Excavations at La Lomita Pequeña: A Santa Cruz/Sacaton Phase Hamlet in the Salt River Valley

Editor(s): Douglas R. Mitchell

Year: 1988

Summary

This report is a result of archaeological investigations at the prehistoric Hohokam site of La Lomita Pequeña (AZ U:9:66(ASM)) by Soil Systems, Inc. (SSI), Arizona. in the city of Phoenix, The site is within the path of the East Papago Freeway, a state funded freeway system in the Phoenix being constructed by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). The site was tested, located initially by survey, was subsequently and was finally subjected to an intensive data recovery program sponsored by ADOT (Project ASM-600-5-301).

La Lomita Pequeña was an agricultural hamlet occupied from about A.D. 900 to 1025. The site was established at the end of the Colonial period, Santa Cruz phase, and was abandoned during the Sedentary period, Sacaton phase.Thirty-one pithouses were investigated, as well as several burial features and a variety of pits. Materials recovered included over 20,000 ceramic and 3,000 lithic artifacts, and a small number of shell, mineral, and carved ground stone items. Nearly 30 percent of the ceramic artifacts were decorated red-on-buff wares and the lithic assemblage included a small but significant proportion of formal and informal stone knives. The botanical remains recovered were dominated by agave plant parts and corn pollen. The faunal assemblage included a large proportion of small mammals (e.g., rabbits), with a much smaller representation of large mammals (e.g., deer).

Plain ware ceramic temper ratios, decorated ceramic attributes, stratigraphic relationships, and chronometric dates were used to reconstruct the internal structure of La Lomita Pequeña. Four separate occupation periods were identified at the site, and distinct courtyard groups were recognized for each occupation period.

A review of regional site types, internal organization, and relationships suggests that La Lomita Pequeña was a daughter village of a nearby larger site such as La Lomita or Pueblo Grande. The location of the site upslope from nearby irrigation canals and the abundance of certain nondomesticated resources (notably agave) indicate an increasing pressure on available agricultural land during this time.

Cite this Record

Excavations at La Lomita Pequeña: A Santa Cruz/Sacaton Phase Hamlet in the Salt River Valley. Douglas R. Mitchell. ,10. Phoenix, Arizona: Soil Systems, Inc. 1988 ( tDAR id: 4410) ; doi:10.6067/XCV8DB80FV

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Keywords

Culture
Hohokam

Material
Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Fauna • Ground Stone • Human Remains • Macrobotanical • Shell

Site Name
AZ U:9:66(ASM) • La Lomita Pequeña

Site Type
Archaeological Feature • Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Funerary and Burial Structures or Features

Investigation Types
Data Recovery / Excavation

Geographic Keywords
Arizona • Phoenix • Salt River

Temporal Coverage

Calendar Date: 900 to 1025

Spatial Coverage

min long: -112.025; min lat: 33.443 ; max long: -111.984; max lat: 33.471 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contributor(s): Cory Dale Breternitz; John S. Cable; Richard W. Effland; T. Michael Fink; Suzanne K. Fish; Dale M. Fournier; G. Timothy Gross; J. Holly Hathaway; Jerry B. Howard; Steven R. James; Scott Kwiatkowski; Douglas R. Mitchell; David M. Schaller; M. Steven Shackley; Anne-Marie Turley

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