Hohokam Pottery Manufacturing Specialization at Lower Santan Village Along the Middle Gila River, Southern Arizona

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Gila River Indian Community Cultural Resource Management Program completed extensive data recovery at Lower Santan Village with more than 2,500 cultural features investigated at this prehistoric Hohokam settlement. The village is located on the north side of the middle Gila River, along the southwestern flank of the Santan Mountain bajada. The village reached its maximum extent in the late Sedentary period around AD 1150, and subsequently declined in size dramatically in the Classic period (AD 1150-1450). Previous work shows that pre-Classic period structures at the site have a disproportionately high incidence of pottery manufacturing tools, and recent investigations identified a pit house with an exceptional density and diversity of pottery production items. The room assemblage included raw clay, wasters, pottery anvils, polishing stones, and more than a dozen finished vessels. The house had a high incidence of non-local items like shell jewelry, but was otherwise similar to other habitations that have been investigated, and appears to have been a residential structure. These data suggest that this household specialized in pottery production, possibly on a full-time basis. This paper examines the unique pit house artifact assemblage in the context of evidence for specialized pottery production at Lower Santan Village.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32421