When Isn’t a Va’aki? Additional New Perspectives on Ancestral O’Odham Ceremonial Architecture

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Collaborative Archaeology: How Native American Knowledge Enhances Our Collective Understanding of the Past" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Scholars of the Hohokam archaeological culture area have worked for decades to build a more comprehensive explanatory framework regarding the interpretation of vapaki, or ancestral O’Odham ceremonial houses. In 2023, an edited volume of the same name was published and represents a step forward in that effort. That volume explores the archaeology of platform mounds in Arizona, the role of O’Odham oral history and continuity with their huhugam (ancestors). We contribute to this ongoing effort by combining archaeological data recovered from a structure known as Feature 7 at AZ U:9:165(ASM) in downtown Tempe, Arizona with ethnographic research on contemporary O’Odham concepts of ceremonial architecture. Our analysis focuses on Feature 7’s internal architecture, the surrounding O’Odham landscape and the interrelationship of architectural characteristics with O’Odham worldview and ceremony. Our results reinforce previous findings while examining the primordial aspects of ceremonial architecture that help transcend cultural historical frameworks and emphasizes historical continuity and the role of O’Odham perspectives in archaeological interpretation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Collaborative Archaeology: How Native American Knowledge Enhances Our Collective Understanding of the Past   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38429.0