TY - JOUR
T1 - REFINING THE ROLE OF CERROS DE TRINCHERAS IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA SETTLEMENT
AU - Downum, Christian E.
AU - Fish, Paul R.
AU - Fish, Suzanne K.
N1 - Funding Information:
Much of the work reported in this article is based on information gained through surveys and excavations sponsored by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Cooperative Agreement No. 4-CS-30-01380) and the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (Grants SP8315, 9314, and 10735). We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support and other assistance provided by the Arizona State Museum, the Department of Anthropology at the University ofArizona, The Centre for Archaeological Field Training at Pima Community College, Archaeologists Unlimited, Inc., and the Department of Anthropology at Northern Arizona University. Our colleagues Doug Craig, John Douglas, John Madsen, Jim Bayman, and the late Keith Katzer contributed important efforts and ideas to our studies of Tucson Basin cerros de trincheras. The work at Tumamoc Hill, Cerro Prieto, and Linda Vista Hill was accomplished with a multitude of students and volunteers, and we would like to thank them all. Special thanks go to Randall McGuire, William Hartmann, and Gayle Hartmann for their insightful comments and editorial assistance with this article. The figures in this paper have been adapted from Downum 1993 and have been reproduced here with permission of The University of Arizona Press.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2009, © 2009 Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society.
PY - 2009/12/1
Y1 - 2009/12/1
N2 - Cerros de trincheras in northern Sonora and southern Arizona have traditionally been interpreted as short-term, defensive refuges. This paper reviews recent evidence concerning the functions of such sites by focusing on survey, mapping, and excavation results gained over the past 12 years at several Tucson Basin cerros de trincheras. This evidence suggests that the Tucson Basin sites, and probably other cerros de trincheras as well, were not used as emergency defensive retreats. They instead were used for a variety of activities during the Hohokam early Classic period. The largest and most complex sites apparently were habitation villages, supporting hillside and hill summit pit houses and masonry rooms, large and small stone terraces, and massive, walled compounds. Artifacts and other evidence indicate that some of the terraces apparently were used for cultivation, and that the compounds may have accommodated ceremonies. Symbolic aspects of cerros de trincheras, particularly the highly visible terraces and compounds, are discussed. It is proposed that cerros de trincheras of southern Arizona were an important part of widespread organizational and ideological changes that took place during the early Classic period.
AB - Cerros de trincheras in northern Sonora and southern Arizona have traditionally been interpreted as short-term, defensive refuges. This paper reviews recent evidence concerning the functions of such sites by focusing on survey, mapping, and excavation results gained over the past 12 years at several Tucson Basin cerros de trincheras. This evidence suggests that the Tucson Basin sites, and probably other cerros de trincheras as well, were not used as emergency defensive retreats. They instead were used for a variety of activities during the Hohokam early Classic period. The largest and most complex sites apparently were habitation villages, supporting hillside and hill summit pit houses and masonry rooms, large and small stone terraces, and massive, walled compounds. Artifacts and other evidence indicate that some of the terraces apparently were used for cultivation, and that the compounds may have accommodated ceremonies. Symbolic aspects of cerros de trincheras, particularly the highly visible terraces and compounds, are discussed. It is proposed that cerros de trincheras of southern Arizona were an important part of widespread organizational and ideological changes that took place during the early Classic period.
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U2 - 10.1179/kiv.2009.75.2.012
DO - 10.1179/kiv.2009.75.2.012
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85051277840
SN - 0023-1940
VL - 75
SP - 261
EP - 287
JO - The Kiva
JF - The Kiva
IS - 2
ER -