The Marana Community in the Hohokam World

by Suzanne K. Fish, Paul R. Fish, John H. Madsen

Overview

This account of Classic Period settlement in the Tucson Basin between A.D. 1100 and 1300 is the first comprehensive description of the organization of territory, subsistence, and society in a Hohokam community of an outlying region. Broad recovery of settlement patterns reveals in unique detail the developmental history of the Marana Community and its hierarchical structure about a central site with a platform mound. Remains of diverse agricultural technologies demonstrate the means for supporting populations of previously unrecognized size.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780816513147
Publisher:	University of Arizona Press
Publication date:	07/01/1992
Series:	Anthropological Papers , #56
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	140
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.40(d)

Table of Contents

	Preface	xi
	Acknowledgments	xii
1.	An Introduction to Time, Place, and Research	1
	Cultural Diagnostics	1
	Environmental Setting	2
	Core and Peripheral Regions	3
	Regional Character of the Tucson Basin	5
	The Marana Study Area and the Classic Period Community	8
2.	Early Sedentism and Agriculture in the Northern Tucson Basin	11
	A Framework for Transition in the Tucson Basin	11
	Agricultural Transition and the Tucson Environment	13
	Variables Favoring Sedentism	13
	Staple Resources	14
	Late Archaic and Early Ceramic Settlement Patterns	15
	Visibility and Discovery Bias	15
	Northern Tucson Basin Survey Patterns	15
	Duration of Residence	16
	Basic Patterns of Settlement and Production	17
3.	Evolution and Structure of the Classic Period Marana Community	20
	Developmental Aspects of Community Organization	20
	Definition of Community	20
	Preclassic Community Definition	21
	Classic Community Definition	21
	Classic Community Chronology	21
	Preclassic to Classic Trajectories	24
	Description of the Marana Community	27
	Classic Linkage of Settlement Axes	27
	The Marana Mound Site	27
	Zonal Patterns	31
	Economic Differentiation	34
	Subsistence Specialization	34
	Nonsubsistence Specialization	37
	Evidence for Vertical Organization	37
	Settlement Patterns	37
	Architectural Distributions	38
	Ceramic Assemblages	38
	Institutions and Social Personae	38
	Abandonment of the Marana Community	39
	The Marana Community in Regional Perspective	40
4.	Parameters of Agricultural Production in the Northern Tucson Basin	41
	Consultation with Traditional Farmers	41
	Precipitation and Regional Potential	42
	Agricultural Attributes of Basin Settings	42
	Mountain Slopes	42
	Canyon Bottoms	44
	Upper Bajadas	44
	Middle Bajadas	46
	Lower Bajadas	47
	Santa Cruz Floodplain	50
	Agricultural Parameters and Regional Land Use	51
5.	An Evaluation of Alluvial Fan Agriculture	53
	Geomorphology of Late Holocene Alluvial Fans	53
	Agricultural Potential of Alluvial Fans	60
	Flow Observations on Cottonwood Wash and Derrio Wash	61
	Applications to Prehistoric Agriculture	62
6.	The Dairy Site: Occupational Continuity on an Alluvial Fan	64
	The Occupational Sample	64
	Late Archaic Occupation	64
	Early Ceramic Occupation	65
	Farming and Residence on the Dairy Fan	67
	Subsistence Studies	67
	Pollen Analysis	69
	Flotation Analysis	70
	Faunal Analysis	71
	Continuity in Farming and Settlement	72
7.	Evidence for Large-Scale Agave Cultivation in the Marana Community	73
	The Issue of Cultivation	73
	Archaeological Indicators of Cultivation	74
	Rockpiles and Planting	78
	Zone 2 Distributions	81
	Roasting Pits	82
	Botanical Evidence	82
	Field Artifact Assemblages	83
	Cultivation in Rockpile Fields	85
	Estimates from Archaeological Distributions	85
	Construction Labor	85
	Agave Yields	86
	Implications of Productive Patterns in the Classic Period	86
8.	The Archaeology of an Agave Roasting Location	88
	Site Description	88
	Field Investigations	88
	Surface Collection and Stratigraphic Tests	88
	Features	90
	Lithic Technology and Agave Processing	92
	Tool and Debitage Analysis	92
	Patterns of Artifact Selection	92
	Ceramics and Agave Processing	92
	Ceramic Analysis	93
	Sherds as Tools	95
	Activities and Artifacts at Site 205	96