Elevating Animals: Exploring Ritual Fauna and Socially Integrative Architecture in the Tonto Basin

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Why Platform Mounds? Part 2: Regional Comparisons and Tribal Histories" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The frequent deposition of animals in public spaces suggests an essential role in public rituals in the pre-Hispanic U.S. Southwest. Using ethnographic evidence and large-scale analysis of faunal remains in the Tonto Basin area of central Arizona, I ask whether ritual fauna cluster in socially integrative spaces and what implications this had for integrating migrant Puebloan populations with local people. Though typically considered Hohokam, the Tonto Basin exhibits influence from neighboring Sinagua and Puebloan regions. The emergence of the Salado phenomenon and public architecture in the region is evidence of broad sociopolitical and religious change, which involved specific treatments and storage of fauna. I find that ritual fauna cluster in room contexts associated with socially integrative architecture, suggesting a centralization of ritual practice and storage. Ultimately, Tonto Basin communities targeted specific taxa for the enactment of public activities, aiding in the integration of non-local people.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Why Platform Mounds? Part 2: Regional Comparisons and Tribal Histories

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24487