Los Morteros: A Hohokam Ballcourt Community in Northwestern Tucson
1987-1994
A major housing project included substantial modifications
to the historic floodplain of the Santa Cruz River and to tributary drainages.
The Army Corps of Engineers required Section 106 compliance prior to issuance
of a Section 404 permit under the Clean Water Act.
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For the first time, the structure and magnitude of a very large Hohokam settlement
in Tucson was obtained. We identified 770 prehistoric cultural features, including
349 structures. A summary of key findings includes:
• During the tenth and eleventh centuries, the settlement
was organized into a series of village segments composed of several households
that shared common roasting facilities, trash areas, and a cemetery.
• Settlement reorganization occurred in the early 1100s. Most of the southern
part of Los Morteros was abandoned and a new settlement was established in the
northern site area, including at least one adobe-walled compound enclosure with
several structures within its walls. The residents of this new settlement may
have been seasonally mobile.
• The large ceramic sample recovered allowed refinement and testing of the
model of ceramic stylistic development that had been proposed in previous studies.
• The extensive collections of artifacts from burned houses and mortuary
contexts provided an unusual opportunity for various analysts to investigate trends
through time.
Many volunteers helped with the research at Los Morteros. Some aided our field
investigations, working alongside crew members. Others participated in excavations
conducted every other weekend during the course of the field season. These efforts
greatly expanded the recovery of information from the site.
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