What Can We Learn by Digging a Trench through a Hohokam Ballcourt?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Ballcourts have come to represent the pre-Classic Hohokam more than any other architectural or artifactual class. These sizeable basin-shaped structures with earthen embankments were built at most of the large villages throughout southern and central Arizona between AD 750 and 1080. People watching or participating in the ballgame probably came together from several different villages, which would have provided opportunities for exchanging commodities both in the form of raw materials and finished goods. While they are one of the most recognizable forms of public architecture in the southern Southwest, there have been relatively few opportunities to excavate them. Recent excavations at a Hohokam village north of Tucson provided a unique opportunity to excavate a portion of a ballcourt. Although the project area was incredibly narrow—only 10-ft wide—and in a road right-of-way that had been leveled at the surface, excavations revealed more intact deposits than had been anticipated. This poster presents what we were able to learn about the size, orientation, and construction of a Hohokam ballcourt from minimal excavations in a disturbed context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24410