Between desert and river: Hohokam settlement and land use in the Los Robles community

This monograph focuses on the results of archaeological surveys and excavations along Los Robles Wash, a desert stream that is tributary to the Santa Cruz River in northern Pima and southern Pinal counties, Arizona. Data from these investigations are used to reconstruct patterns of prehistoric and protohistoric settlement and land use along Los Robles Wash. Most of the prehistoric sites discussed in this volume appear to have been organized into an extensive Hohokam community spread along the west bank of Los Robles Wash and extending westward into the Samaniego Hills. Dating of the decorated ceramic types indicates that the Los Robles Community spanned the late Pioneer through early Classic periods of the Hohokam cultural sequence. Prior to the early Classic, the Community's central village and organization heart was probably a large ballcourt settlement. During the early Classic, the Los Robles Community was reorganised around two new settlements: a village with a large earthen mound, and Cerro Prieto, an extensive cerro de trincheras (a terraced hillside site with a variety of masonry features). The presence of both a mound settlement and a cerro de trincheras raises important questions regarding the nature of the Hohokam Sedentary to Classic period transition and the organizational structure of the Los Robles Community. Apparently simultaneous existence of a mound settlement and a cerro de trincheras reflect a time of ideological and organizational flux, prompted by the demise of Preclassic Hohokam belief systems and organizational principles. -from Author