A Spatial Analysis of Excavated Mortuary Features from La Playa, Sonora, Mexico (SON F:10:3)

Summary

This is an abstract from the "13,000 Years of Adaptation in the Sonoran Desert at La Playa, Sonora" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Covering an area of nearly 10 km2, La Playa (SON F:10:3) is one of the most important archaeological sites in northwest Mexico. Significantly, La Playa has one of the most extensive Early Agricultural period deposits in the Southwest United States/Northwest Mexico. It is also being impacted by severe sheet erosion that forms arroyos and impacts many of the archaeological features at the site. Long-term research at La Playa began with the Proyecto La Playa in the late 1990s. Since then, the Proyecto La Playa has conducted annual excavations and surveys at the site. Much of this research has focused on excavating mortuary features—primarily inhumations—that are at risk of erosion. Interestingly, there is no apparent cemetery space for these features, which are widely distributed. For this paper, I complete a spatial analysis of these mortuary features from the digitized feature sketch maps. I examine whether there are spatial patterns related to sex, burial orientation, number of individuals, and age. I also look for any associated correlations within the site sub-areas or landform. For this presentation I do not show any images of human remains, either photographed or hand-drawn.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• 13,000 Years of Adaptation in the Sonoran Desert at La Playa, Sonora   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38922.0