Multidisciplinary Investigations of a Transitional Early Classic Period Hohokam Trash Mound at AZ U:9:319(ASM), Mesa, Arizona

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Multidisciplinary Investigations of a Transitional Early Classic Period Hohokam Trash Mound at AZ U:9:319(ASM), Mesa, Arizona" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This symposium presents the results of investigations of an transitional early Classic Period Hohokam trash mound at the site of AZ U:9:319(ASM) employing a variety of approaches. This site is located on a small plot of undeveloped land in the Mesa Cemetery in north-central Mesa, Arizona. In antiquity this context was situated on the far northeastern margins of the large residential community associated with the Mesa Grande platform mound complex. Although the upper layers of the trash mound that encompasses much of this site were disturbed by modern activities, the lower ~40 – 70cm were intact. Excavations of these intact deposits yielded a rich artifact assemblage allowing our research team to make insights about domestic life in an early Classic Period community. The papers in this symposium report on the analyses of artifact distribution patterns, ceramic pastes, red-on-buff pottery painted design elements, projectile point morphology, environmental DNA (eDNA), and macrobotanical remains. The results of these analyses allow us to estimate the time period associated with the deposition of refuse in this trash mound and make interpretations about activities that led to the formation of the feature, plant use at the site, and the natural environment of the context in antiquity.