Ancestral to O’odham people, the Hohokam were an early culture living in Southern Arizona from AD.1-1450. Its innovative use of comparative data and analyses enriches our understanding of both Hohokam culture and other ancient societies. For more than a hundred years, archaeologists have investigated the function of earthen platform mounds in the American Southwest. All archaeologists agree, the prehistoric Hohokam of the Phoenix Valley were an amazing people whom forced us to reexamine the way we view agriculture in the early Americas. Elson's study provides a fresh approach to an old puzzle and offers new suggestions regarding variability among Hohokam populations. 11, these mounds are among the few monumental structures in the Southwest. For more than a hundred years, archaeologists have investigated the function of earthen platform mounds in the American Southwest. ![]() They were important in group integration and resource management after abandonment they served as ancestral shrines. Synopsis of Expanding the View of Hohokam Platform Mounds: An Ethnographic Perspective. He argues that the mounds were used variously as residences and ceremonial facilities by competing descent groups and were an indication of hereditary leadership. Elson then applies these data to the study of a prehistoric settlement system in the eastern Tonto Basin of Arizona that contained five platform mounds. He goes beyond previous studies by examining platform mound function and social group organization through a cross-cultural study of historic mound-using groups in the Pacific Ocean region, South America, and the southeastern United States.Using this information, he develops a number of important new generalizations about how people used mounds. They are basically artificial, flat-topped hills on which the ruling families of the day built their homes. ![]() The site preserves one of the few documented Hohokam platform mounds. Platform mounds were built by the prehistoric Salado and Hohokam people of southern Arizona from the 13th through the 15th century A.D., the Classic period. This parcel was transferred into public ownership in the mid-1980s, therefore the compound and mound were not destroyed, yet the city of Mesa has yet to fund any property upgrades, with the exception of a new fence. This much is plainly evidenced by the numbers. This is only one of the last three remaining Hohokam platform mounds in the greater Phoenix metro area. ![]() Mark Elson now takes a fresh look at these monuments and sheds new light on their significance. The Gatlin Site is an archaeological site in Gila Bend, Arizona. Certainly the platform mounds were connected to an important aspect of the lives of many Hohokam people. 11, these mounds are among the few monumental structures in the Southwest, yet their use and the nature of the groups who built them remain unresolved. As summarized by archaeologist Todd Bostwick at a meeting of the Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society on February 16, 1998: 'Dissatisfied with the common view that Classic period AD 1100 to 1450 platform mounds were secular homes for the Hohokam elite as suggested in Cordell’s book, I presented, in 1992, an alternative.
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