territory) • Baja California (State / Territory) • North America (Continent) • USA (Country)

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  • Documents (12)
Documents
  • An Analysis of the Polvorón Phase Lithic Assemblage from the Mesa Grande Platform Mound in the Phoenix Basin (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Derek Miltimore. Chris Caseldine. Sean G. Dolan.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Polvorón phase (ca. A.D. 1350–1500), which occurred after the Hohokam Classic Period, was a time of cultural paradigm shifts. There are cultural continuities with the preceding Civano phase, like the use of Salado Polychromes, but people during the Polvorón practiced different cultural traditions, most notably the...

  • Archaeomagnetism and Hohokam Platform Mounds: Reframing the Classic Period Chronology (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only William Deaver. Mark Chenault.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In this paper, we present an overview of changes during the Hohokam Classic period relative to the platform mound developmental sequence as documented during the 1968 and 1984 excavations at Las Colinas Mound 8 and the 1973 excavations at Escalante Ruin Group. Using the archaeomagnetic data collected from Las Colinas Mound...

  • Dimensions of Platform Mound Variability: A Tucson Basin Perspective (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Suzanne Fish. Paul Fish.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Tucson area platform mounds are not architecturally uniform but conform to the broader pattern of rectangular configurations as mound distributions expanded across the Hohokam domain. We believe mound forms incorporate a degree of Hohokam awareness and selectivity with regard to West Mexican modes of the time. We focus on...

  • Dispersed Centrality: A Ceremonial Organization Underpinning Hohokam Platform Mound Ceremonialism (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Chris Caseldine.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The period between the collapse of the ballcourt system (ca. A.D. 1070) and the formalization of Civano phase platform mounds (ca. A.D. 1300) has long perplexed Hohokam scholars. Before and after this period, members of Hohokam society gathered together at centralized locations to participate in and observe public...

  • Early Hohokam Platform Mounds and Social Signaling (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only David Doyel.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Between A.D. 900 and 1250 major forces of change were operative among the Phoenix Basin Hohokam. These changes include a shift from ball courts to platform mounds as major public architectural features. What is the meaning of these mounds? A diachronic approach is used to investigate the origins and development of platforms...

  • Exploring the Pre-Classic Roots of Hohokam Platform Mounds: New Evidence from La Plaza (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Christopher Garraty. Travis Cureton. Erik Steinbach. Paula Scott.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent archaeological and historical investigations at the Hohokam site of La Plaza revealed robust evidence that a platform mound once stood in the north part of Arizona State University’s Tempe campus. Recently obtained archaeological evidence suggests that the mound was built during the middle-late Sedentary period (ca....

  • From Upper to Lower Santan: Platform Mound Community Organization within the Santan Canal System in the Middle Gila River Valley (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brian Medchill. Chris Loendorf. M. Kyle Woodson.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Recent and extensive Data Recovery investigations have been completed at sites along the prehistoric Santan Canal system in the Middle Gila River Valley, including both the Upper Santan and Lower Santan Platform mound communities. This work is being conducted by the Gila River Indian Community Cultural Resource Management...

  • A Monument of Memories: The Pueblo Grande Platform Mound (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Todd Bostwick. Douglas Mitchell. Laurene Montero.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Located at the head of a large canal system in Phoenix, the Pueblo Grande platform mound is one of the largest structures ever built by the Hohokam. This building is nearly 4 m in height, 4,000 m2 in area, and incorporates 16,000 cubic m of rock, trash, soil, and structural remains in its cell-like design. Although built in...

  • Rediscovering the platform mounds of AZ U:9:165(ASM) (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Travis Cureton. John Southard. Erick Steinbach. Jacqueline Fox.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. AZ U:9:165(ASM) comprises the remains of an extensive Hohokam village on the south side of the Salt River in Arizona. Late 19th to 20th century urbanization obscured the overwhelming majority of this site, stunting our understanding of its extent and structure. This paper presents the results of recent archival research and...

  • Refining Perspectives on Salado Polychrome Ceramics at Las Colinas Mound 8 (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Caitlin Wichlacz.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. As time passes, fewer and fewer of us retain an intimate knowledge of the site of Las Colinas and the excavations that took place there in the 1960s and 1980s. Published artifact data for the site do not accommodate certain research interests, including inquiry into Salado polychrome ceramics, a significant ceramic category...

  • What We Know and What We Wished We Knew about Hohokam Platform Mounds (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only David Abbott.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In January 1888, Frank Hamilton Cushing rode his horse atop the Hohokam platform mound at Los Hornos in the lower Salt River valley, and took note of numerous other mounds that dotted the valley’s landscape. The monuments’ spacing led Cushing to conceive of the valley-wide settlement as an integrated network for...

  • White, Red, and Plain Wares in the Tonto Basin: Precursor Correlate of Culture Change (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Owen Lindauer. Arleyn Simon.

    This is an abstract from the "WHY PLATFORM MOUNDS? PART 1: MOUND DEVELOPMENT AND CASE STUDIES" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. We present a consideration of Roosevelt Black-on-white, recovered from archaeological sites in Arizona's Tonto Basin, as a correlate for Tonto Basin populations’ changing exchange relations as well as emulation through production of locally-produced copies of non-local wares. Implications of broad-scale ceramic exchange,...