Traditions and Community: Hornos and Communal Feasting among the Hohokam

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Hot Rocks in Hot Places: Investigating the 10,000-Year Record of Plant Baking across the US-Mexico Borderlands" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Earth ovens (hornos) have been documented at many sites across the Hohokam region of south-central Arizona. These features were commonly used to cook large amounts of food at public gatherings. They were part of a long-standing tradition of communal feasting that served, among other things, to promote social solidarity. Excavations by Northland Research at two Hohokam village sites in the Phoenix Basin contribute to a fuller understanding of the role of communal feasting in the emergence of the regional ballcourt system. We examine horno usage at these two sites just before the appearance of ballcourts, ca. A.D. 700-800, and just after, ca. A.D. 800-900. Similarities between Hohokam communal feasting and the living tradition of communal feasting among members of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community are also discussed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Hot Rocks in Hot Places: Investigating the 10,000-Year Record of Plant Baking across the US-Mexico Borderlands

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23792