Hohokam Farmsteads Along Cave Creek, Arizona

Editor(s): Christ T. Wenker

Year: 2002

Summary

In 1998 and 1999, archaeologists from SWCA and volunteers from the Desert Foothills Chapter of the Arizona Archaeological Society conducted archaeological investigations at four sites in the Estado de Cholla project area, located southwest of the town of Cave Creek, Arizona. Three isolated Hohokam habitation structures were fully excavated at two of the sites. Each of the three houses was catastrophically burned and each contained intact, abundant, floor-contact artifact assemblages. More than 60 complete or partial ceramic vessels, as well as dozens of whole stone, bone, and shell artifacts were recovered from the three houses. The abundance and variety of artifacts indicate a wide range of commodity and food procurement, processing, and storage activities. The houses were also replete with cotton seeds and a wide range of other cultivated and wild collected botanical material. These characteristics, in conjunction with architectural data, indicate that the structures functioned as the permanent residences of self-sufficient household groups. Radiocarbon assays from two of the houses date to the early or middle Hohokam Classic period.

This report first summarizes the archaeological investigations at the Estado de Cholla sites. Subsequent analytical chapters describe the studies of flaked stone, ground stone, ceramic, faunal, and shell artifacts, and of macrobotanical and pollen samples. A concluding chapter evaluates the role of these newly discovered, richly stocked houses in the Classic period Hohokam northern periphery land-use system.

Several other catastrophically burned, one-room Hohokam structures with abundant, well-preserved artifact assemblages have recently been excavated in the vicinity of the Estado de Cholla. The accumulating evidence suggests that many, if not most of the small, isolated Classic period Hohokam pithouses and masonry rooms along middle Cave Creek actually represent year-round habitation structures instead of temporarily occupied, special-function “field houses.” This interpretation contradicts the standard models of Classic period Hohokam culture history that posit a land-use transformation that created population aggregates at a few large, compact villages. An alternative evaluation of Classic period land-use patterns in the middle Cave Creek drainage is presented.

Cite this Record

Hohokam Farmsteads Along Cave Creek, Arizona, 371. Christ T. Wenker. 2002 ( tDAR id: 446107) ; doi:10.48512/XCV8446107

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Keywords

Culture
Hohokam • Huhugam

Material
Andesite • Basalt • Ceramic • Chipped Stone • Core • Dacite • Diorite • Fauna • Ground Stone • Hammerstone • Macrobotanical • Mano • metate • Obsidian • Plainware • Pollen • Projectile points • Red-on-Buff • Shell

Site Name
AZ 11:1:16 (ASM) • AZ U:1:11 (ASM) • AZ U:1:159 (ASM) • AZ U:1:309 (ASM) • AZ U:1:310 (ASM) • AZ U:1:359 (ASM) • The Livingston Site

Site Type
Domestic Structure or Architectural Complex • Domestic Structures • Field House • House • Pit House / Earth Lodge • Shade Structure / Ramada

Investigation Types
Archaeological Overview • Data Recovery / Excavation • Historic Background Research • Records Search / Inventory Checking • Research Design / Data Recovery Plan • Site Evaluation / Testing • Systematic Survey

Geographic Keywords
Arizona (State / Territory) • Arizona Upland Subdivision • Cave Creek, AZ • Maricopa (County) • Phoenix Basin • Sonoran Desert

Temporal Keywords
Classic Period • Colonial Period • Sedentary Period

Spatial Coverage

min long: -112.016; min lat: 33.79 ; max long: -111.951; max lat: 33.85 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

Contributor(s): John D. Goodman II; Lisa W. Huckell; Douglas R. Mitchell; Susan J. Smith; Mary-Ellen Walsh; Chris T. Wender; LKY Development; Mitchell Development

Field Director(s): Chris Wenker

Project Director(s): Chris Wenker

Prepared By(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

File Information

  Name Size Creation Date Date Uploaded Access
2902_Hohokam-Farmsteads-Along-Cave-Creek_OCR_PDFA.pdf 23.81mb May 1, 2002 May 22, 2018 2:25:18 PM Confidential
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2902_Hohokam-Farmsteads-Along-Cave-Creek_OCR_PDFA_Redacted.pdf 18.81mb Mar 3, 2021 11:28:45 AM Public
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Contact(s): SWCA Environmental Consultants

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