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

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.